-- JAROSŁAW KACZYŃSKI ON BILDA'S QUESTION ABOUT TALKING TO PUTIN: “I could talk to President Putin about my brother’s death. But first, he would have to return the wreckage to us.” -- COURTS PROTECT PRIVILEGED ENVIRONMENTS – KACZYŃSKI CONTINUES: “If the law is broken in Poland, it is the courts that lead the way, and there is a truly gigantic amount of examples of this. (…) Of course, there are privileged environments. Generally, these are privileges derived from the communist system, which they want to preserve because it is in their interest. Courts protect representatives of these environments even in obvious and scandalous cases. And this is the whole truth and the essence of the dispute that is taking place.” -- POLAND NEVER PUNISHED HOMOSEXUALITY – PJK ON MINORITY RIGHTS: “Unlike many other countries, homosexuality in Poland has never been prohibited or punishable (except during the partitions, when we did not have our own statehood). When we regained independence after World War I, these provisions disappeared from the penal code, which was an anomaly in Europe at the time. Therefore, we do not have such a history, we do not have such a tradition, and there is no violence against homosexuals either.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/483946-prezes-pis-moglbym-porozmawiac-z-putinem-o-smierci-brata -- BILDA'S CONVERSATION WITH PJK CAN BE TRANSLATED VIA GOOGLE TRANSLATE IN CHROME: https://www.bild.de/politik/ausland/politik-ausland/polen-kaczynski-im-interview-warum-wollen-sie-noch-immer-geld-von-uns-67543114.bild.html -- IF THIS ATTACK ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER SUCCEEDS, THE POWER OF DEMOCRACY WILL BE REDUCED FOREVER – MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI: “If this passes, if this attack on the Polish constitutional order succeeds, the power of our democratic vote and all the institutions of our public life will be reduced. Our sovereignty will also weaken. And we will be burdened with heavy chains again. We will never again have the right to change the method of redistributing national income, to correct the forms of state life, to confront the legacy of communism. And it will get worse and worse, because absolute power, standing above all other participants in public life, which the group currently ruling the judiciary wants, is never satisfied, it always wants more. The stake is therefore really high, far beyond the dispute between the United Right and the opposition over the shape of judicial reforms.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/483808-jesli-ten-plan-sie-uda-nigdy-juz-nic-w-polsce-nie-zmienimy -- THE PRESIDENT'S ABSENCE IN JERUSALEM MADE ANOTHER OF PUTIN'S PROVOCATIONS POINTLESS – PIOTR ZAREMBA IN PTT: “It appears that the absence of the Polish President has rendered any further provocation by Vladimir Putin pointless. No further accusations against Poland were made at the World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem.” -- SHOULD WE CONDUCT HISTORICAL POLICY OR NOT – ZAREMBA ASKS ABOUT THE LACK OF LOGIC IN GAZETA WYBORCZA: “'Putin ran over Polish hussars with his historical policy' – with such a grateful bon mot, Paweł Wroński, a commentator for Gazeta Wyborcza, summed up Poland's troubles. What immediately strikes here is the lack of logic. For years, 'Wyborcza' lent its pages to people who claimed that historical policy is fundamentally a bad thing. Reprehensible and unnecessary. Now, suddenly, it turns out that it must be had, but effective. The Russian tank is, in this context, met with barely concealed admiration. So, what is it? Is historical policy worth pursuing, or not?” -- THE OPPOSITION CANNOT AGREE AMONG ITSELF ON FUNDAMENTAL OPINIONS – ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “PiS does many things wrong, bends the law, and avoids democratic control as much as it can, yet in such matters it should be supported. Practically unconditionally, even if in foolish blindness it cannot ask for such support itself (by not convening the National Security Council). Because there are things more important than someone's ambitions or even partial political reasons in other matters. Incidentally, the spectacle of settling 'PiS mistakes' is a display of ignorance mixed with manipulation. And unfortunately, this now concerns not only journalists. I heard Tomasz Siemoniak state that the president should not go to