-- MEDIA PLURALISM IS DEFINITELY GREATER THAN UNDER OUR PREDECESSORS - ADAM BIELAN - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/09/16 -- AS A VOTER, I FEEL HUMILIATED THAT EVERYONE PROMISES THE MOON - KATARZYNA PEŁCZYŃSKA-NAŁĘCZ IN GW: “All parties, including the opposition, promise us the moon. As a voter, I feel humiliated by this treatment. (...) We, the citizens, are truly adults ready to responsibly participate in building our country. Instead of bribes and sugarcoating, we expect politicians to give us a realistic and truthful answer to the question of what kind of country we will live in together. You don't have to promise us everything. It's enough if you commit to implementing a few, but the most important, changes. Explain honestly how you intend to achieve them, what the benefits will be, but also the costs.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,25195986,w-jakim-kraju-chcemy-zyc.html -- PLATFORMA LOOKS BACK SENTIMENTALLY - ADRIAN ZANDBERG IN AN INTERVIEW WITH AGATA SZCZĘŚNIAK IN OKO: “On the Left, we don't just say: no to PiS. We offer an alternative. It's a socially just and secular Poland. One where the state doesn't stick its nose under the covers. A Poland that respects human rights and leaves no one in need. In this campaign, people have a choice on the opposition's side: on one hand, the Left, meaning the future, and on the other – Platforma, which looks back sentimentally, at what was actually achieved, but also accepts things that, in our opinion, were poorly organized before 2015. Such as inequalities, mistreatment of employees, precarious employment contracts, the state's withdrawal from the provinces, the dismantling of public institutions – the disappearance of police stations, health centers, cultural centers, libraries. On the Left, we view this critically. We believe that PiS is largely a result of the fact that many people were let down by a democratic, free Poland. We must fix this.” -- THE LOGIC OF POLARIZATION DIED WITH THE EUROPEAN ELECTION RESULTS - ZANDBERG CONTINUES: “The logic of polarization died on the day of the European elections. Its strength came from the narrative that Schetyna could win the elections against PiS alone. This thesis has been verified by reality. It won't happen, everyone knows that now. Today, PO has twenty to twenty-something percent of support – and remains at that level, the Left – teens of percent. So the situation is completely different. Voters' hopes and expectations are different. I hear it on the streets: if anything on the opposition side gives people hope, it's only the Left. Not just that the Left is growing, but how it's growing.” -- ZANDBERG ON THE DIVERSITY OF THE LEFT: “Let's not exaggerate the unity. I have a lot in common with Biedroń and Czarzasty, which is why we could build a bloc. With Schetyna or Kosiniak, very little. But diversity, including on the Left, is a value. Look at the Scandinavian countries. If there was only one left-wing party there, in Denmark or Sweden, the right would rule. There are diverse left-wing parties there that mobilize different left-wing voters.” https://oko.press/zandberg-polska-skandynawia-swiecka-nowoczesna-rowna-pis-sie-boi-takiej-lewicy/ -- KIDAWA IS TO CAMPAIGN FOR POLITICALLY INACTIVE VOTERS, I FOR PO VOTERS - GRZEGORZ SCHETYNA IN AN INTERVIEW WITH GRZEGORZ OSIECKI AND TOMASZ ŻÓŁCIAK IN DGP: “Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska will campaign for politically inactive voters – the undecided, those who don't vote, but also those we lost between 2011–2015. Also, the female and left-wing electorate. I, on the other hand, will focus on mobilizing Platforma and the entire Coalition's supporters, structures, and local activists. We need to reach them too with a common message that we can win.” -- PIS'S LEAD IS BEING ERODED - SCHETYNA CONTINUES IN DGP: “This gap is being closed and it will be visible in the polls in the second half of September. This builds faith that victory is possible. If we permanently enter the level of over 30 percent, and PiS falls below 40 percent, then anything is possible. We need a great mobilization, which gave us victory last year not only in big cities, but practically everywhere.” -- SCHETYNA IN DGP ON A COALITION OF SECURITY: “I would call it a 'coalition of security,' a European