-- MUELLER ON THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION'S REMARKS ON THE JUSTICE SYSTEM - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/12/11/ -- THE SAME STRATEGY AS PO WHEN IT DECLARED IT WASN'T DOING POLITICS; EMOTIONS BENEFIT THE OPPOSITION - MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI IN RZ: “The government's hope will be the strategy of lowering the temperature of political disputes. The holiday season is beginning – voters are busy with shopping, gifts, then they will spend time with loved ones, later they will think about whether winter will come, whether to send children on holiday, etc. The lower the interest in politics, the more comfortable the situation for the ruling party, which can appear as a caring guardian of citizens. This is the same strategy that Donald Tusk adopted at the end of his first term, arguing that PO no longer wanted to do politics, but to build highways, bridges, stadiums, and airports. Turning up the political dispute will now benefit the opposition. And it is precisely the temperature of the discourse that will determine who will politically win the coming weeks.” -- IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE ONLY TWO MONTHS HAVE PASSED SINCE THE VICTORIOUS ELECTION - SZUŁDRZYŃSKI CONTINUES: “For PiS, something that was supposed to be just an unpleasant episode, an accident at work, is starting to grow into the number one problem. Especially since it significantly complicates PiS's plan to transform into the Polish CDU. Subsequent polls show slight declines, which significantly complicates the situation before the presidential elections, which are escalating into a fight for everything. In addition, there is chaos in the justice system, resulting from the CJEU ruling. It's hard to believe that only two months have passed since the victorious election for PiS.” https://www.rp.pl/Rzecz-o-polityce/312109898-Michal-Szuldrzynski-PiS-sni-o-Banasiu-Ale-jest-to-koszmar.html -- ARMORED MARIAN BLACKMAILS PIS - PAWEŁ WROŃSKI IN GW: “However, Marian Banaś is now asking Jarosław Kaczyński if, by fulfilling the duties of the President of NIK, he wants to grill Law and Justice as PiS grilled PO-PSL? Especially since the weakened ruling camp, buckling under successive scandals, cannot afford another one before the presidential elections. Perhaps this attack by Banaś on Solidarna Polska is in fact an offer to PiS. We can have a war, but we can forget everything and return to beautiful friendship.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,25496842,banas-pyta-pis-zrobic-wam-jesien-sredniowiecza.html -- EWA SIEDLECKA DOUBTS THE POSSIBILITY OF BRINGING BANAS BEFORE THE TRIBUNAL OF STATE: “The motion to bring Marian Banaś before the Tribunal of State would have to indicate how he used his position to commit a crime. If this cannot be proven, he deserves a normal criminal trial. Therefore, bringing Banaś before the Tribunal of State would be as much an abuse as changing the law to dismiss him. The opposition should not get involved in anything like that.” https://siedlecka.blog.polityka.pl/2019/12/09/trybunal-stanu-nie-dla-banasia/?nocheck=1 -- IT'S A SHAME HOŁOWNIA ABANDONED THE MONASTIC PATH; HE WOULD BE AN INTERESTING VOICE WITHIN THE HIERARCHY - LESZEK JAŻDŻEWSKI IN LIBERTE: “It is precisely as a 'voice of conscience' trying to reach Polish Catholics that Hołownia seems most interesting and credible to me. A reformist voice, which, interestingly, is not at all unambiguously 'progressive'. Polish Catholicism needs a revival, a detachment from the hierarchy, a bit of Protestant ferment without cutting itself off from tradition and the impression of chasing 'novelties,' which must act like a red flag to many. Good-sounding generalities about the separation of church and state and the need to build community will disappear somewhere in the course of the campaign, unsupported by specifics. However, Hołownia's evangelical message, which is irritating in the format of a campaign launch, would work perfectly – I write this without irony – from the pulpit or in a church hall. It's a shame that Hołownia abandoned his plans to join a monastery years ago; he would certainly have been a very interesting voice within the church hierarchy. -- IF NARCISSISM WERE TO BE EXCLUDED FROM POLITICS, WE WOULD HAVE TO CLOSE THE SEJM - JAŻDŻEWSKI CONTINUES: “At the campaign inauguration in Gdańsk, I saw another candidate, after Biedroń, who delivers sermons and at the same time gives the impression that he likes