Israel. And I heard his presidential candidate Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska consider the absence from Jerusalem a mistake. The opposition camp doesn't have to be a monolith, but since it cannot agree among itself on such fundamental opinions, how can it hold others accountable for diplomatic errors?” -- WHY CAN'T YOU BE LIKE WITOS? – ZAREMBA TO THE OPPOSITION: “Mocking Poland's alleged ineffectiveness simultaneously creates an impulse for a lack of solidarity. If every second Polish politician or commentator associated with the opposition starts by denouncing Duda, Morawiecki, or Kaczyński, Putin and the segment of the Jewish community unfavorably disposed towards us have an easier task. And they are not achieving their goals yet. But it's despite, not thanks to, the efforts of many Poles. (...) This does not mean that Polish foreign policy, diplomacy, including soft and historical diplomacy, should not be monitored, changed, or subjected to pressure. But when a crowbar against one's own people appears in the hands of Polish players, any conversation ends. And the Polish interest ends. Remember Wincenty Witos. He distinguished between Polish authorities, who beat and humiliated him, and the Polish state. Why can't you do that?” https://polskatimes.pl/piotr-zaremba-wymyslanie-polskich-klesk-to-chyba-nie-zadanie-dla-polaka/ar/c15-14736208 -- A NON-PARTISAN PRESIDENCY IS THE BEST SOLUTION, WHICH IS WHY I GOT INVOLVED – PROF. RAFAŁ MATYJA IN CONVERSATION WITH MICHAŁ SUTOWSKI IN KRYTYKA POLITYCZNA: “But I made the decision during the parliamentary election campaign, not wanting to stand by idly watching what was happening. I still believe the opposition could have won, but since that didn't happen, we need to think about what's next. In this situation, a non-partisan presidency is the best solution. And truly non-partisan, not, as often happens in local government elections, merely formal, seemingly independent, but actually party-backed. The point is for the president to be able to act independently, so that in the case of signing a controversial law, we would wait for his decision, not the result of his conversation with the head of a party close to him. This is the best option in circumstances where we know that the next term will be governed by a PiS majority, with an opposition like it is.” -- SZYMON HOŁOWNIA'S VICTORY WOULD CHANGE THE SCENE – MATYJA CONTINUES: “We both know that a potential victory for Hołownia in the elections would change the political scene and the strategies of its actors. Whether it would make such a policy possible – we don't know, but there hasn't been a presidency profiled in this way yet.” -- THERE WILL BE NO STATUS QUO WITH HOŁOWNIA – MATYJA CONTINUES AT SUTOWSKI'S: “A president can always stand in the way of someone's aspirations for unlimited power. But this life-and-death struggle is primarily between two parties, whereas if Hołownia manages to win, it will mean a new political majority has formed. The president will have a rather extraordinary mandate. Of course, it can be squandered on brawls or sinking into a chair under a chandelier. But one can also play differently, charge the rulers a hefty bill for a potential conflict with the president. Moreover, there will no longer be the current status quo – I find it hard to believe that after such a choice, the political scene would freeze, that PiS would still have 43 percent, PO 27, and Lewica 12. There would be a great deal of movement, some PiS politicians would have something to think about, internal disputes within that party would be shaped differently, and a new dynamic would emerge in the opposition.” -- HOŁOWNIA'S DISTANCE FROM PIS IS GREATER THAN FROM THE OPPOSITION: “Of course, not symmetrically. His distance from PiS is greater today than from opposition formations, partly due to the way PiS governs and the conflicts it generates. But this does not mean that a non-partisan president will act according to the logic of the parliamentary opposition, that he will be forced to question every government action. The second point is moving beyond disputes specific to the older generation, reproducing divisions that began in the 1990s.” -- MATYJA ON OLDER GENERATION ELITES AND UNDERSTANDING THE PROBLEMS OF 30-YEAR-OLDS: “Elites of the older generation do not want to tackle new issues; there is resistance, for example, on environmental