-- 40 DAYS UNTIL THE END OF THE YEAR. -- DONALD TUSK AT THE HEAD OF A PARTY PAST ITS PRIME - title of Anna Słojewska's article in Rzeczpospolita. -- GOGH THE TIGER IS SLOWLY RECOVERING - FB Poznań Zoo. His photo gets 14,000 likes on Facebook within an hour. https://www.facebook.com/1475315479348773/photos/a.1737219246491727/2432052930341685/?type=3&theater -- NITRAS ON THE FACT THAT THE APPLICATION FORM DOESN'T HELP JAŚKOWIAK (Similarities to the tiger photo are coincidental) - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/11/21/ -- THE SUBSIDIARIES ARE STANDING THEIR GROUND - Agata Kondzińska in the lead of Gazeta Wyborcza: “As our interlocutors say, the Ziobro camp feels cheated by the negotiations for forming the government. It was supposed to be that Michał Woś would take over the Ministry of Environment, and Michał Kurtyka would establish a new ministry for climate. Instead, Woś ended up in the Prime Minister's Chancellery and is yet to deal with the division of competencies between the old Ministry of Environment and the new climate ministry (which Kurtyka has already taken over). The PiS subsidiaries are also demanding new deputy ministers, but most importantly, provincial governors. – Therefore, the coalition agreement might be quickly sealed, but it's also possible that negotiations could drag on for weeks – our interlocutors say.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,25431552,przystawki-sie-stawiaja-ziobrysci-i-gowinowcy-mnoza-zadania.html -- JACEK NIZINKIEWICZ ON ZANDBERG AS THE MESSIAH OF THE LEFT - writes in Rzeczpospolita: “The Left emerges as a new quality on the Polish political scene. It dynamically presents its ideas, such as the project to abolish the 30-fold ZUS contribution limit and the 'highest pension,' and announces further ones that could be problematic not only for the PO, which lacks freshness, but primarily for PiS. The ruling party has expanded its voter base precisely by the left-wing electorate, lured by social programs. Now, the Left has a plan to win back some of PiS's voters from the social flank. It only needs a leader. During Mateusz Morawiecki's exposé, Adrian Zandberg proved to be the most brilliant counterweight to the Prime Minister.” -- WILL HE BE THE SECOND KWAŚNIEWSKI OR WILL HE HELP DUDU WIN? - NIZINKIEWICZ CONTINUES: “Whether Zandberg would have a chance to defeat Andrzej Duda, or rather, his left-wing stance would help him in his re-election, is an open question. Expectations on the left are high that he will be the second Aleksander Kwaśniewski and, like a messiah, lead the Left to victory. One thing is certain, a successful appearance, or even two, will not make an effective politician the new leader of the entire opposition or the future president. Months of hard work lie ahead for the Left and Zandberg. It's possible that these months will be crucial for the new shape of the Polish political scene.” https://www.rp.pl/Analizy/311209896-Nizinkiewicz-Zandberg-nowym-mesjaszem-lewicy.html -- THE DUOPOLY WAS BROKEN DURING THE EXPOSÉ - WŁODZIMIERZ CZARZASTY IN CONVERSATION WITH JACEK NIZINKIEWICZ IN RZECZPOSPOLITA: “During the debate on the exposé, this duopoly was broken. We said: – we are not voting for PiS, Platforma, even if you wanted it very much and would say: 'they betrayed us, they betrayed us.' No. But why aren't we voting? Because we have our own project. On Tuesday, no one else presented a project. This is not an opposition based on 'I'll hit you because I don't like you, because you're from PiS.' If there is a project concerning social issues, aid for the most needy, hospitals, healthcare, housing, construction – I truly don't care whether Schetyna or Kaczyński signs under it. The point is that people live better.” https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/311209886-Czarzasty-Konczymy-z-duopolem-PO-PiS.html -- THE FEMALE FINALE OF THE PLATFORM'S PRIMARY ELECTION MESS - AGNIESZKA WIŚNIEWSKA, editor-in-chief of Krytyka Polityczna portal: “Meanwhile, at the moment when it turned out that a woman was their main candidate to run in the presidential elections in PO, politicians and media had to face a great challenge. They have to name what is happening. When Chairman Schetyna spoke about the primaries, we heard, for example: 'I believe they will show a good presentation of the program, good competition, good emotions, and that the candidate of the Civic Platform, Civic Coalition […]'. Well, exactly: 'candidate.' A miracle! The use of both feminine and masculine forms in one sentence becomes completely natural!” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/zaskakujace-pozytki-z-prawyborczego-klopsa-platformy/ -- ON COLLECTING BLANK ENDORSEMENT SIGNATURES IN THE PLATFORM - ANDRZEJ STANKIEWICZ IN Onet: “So, in the final stretch, Schetyna was left only with bombarding local government officials. And he got one – after a conversation with Schetyna, the mayor of Poznań, Jacek Jaśkowiak, submitted his candidacy. Rumors are circulating in the party that Schetyna's people were collecting blank endorsement signatures – because it was unknown whom Schetyna would ultimately persuade or force. Even if these are accusations harmful to the chairman, they show the current level of distrust towards him in a significant part of the party.” -- SCHETYNA DOESN'T CARE WHO THE CIVIC COALITION'S PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WILL BE - STANKIEWICZ CONTINUES: “Without detracting from Jaśkowiak's undeniable political talent, one must realize one thing: he is not participating in the presidential race, but in Schetyna's rescue operation. Because the head of PO is manipulating the presidential primaries within the Platform solely to save his own skin. In reality, that's all he's interested in.” https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/newsletter-onetu-andrzej-stankiewicz-schetyna-zamienil-prawybory-w-farse/9l7yckx -- ŁUKASZ ROGOJSZ IN GAZETA.PL WRITES ABOUT THE PRIMARIES AS THE NAIL IN PO'S COFFIN: “History repeats itself as a farce – irritates a Platform politician whom we ask about the failure of the primary election operation. – Just as we failed to successfully return to the concept of two broad wings, we have also failed with the primaries – he admits. It's hard to talk about success. The presidential primaries were supposed to show Platform's strength and improve its difficult situation. Meanwhile, it will be a miracle if they are organized at all and spectacular image blunders are avoided.” -- A PO POLITICIAN ON HOW ONLY THE PARLIAMENTARY SESSION CALENDAR CAN SAVE THE PLATFORM FROM OCCUPYING ITSELF: “According to him, the immediate future of the Platform may be decided by... the parliamentary session calendar. – If the next one is convened quickly, it's good for us, because the party will have something to do. Fighting in Parliament, fighting in the media, legislative projects. If there is a longer break, we will have time to deal with ourselves. And then emotions can get out of control – he predicts.” http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114884,25431100,nasze-demony-wroca-bardzo-szybko-i-z-bardzo-duza-sila-prawybory.html#BoxWOpImg1 -- OKO.PRESS REMINDS US OF JAŚKOWIAK'S QUOTES, INCLUDING WHAT HE SAID ABOUT THE PRESIDENCY: “Give me a break! I can do ten times more as the Mayor of Poznań – I have a ten times larger budget. The President of Poland is a purely representative function. Not to mention the pathology we have now, when Duda acts as a mere figurehead. Why do I need that? To boost my ego? To show how great I am and so on? (…) I signed up for Poznań. What I started, I will finish.” https://oko.press/jaskowiak-startuje-przeciwko-kidawie-blonskiej-duda-osmiesza-nam-kraj-20-cytatow/ -- THE PRIMARIES ONLY HIGHLIGHTED THE PLATFORM'S PROBLEMS - JAKUB MAJMUREK ON WP: “Although the primaries, at least for a moment, silenced Schetyna's fiercest critics, they have not helped the party's image so far. Instead of diverting media attention from PO's internal troubles, they only amplified them. Instead of bringing out the party's intellectual wealth and promoting its leaders, they have so far only shown that the Civic Coalition suffers from a deficit of ideas and politicians of presidential caliber.” -- JAŚKOWIAK WOULD GIVE THE PLATFORM ENERGY AND OPEN IT UP TO THE LEFT - MAJMUREK CONTINUES: “Jaśkowiak would be an experiment that a party tired of itself, demoralized by many defeats, clearly seems to lack strength and political imagination for. Especially since, as a potential candidate, he would have similar limitations as Kidawa-Błońska: as a former Kulczyk employee, a private entrepreneur, and a big-city liberal, he might also have problems competing with Andrzej Duda for the popular electorate. At the same time, Jaśkowiak would attract the left-wing electorate much more effectively and would give the party some much-needed energy – a campaign led by Kidawa-Błońska promises to be quite sleepy and unenergetic.” -- MAJMUREK ON JAŚKOWIAK AS A DARK HORSE: “So, will Jaśkowiak only play the role of a 'hare'? Not necessarily. If Kidawa-Błońska loses the election, the entire formula on which PO has operated since 2015 might start to