listening to his own voice. On Hołownia's minus side, I would note that he radiates self-satisfaction. But if narcissism and arrogance were to disqualify people from politics, we would have to close the Sejm for lack of deputies.” -- JAŻDŻEWSKI NOTICES HOŁOWNIA'S ACTIONS IN THE REAL WORLD: “On the plus side, undoubtedly, are his eloquence and credibility in the sermon he delivered. The creation of foundations helping the weakest – and that, in the world, not in Poland, criticism of the Catholic Church's compromising entanglements, the desire to break down existing divisions – here Hołownia, as a publicist, author, and media celebrity, has made numerous contributions. In contrast to the bland politicians from Wiejska Street running between television studios and the Sejm, his words are backed by deeds.” https://liberte.pl/habemus-holowniam/ -- THE MOOD SEEMS TO FAVOR HOŁOWNIA - PIOTR TRUDNOWSKI: “The 'Hołownia Project' provides us with one piece of good news and a series of question marks. It should certainly not be underestimated, as social moods and the situation on the political scene seem to favor him today. However, during the inauguration, Hołownia said nothing that could convince us that his candidacy is more than a fifth-grade exam in the art of post-political pronouncements of righteous banalities. For the good of Polish public debate, it is worth keeping our fingers crossed that his campaign will bring a breath of fresh air to Polish politics. For this to happen, he must reject the temptation to be a candidate for everyone… which in practice means for no one.” -- IF HOŁOWNIA DIDN'T IMPRESS, THEN PLATFORMA DOESN'T EXIST AT ALL - TRUDNOWSKI CONTINUES: “It may even happen, though it's hard to imagine today, that he will actually make it to the second round. Here, his ally is... Civic Platform (Platforma Obywatelska). While the inauguration of Hołownia's political path is disappointing, it is nothing compared to the disappointment of the weakness of the main opposition formation's primary spectacle. If Hołownia did not impress, then Kidawa-Błońska and Jaśkowiak simply do not exist.” -- HE MUST TRY TO GO AGAINST THE GRAIN - TRUDNOWSKI CONTINUES: “If Hołownia wants to be a real alternative to the party mainstream, he must realize where that mainstream lies today. The heart of the political dispute is the debate about 'who will give more' and 'who will build a welfare state faster.' A candidate from outside this mainstream cannot outbid the old hands by promising even more attentive listening to citizens, more sincere concern for the excluded than his competitors, and even warmer water in the taps. If his narrative is to redefine the Polish political dispute at the dawn of the third decade of the 21st century, it must pull our debate out of the dangerous lethargy it has fallen into. For this entire project to make sense, Hołownia must, at least in some aspect of his proposal for Poles, try to go against the grain of social expectations, rather than following where the opinion poll currents push him. A good politician should rather be able to name underlying community ambitions and civic aspirations than compete in satisfying those created by competitors.” https://klubjagiellonski.pl/2019/12/10/szymon-holownia-z-wiatrem-czy-pod-wiatr/ -- JACEK KARNOWSKI ON HOŁOWNIA BEING A TEST OF HOW BIG THE 'GIMNAZJUM' GENERATION IS: “Hołownia's candidacy is an interesting matter. Perhaps also useful. We will find out how numerous the so-called 'gimbaza' (middle schoolers/teenagers) is in Poland, and how many people will like empty platitudes combined with a few well-practiced tricks. Because although the candidate himself claims that 'there is no factory that produced Biedroń, Palikot, and now has taken me onto the production line,' and appeals to 'stop conspiracy theories of history,' the more we listen to him, the more doubts we have.” -- KARNOWSKI ON THE SLUICE SYSTEM THAT WILL DIRECT VOTES IN THE SECOND ROUND AGAINST PIS: “In summary, Hołownia has said everything important himself. He stands opposite Duda, and the goal is for candidates subordinate to opposition centers to capture as many votes as possible. So that there is a second round, and in the second round, all these votes go to the best opposition candidate. The rest of the field is to create a sluice system that directs votes where they should go. They have the right to do so, although at times it all begins to resemble the so-called controlled democracy from the East, where the political scene is shaped in such a way that the one who is supposed to win ultimately wins.