topics, and they have a limited awareness of what is seen today as the main problem for thirty- and forty-year-olds, namely the housing situation.” -- KWAŚNIEWSKI BECAME MORE PALATABLE TO THE CENTER THAN TODAY'S LEFT – MATYJA CONTINUES IN KRYTYKA: “Hołownia's victory would force parties to redefine their positions. Perhaps, for example, on the left, someone would notice – because they don't see the need today – what needs to be done to move closer to the center? It's about something that Kwaśniewski intuitively did during his first presidency, after which – being a post-communist – he became palatable to a much wider electorate. He had a harder time in this regard than Zandberg and Biedroń have today, yet he managed in various ways to connect with people who were on the other side. Those who later voted for him in 2000, who later supported his party. Thanks to his stance, SLD won 41 percent of the votes in 2001.” -- MATYJA QUOTES SADURA AND SIERAKOWSKI'S RESEARCH SAYING POLES FEAR ABSOLUTE POWER: “Firstly, some Law and Justice voters may already be tired of the party's excesses, and although they supported it in the parliamentary elections, they would prefer someone else to be president. Such a possibility arises, among other things, from the research of Sadura and Sierakowski, which states that people fear Kaczyński's absolute power, even if they support him or simply don't want PO to return.” -- ALL RESEARCH SHOWS THE SAME – POLES ARE TIRED OF CONFLICT: “Research is done to find out what the voter's mood is, how best to reach them, what they will not accept, what to soften, and what to sharpen. Not for – who to be and what political plan to have. Research today certainly shows that around the parliamentary elections, the voter began to say that they are terribly tired of this whole conflict. The effects of this knowledge can be heard in the statements of people from the government, as well as from Kidawa-Błońska and Grodzki. And this means: all research points to the same thing, so in the autumn there was a serious rhetorical shift.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/matyja-szymon-holownia-wyjscie-awaryjne/ -- KONRAD PIASECKI ON WHY THE PRESIDENT IS NOW DRAWING HIS IMAGE WITH A STRONGER LINE: “Perhaps the president was somewhat carried away by the mood of the moment, the shouts from the crowd, he experienced a moment of heightened emotion or agitation, but this tone can also herald how the president would like to be seen in this campaign. For Andrzej Duda still harbors a somewhat healed, but still remembered, complex of being perceived in the image and likeness of Adrian from 'Ucho Prezesa' – not very independent, not very authoritative, doomed to wait for decisions made at Nowogrodzka Street. Outpacing his own camp in rhetoric, arguing that he does not passively await events brought by the external world but co-creates them, demonstrating strength and faith in the meaning of what is happening in the judiciary, can be a way to heal this complex and build a more decisive image, drawn with a stronger line.” -- KIDAWA CAN'T GET GOING – PIASECKI CONTINUES: “Preparations for the campaign in PO are therefore standing still rather than moving forward vigorously, and the candidate herself somehow cannot 'get going' and catch the pre-campaign wind in her sails. She travels around the country little, has few meetings, and is almost non-existent on social media. Even politicians close to her admit that the Deputy Marshal of the Sejm should still practice public speaking fluency and demonstrate her 'presidential' format during them. The minimum goal for the PO candidate in this campaign is to reach the second round and achieve a solid result there, proving that Polish society is still divided almost fifty-fifty. Today, polls give her a high probability of achieving these goals. But they prove that the stake for Kidawa's opposition rivals is not doomed to play the role of extras, and with her weaker performance and their spectacular campaign, they can flatten the results of the first round so much that who gets to the second will be decided by 2-3 percent of the votes.” -- PIASECKI ON KOSINIAK'S GOOD POSITION: “But for Kosiniak, in these elections 'the sky is the limit'. PSL candidates have never fared well in presidential elections. Their results were always significantly lower than what the party received in parliamentary