crumble: a supposedly liberal party, but in reality quite conservative, if not right-wing, then perpetually afraid of the right, cautious and conservative, equivocating and changing its mind on divisive societal issues. If this formula passes into history, the liberal center of the Polish political scene will need a new one. Politicians like Jaśkowiak can provide it. The hare in this race might turn out to be the dark horse of the next ones.” https://opinie.wp.pl/majmurek-jacek-jaskowiak-zajac-czy-czarny-kon-opinia-6448385237960833a -- MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI ON THE PLATFORM'S PRIMARY ELECTION TRAP AND AN ANTIDOTE TO THE INCREASINGLY EFFECTIVE LEFT IN PARLIAMENT - writes in Rzeczpospolita: “The deadline set by the national authorities of the Civic Platform for potential counter-candidates to Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska to register has passed. It seemed like no one had registered. The primaries were conceived as a grand media spectacle that was supposed to solve two problems. The first concerned the entire PO: public debates between candidates were to become a celebration of intra-party democracy, which, given the increasingly successful Left in Parliament, would show everyone that the Platform is the hegemon on the opposition side. The second was Grzegorz Schetyna's problem – the primaries postponed internal party reckonings and gave the chairman valuable time to prepare for the leadership election.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/191129893-Szuldrzynski-Platforma-wpadla-w-prawyborcza-pulapke.html -- PERHAPS THE DUOPOLY IS ENDING - PAWEŁ WROŃSKI IN GAZETA WYBORCZA ON THE WIND OF CHANGE IN PARLIAMENT: “Perhaps the dispute between two major political forces that have shaped our political imagination since 2005 is ending. It's Jarosław Kaczyński explaining the Prime Minister's fairytale-like speech, engaging in convoluted reflections on the nature of the Polish nation, speaking about what 'normality' is in his opinion. And Grzegorz Schetyna repeating old tricks: about the Prime Minister's speech written in Nowogrodzka, about building political success on the Smolensk lie. Neither of the two politicians said anything they hadn't said before. However, in the new situation, their words sounded as if someone had decided to speak to us in the language of Jan Chryzostom Pasek's 'Memoirs.' The political situation has changed – the ruling PiS is being outflanked by the Left, which, in Adrian Zandberg's brilliant speech, put social declarations to the test. On the other hand, Konfederacja is testing declarations regarding, for example, the tightening of abortion law.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,25431497,w-sejmie-zawial-wiatr-zmian.html -- A FAIRY TALE ABOUT ROBBING THE RICH - Piotr Miączyński and Leszek Kostrzewski in Gazeta Wyborcza: “Some began to tell commonplaces about robbing the rich with a vengeful satisfaction, implying that they deserve it. The fact is that 8, 9, or 10 thousand zlotys net is not an unimaginable wealth. Arguments were made about how paying high contributions now will lead to the payout of gigantic pensions of 30 or 40 thousand zlotys in the future. Apart from how many such people there would be with such a pension – the probability that ZUS will be able to afford such excesses is like Poland conducting a crewed mission to Mars. Theoretically, both are possible.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,155290,25429522,emerytalne-dryfowanie-w-scieku.html -- RZECZPOSPOLITA ON THE FRONT PAGE ABOUT THE CONFLICT IN THE GOVERNMENT OVER PGZ AND BŁASZCZAK'S REACTION TO THE ARMAMENTS AGENCY: “Why do the rulers want to liquidate PGZ? As we learned unofficially, politicians associated with the head of the Ministry of National Defense, Mariusz Błaszczak, do not want to allow the armaments giant to be supervised by the Ministry of State Assets, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin. Will the Armaments Agency be completely dependent on the Ministry of National Defense? The ministry is laconic: 'Minister Mariusz Błaszczak's priority in the current term will include changing the system and improving the procurement of military equipment for the Armed Forces. We will provide information on all details related to the establishment of the Armaments Agency on an ongoing basis' – this is the response we received from the ministry.” https://www.rp.pl/Przemysl-Obronny/311209883-Boj-o-wojskowe-aktywa.html -- BIRTHDAYS: Joanna Lichocka turns 50, Patrycja Kotecka (41), Wanda Nowicka, Maciej Manicki, Kamila Wronowska.