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/477002-wszystko-co-wazne-holownia-juz-powiedzial-plan-jest-jasny -- MARCELINA ZAWISZA ON HER SEVERE ILLNESS WHILE WORKING ON A ZERO-HOUR CONTRACT - TELLS JACEK GĄDKA IN GAZETA.PL: “If it weren't for my parents, I would have starved to death. By paying 'junk' contributions from a 'junk' contract, I was not entitled to sick leave. I lost my job. It's hard to work when you're constantly vomiting and bald. When the cancer returned, I told my boss that I couldn't work, and I couldn't go on sick leave. I heard: OK, then we're terminating the contract. We said goodbye.” -- ZAWISZA ON THE QUESTION OF PRESIDENT KACZYŃSKI: “He was very okay, but when it comes to his approach to labor law.” -- WE WILL PROBABLY SURPASS PLATFORMA - ZAWISZA CONTINUES: “The Left has a comprehensive vision of a socially just Poland, where the state supports people but doesn't tell them how to live. We have concrete views and ideas. That's why we will probably soon surpass Platforma in the polls and become the main force in the opposition.” -- ZAWISZA ON HER DREAM OF BEING THE CHIEF LABOR INSPECTOR: “If a third cancer doesn't hit me, I dream of being the Minister of Labor and Social Policy. And once we manage to reform the State Labor Inspectorate, I dream of being the Chief Labor Inspector in Poland. Seriously.” http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114884,25477080,marcelina-zawisza.html -- MICHAŁ WILGOCKI IN GW POLEMIZES WITH LIBERTE PUBLICISTS WRITING ABOUT ZANDBERGISM: “The discussion about the shape and dimension of work is too serious a topic to dismiss with incantations about a demanding and lazy left-wing youth. (...) There are more challenges on a slightly smaller scale: they concern, for example, the pension system or the housing market. These are not topics that can be dismissed with ritualistic adjectives. Because in the best-case scenario, the system will produce masses of extremely poor people in a dozen or so years. And in the worst case – we won't live to see that time because we'll be fried.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,25498276,pogadajmy-o-pracy-zanim-sie-usmazymy-polemika-z-publicystami.html -- THE PRESIDENT'S LETTER IS POLITE AND WITHOUT SUBTEXTS - PIOTR PACEWICZ IN OKO.PRESS: “While the president's letter was polite and devoid of subtext, the statement by the Minister of Culture, Piotr Gliński, belongs to the category of so-called backhanded compliments, whose author wishes to argue and even lecture the person to whom he is extending congratulations. The minister also criticized Olga Tokarczuk's Nobel lecture 'The Tender Narrator.' His statement created something of a counter-Nobel lecture expressing the ideology of the Polish right and the minister's imagination of good art.” https://oko.press/glinski-pouczyl-tokarczuk-czego-brakuje-jej-ksiazkom-czy-wystarczy-ta-czulosc-to-mam-watpliwosci/ -- OKO.PRESS ON TOKARCZUK'S WORDS: “We counted the words in Tokarczuk's Nobel lecture. 'National' appears once, with the intention of liquidation, which may annoy the right. But our bubble also has reasons for disappointment: not a word about PiS, a general mention of tyrants. Fortunately! The dominant words are: world, story, people, we, our, unity, whole, literature, tenderness, myth.” https://oko.press/slowa-tokarczuk-polska-2-razy-swiat-43-opowiesc-108-razy-narod-raz-czulosc-9-razy/ -- LET'S NOT POLITICIZE TOKARCZUK - JACEK NIZINKIEWICZ IN RZ: “Albert Einstein said about Maria Curie-Skłodowska, a Nobel laureate honored in two fields: 'Mrs. Curie is, of all people in the world, the only one not spoiled by fame.' We should be content to hope that Tokarczuk will not be spoiled by politics and reduced to the role of a party's cudgel. And the temptation is great. The Nobel laureate can be a president of tolerance and a return to direct relationships. Let's not involve her in politics. Let's not politicize Tokarczuk. The values she espouses are universal and important enough to outlast both Kaczyński and Tusk, and may even reconcile them.” https://www.rp.pl/Rzecz-o-polityce/312109896-Jacek-Nizinkiewicz-Komu-przeszkadza-Olga-Tokarczuk.html -- BEATA BIEL AND KONKRET24 WIN GRAND PRESS DIGITAL! Congratulations! -- Two years ago, President Andrzej Duda appointed Mateusz Morawiecki's first government. -- BIRTHDAYS: Dominika Maria Wielowieyska-Ganew, Sławomir Nowak (turning 45), Paweł Olszewski (40), Eleonora Zielińska, Aleksander Siemaszko.