coalition, but composed of parliamentary clubs, not political parties, as it is now.” -- KACZYŃSKI AS PRIME MINISTER AT THE INTERRUPTED SESSION? - SCHETYNA CONTINUES: “The question is what will happen on October 15th and 16th, during the Sejm session of the outgoing term. PiS is writing some scenario, and perhaps Jarosław Kaczyński is the candidate for prime minister. Rumors suggest that if the results are not satisfactory for PiS, there might be a change of head of government. Why does PiS need a two-day Sejm session after the elections?” -- SCHETYNA ON THE MANEUVER WITH PRIME MINISTER KACZYŃSKI: “The president convenes the first parliamentary session within 30 days of the election day. In my opinion, if PiS does not have enough MPs after the elections to form a government, they will want to use this time to make tough political decisions. I bet they might nominate Kaczyński for prime minister. He would then have these 30 days to act, for example, by buying off MPs from other clubs. Factions within PiS, built by Ziobro and Gowin, might be larger in the new Sejm. As we hear from there, Kaczyński believes that only he will be able to manage it then.” -- HE ONLY BETRAYED KAŁUŻA - SCHETYNA CONTINUES: “We had one such example, in Silesia – councilor Kałuża from Nowoczesna, who left for PiS after the elections. That won't happen again.” -- A ONE-PERSON STATE - SCHETYNA CONTINUES: “I thank you for such a people's party. It's a one-person party and a one-person state. It's an over-president, an over-prime minister, and an over-minister. He knows he can implement such a state, and he actually said it at that convention in Lublin. However, I will do everything to prevent him from having such possibilities, because such a state is anti-democratic and lawless. We cannot agree to this, because it is the greatest threat there can be, and I say this without looking for historical analogies.” -- CHANGES POSSIBLE ONLY FROM 2021 - SCHETYNA CONTINUES: “It's a bit like with the gimnaziums. You can't overturn everything at once. The year 2020 will be crucial. First, we would have to win the presidential elections, and then prepare the country for the budget and the changes we've been announcing since 2021. Also, due to the scenario we fear, we won't do it immediately after the elections or at the beginning of next year. Of course, there is also the question of whether we will be able to build a stable majority with three forming entities.” https://wiadomosci.dziennik.pl/opinie/artykuly/607745,grzegorz-schyna-premier-jaroslaw-kaczynski-sejm-wybory-parlamentarne.html -- PIS 45, KO 26 - SE POLL: 45 percent of respondents declared support for PiS in the parliamentary elections in a Pollster Institute survey for "Super Express". Civic Coalition would receive 26 percent of votes, left-wing groupings – 14 percent, PSL-Koalicja Polska – 8 percent, and Konfederacja – 5 percent. https://www.se.pl/wiadomosci/polityka/kaczynski-miazdzy-kidawe-blonska-idzie-po-zwyciestwo-sondaz-aa-eABZ-UHaR-NeFP.html -- A MIX OF PESSIMISM AND DETERMINATION - PIOTR PACEWICZ ON THE ATMOSPHERE AT THE GAMES OF FREEDOM: “The mood at these Games is far from the light atmosphere of the 2018 Games, where the optimistic tone was picked up by politicians Donald Tusk and Robert Biedroń. Rather, a mixture of pessimism and determination of democracy defenders hangs in the air of this huge (350 panelists, over 3,000 participants) event in Łódź.” -- PACEWICZ QUOTES EWA ŁĘTOWSKA: “The compass towards a democratic rule of law has been and remains unambiguous in the Constitution. Even if now, with subsequent laws and decisions by the rulers, we are moving away from this direction, we are going sideways. Law happens through interpretations, i.e., what is between the written word and practice. We should hope that the judges, who determine the daily application of law, will resist the temptation of the carrot and the fear of the stick. This is happening. Polish judges have managed to maintain their determination and courage to apply the law in accordance with the Constitution, to interpret the law correctly. The streets demonstrated in defense of free courts, and it is not true that the streets lost. These protests build support, strengthen those judges who do not listen to the stick, and encourage those who are still hesitant.” -- EVEN