elections. Therefore, no one expects miracles from Kosiniak. But if, with a good campaign, personal commitment, and the weakness of his rivals, he comes close to reaching the second round or even just achieves a double-digit result – there will be great joy in the PSL.” -- PIASECKI ON THE UNKNOWN OF HOŁOWNIA: “Hołownia's candidacy may turn out to be an insignificant event, but it could also somehow change the map of electoral moods and sympathies. Somehow, because, paradoxically, it is not entirely clear how and to whom it might be beneficial.” -- GENERATIONAL CHANGE – PIASECKI'S CONCLUSION: “These elections are definitely a clash signaling a generational change in Polish politics. With the exception of Kidawa-Błońska, none of the significant candidates reached adulthood before the fall of the PRL. Most of the candidates are politicians shaped by the Third Polish Republic, in which they began their public and political activities. These may also be elections that prove whether the POPiS duopoly is increasingly crumbling, and whether the left and the national-republican right are ceasing to play the role of political extras. But above all, these will be elections that can determine Poland's political perspective and future not only for the coming years, but perhaps for decades. They could grant full power to the PiS camp for the next four years or make such a significant breach in the structure of government that Jarosław Kaczyński's grouping loses its revolutionary momentum, is forced to change its governing style, seek compromises, and find itself in a new, difficult for it, cohabitation reality.” https://tvn24.pl/magazyn-tvn24/szczupaki-welonki-i-skalary-czyli-siodma-bitwa-o-palac,254,4427 -- ANDRZEJ STANKIEWICZ QUOTES PO POLITICIANS ABOUT THE BACKSTAGE OF RIVALRY IN PO – SCHETYNA WEAKENS BUDKA: “A Budka collaborator says: — We have been conducting an intensive internal campaign in PO for the past few weeks. We have won over many of Schetyna's former allies. Today, Grzegorz is very alone, and therefore his candidate will certainly not win. However, to win in the first round, Budka needs to get over half the votes. And that may be difficult. If Budka doesn't win on Saturday, there will be a runoff in two weeks. — It's a waste of time because the delay will make it difficult for us to conduct the presidential campaign — says an influential PO MP. — But Grzegorz is playing for the second round. He wants to maximally weaken Budka's result so that he is weak after taking over the party. Then Schetyna will be able to fight to maintain his influence.” -- PLATFORMA IS SHRINKING – STANKIEWICZ'S CONCLUSION: “Even if Budka wins in the first round, and Schetyna does not immediately start fighting him, the party leadership elections may still turn out to be an image defeat for Platforma. It's about the shrinking membership of party ranks. In its heyday – when Tusk was the leader and the party governed the country – Platforma counted over 40,000 members on paper, with about 20,000 active activists. For example, in the internal elections in 2013 – when Tusk won against Jarosław Gowin – 21,800 people voted. This time, it is expected that the number of voters will be dramatically lower – below 10,000. Although PO politicians complain about Schetyna for scheduling the elections during the holidays, the winter lull cannot explain everything. The facts are that Platforma is shrinking, and the voting majority will be the party apparatus – MPs, senators, presidents, mayors, and councilors.” https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/analiza-wyborow-w-po-andrzeja-stankiewicza/elh99rd -- PIOTR ZAREMBA'S INTERESTING OPINION – PiS'S DISTRIBUTIONAL POLICY WAS BORN OUT OF REAL NEED – he writes in RZ: “Can it be compared to the seminar reflections of an intellectual? Contrary to appearances, there are thinkers in Poland who are animated by a conservative worldview (Marek Cichocki, mentioned at the beginning, is a prime example, but there are more). However, their influence on the current practice of the conservative camp is small, especially since Jarosław Kaczyński 'stole' the right and will probably not return it soon. Most of PiS's political ideas, led by gigantic handouts, were born not from bookish thoughts, but from real needs.” -- PiS OFFERS TEACHERS BALCEROWICZ, REJECTED IN OTHER FIELDS – ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “When PiS undertook educational reform, it wasn't just about rearranging school nameplates. Extending the existence of general education was intended to serve many purposes. Increasing the role of education, including patriotic and civic education, strengthening the position of the humanities. However, this should have been followed by investment in this new school – including more money. The Morawiecki government chose to bribe other groups important from an electoral perspective, and wrote off teachers. Offering them the rhetoric of Leszek Balcerowicz, rejected in other spheres.” -- ZAREMBA ON POLISH CONSERVATISM AND SCRUTON: “But he was never a man of thought shaping the practice of a real political camp, in this case, the Tories. Such discussions are necessary, if only to observe our own politicians and thinkers. I, for example, regret that Prof. Ryszard Legutko generally exchanged metapolitical ambitions for ad hoc statements justifying the rulers' arguments, as he himself is one of them today. However, when conducting a comparative debate, it is worth not to idealize what is not ours at all costs. Although, of course, reading Scruton is a commendable activity.” https://archiwum.rp.pl/artykul/1420738-Dylematy-wspolczesnego-konserwatysty.html -- THE LITURGICAL CHARACTER OF CONFERENCES IN TUSK'S PLATFORMA – ANDRZEJ MACHOWSKI IN CONVERSATION WITH ELIZA OLCZYK IN RZ: “I knew I had no chance. My candidacy had one goal – I wanted to get the opportunity to speak. Even then, the liturgical character of conferences in Platforma began to dominate. That everything is precisely arranged. It's known in advance who will say what and at what moment. If I hadn't run, I probably wouldn't have been allowed to speak at all.” -- MACHOWSKI REPEATS HIS THESIS FROM FRIDAY'S TEXT IN GW THAT PO HAS NOTHING TO LOOK FOR ON THE RIGHT: “Because it is the main opposition force, and I am keenly interested in the opposition finally managing to achieve victory over PiS. It did not happen in the parliamentary elections because gaining the Senate in our political system doesn't achieve much. Presidential elections remain. Almost certainly, Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska from PO will face Andrzej Duda in the second round, and three-quarters of this party's electorate has left-wing views. Kidawa-Błońska cannot underestimate this. Especially since to win in the second round, she needs practically all Lewica voters. And with such deep divisions on the right, there's nothing to look for there.” -- MACHOWSKI RECALLS WHAT A CAMPAIGN OPPORTUNITY HANNA SUCHOCKA WAS: “But a lack of cohesion was not the only problem. Another was that it wasn't really clear who was the face of the campaign. People like to have a specific politician on their banner who embodies the party, and we paradoxically had too many leaders, including two former prime ministers, and couldn't decide who to focus on. Hanna Suchocka – and she had considerable campaign potential – presented herself as a strong politician, in the style of Margaret Thatcher, but in one moment she could turn into such a normal woman, who chats like 'one of us' to a market vendor – in my opinion, she was promoted far too weakly. Her potential was not utilized.” https://www.rp.pl/Plus-Minus/301249996-Andrzej-Machowski-Wszechmocny-dlugopis-Tuska.html -- RAFAŁ WOŚ IN TP ON TAXING ROBOTS: “There is a problem with robots in Minister Emilewicz's view for another reason. The Polish government's approach is detached from the experiences of other countries. Where the trend is the opposite. Instead of exempting robots from tax, there is a growing awareness that they should be taxed. How? Theoretically, there are at least several good models to address the issue: from income tax for robots, through a type of robot excise duty, to the vision of a universal dividend, financed from automation profits. This will involve overcoming many practical problems. But that's a topic for another column in this series.” https://www.tygodnikpowszechny.pl/roboty-trzeba-opodatkowac-161825 -- 4 YEARS AGO, Grzegorz Schetyna was elected chairman of Civic Platform. -- 7 YEARS AGO, the first issue of the weekly Do Rzeczy was published. -- BIRTHDAYS: Stanisław Tyczyński, Justyna Pochanke, Paweł Jabłoński, Ryszard Czarnecki, Katarzyna Zdanowicz, Jacek Włosowicz, SUNDAY: Miłada Jędrysik, Michał Jaros, Agnieszka Pasternak, Jolanta Hibner.