IN A BAD SITUATION, WE WILL COPE - ŁĘTOWSKA'S SPEECH IN ŁÓDŹ CONTINUES: “Let's not develop pessimistic scenarios. There is one foundation: always stick to the constitution, its contextual, liberal interpretation, because we are still part of the European community. Even in a bad situation, we will cope.” https://oko.press/letowska-ulica-nie-przegrala-safjan-nie-jestem-zagranica-prawnicy-daja-nadzieje/ -- TVP ILLEGALLY SUPPORTS PIS, THERE ARE GROUNDS TO REVOKE SUBSIDIES - DOMINIKA WIELOWIEYSKA IN GW: “TVP illegally supports PiS. This violates the radio and television act, and at the same time is a non-cash donation to this party. (...) There are only three small problems: The National Electoral Commission can be taken over by the ruling party, because its members are elected differently after the elections. The Sejm will appoint them, not the judges. The Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs of the Supreme Court, which decides on the validity of elections, has already been appointed by people close to PiS. The prosecutor's office is under PiS control. And the law in Poland remains dead if its application is not in the interest of the ruling party.” http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,25195946,sa-podstawy-by-w-przyszlej-kadencji-pozbawic-pis-subwencji.html -- WITEK IS THE SECOND KUCHCIŃSKI - JACEK NIZINKIEWICZ IN RZ: “Elżbieta Witek has shown that she is just as party-loyal as Marek Kuchciński. Her tenure so far confirms earlier concerns that the change of Sejm Marshal would be a facade and dictated solely by electoral calculations. The failure of the new beginning under Marshal Witek shows that the PiS parliamentary steamroller will continue as it has been, and the refreshed exterior hides an even more brutal mechanism than during Kuchciński's time. The comparisons to the famous Alexis from the soap opera 'Dynasty' were not that far-fetched. The Marshal of the lower house of parliament turned out to be no less cunning a player than her serial counterpart. Only there it was fiction and about romances, while here it is real life and it's about law and democracy.” https://www.rp.pl/Analizy/309159962-Elzbieta-Witek-drugim-Markiem-Kuchcinskim.html -- THEY CAN'T DEFEND THE CHANGES MADE SO FAR IN THE COURTS AND THEY ARE HIDING WHAT CHANGES THEY WANT TO INTRODUCE - TOMASZ SAWCZUK IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: “PiS announces further 'judicial reforms' in its program, but does not mention a word about what they would entail. (...) PiS politicians cannot even defend the changes made so far in the courts – check and ask them yourself. They usually retreat into new-speak like 'fight against post-communism'. But has anyone heard PiS explain how PiS's judicial laws have actually improved the justice system? It is therefore difficult to reasonably conclude otherwise: PiS is not writing explicitly what changes it wants to introduce in the courts, because it would turn out that these proposals are indefensible. It is unacceptable for Kaczyński's party to hide its plans on such a serious, sensitive issue that requires social consensus. Voters have the right to know.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2019/09/16/pis-program-wyborczy-2019-reforma-sadownictwa-komentarz-sawczuk/ -- THE PIS PROGRAM IS SOMETIMES ASTOUNDING - BOGUSŁAW CHRABOTA IN RZ: “The document, apart from a mass of details, sometimes repeats known commonplaces, and sometimes is simply astonishing. It confirms the generally understood doctrine of PiS, which assumes that this party strongly adheres to an ethnic-national community, whose fundamental bond is Christian values. Transnational issues, the European Union, have been relegated to the background. In Jarosław Kaczyński's party program, the state, the nation, and the morality protected by the Church for centuries are of primary importance. There is no place in this plan for gender, 'harmful' ideologies, euthanasia, or eugenics. Instead, there is opposition to a 'new European identity that would replace national identity.' The Catholic Church is the sole depository of moral teaching, beyond which lies only nihilism.” -- NACZELNY RZ ON THE CARICATURED DESCRIPTION OF POLISH HISTORY IN THE PIS PROGRAM: “The description of Poland's political past before the 'good change' arrived is striking in its caricature and bluntness of wording. It portrays post-communism, a deregulated, inefficient democracy, pursuing clientelism towards Germany, Brussels, and Russia in foreign policy, and in domestic policy, responsible for widespread injustice, weakening the army and state control institutions, and even human rights violations.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze-wyborcze/190919559-Chrabota-Panstwo-narod-i-moralnosc.html -- KRZYSZTOF ADAM KOWALCZYK IN RZ ON THE STRONG HAND OF THE STATE AND THE INFALLIBILITY OF PARTY PLANNERS IN THE PIS PROGRAM - WRITES IN RZ: “The ruling party's program shows that it does not believe in free-market capitalism. Justifying this, it resorts to Pope John Paul II's words of criticism towards the 'automatism of the market,' as well as the principle of subsidiarity from Church social teaching, to oppose the interference of European bodies in nation-states. However, it does not want to apply this to the economy. Here, the invisible hand of the market is to be replaced by the visible, strong hand of the state. And faith in the infallibility of party planners.” https://www.rp.pl/Opinie/309159952-Nieomylnosc-partyjnych-planistow.html -- ON THE EXHAUSTION AND LAZINESS OF ELITES - ANTONI PORAYSKI-POMSTA IN KRYTYKA POLITYCZNA: “Of course, it's not surprising that the elites don't want to change their vision. Those whose families benefited from 1989 have nothing to complain about, not even under PiS. But given the challenges facing Poland and the world now, an alternative is necessary. The illusory image of the West and inflexible policies do not convince people who did not gain from the transformation or do not remember it at all (especially when they are called boors or ungrateful). Unfortunately, the climate crisis and the rise of national egoisms make such an attitude dangerous.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/o-wypaleniu-elit/ -- JACEK KARNOWSKI ON THE POLISH VERSION OF THE WELFARE STATE: “We don't know if we will succeed in building a 'Polish version of the welfare state.' We don't know if we will manage to avoid the extremes of Western versions of this social and economic model. We don't fully know if such a project is realistic in current global conditions. We don't even know if, after October 13th, the Third Polish Republic will win after all. But the project itself is spot on. Also because it can transport all of us – both its supporters and opponents – into a new era, freeing us from a reality that is clearly becoming outdated.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/463863-pis-proponuje-polakom-zwrot-tego-co-stracilismy-po-wojnie -- PIS HAS REFRAINED FROM ATTACKING SOROS FUNDS, BUT IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING, IN 4 YEARS PIS WILL BE FIGHTING THE NEW LEFT PARTY - JACEK KARNOWSKI: “Again: this is not a simple challenge. One of the sources of PiS's current success is the renunciation of all actions, even very necessary and right ones, that could create a credible impression that it is a party in any way limiting freedom. Attacking Soros and Soros-like funds can easily be presented this way, both domestically and internationally. But I repeat: if we don't do something, in four years PiS will be fighting for power with the new Left party. They will probably win again, but the next battle, in 2027, they will lose, and we will have a second Ireland on the Vistula.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/historia/463881-jesli-prawica-nie-odbije-uniwersytetu-to-czeka-ja-kleska -- ADAM LESZCZYŃSKI COMPARES THE PIS PROGRAM TO A STALINIST PAMPHLET: “To a reader somewhat familiar with history, this resembles 'A Short Course of the History of the CPSU(b)' – the official history of the communist party approved by Stalin (he personally made corrections to it). Also known as the holy book of Stalinism. (...) Similar lies and falsehoods in the PiS program can be listed at length. In short: it is not the program of a democratic party, but of a party that treats its political opponent as an enemy, a traitor, and a quisling, and the European Union as the heir of oppressors who subjugated Poles.” https://oko.press/przerazajaca-ideologia-pis-kosciol-z-partia-rzady-tuska-jak-czasy-saskie-program-pelen-falszu/ -- BIRTHDAYS: Janusz Rewiński, Samuel Pereira.