-- THE WEALTHIEST SHOULD PAY HIGHER TAXES - KRZYSZTOF GAWKOWSKI - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2020/02/07/ -- MACRON IS NOT FOOLISH, NOT MUCH CAN BE DONE IN THE EU WITHOUT WARSAW - BERNARD GUETTA IN CONVERSATION WITH JAKUB BODZIONY IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: “It is not true that Macron's stance has changed. During his lecture at the Jagiellonian University, the President clearly emphasized his position on judicial reforms in Poland. But we must remember that Brexit has just happened – Europe needs to reinvent itself and redefine its relationship with the United States under Donald Trump's administration. Poland, due to its location, population size, and economic scale, is becoming an increasingly important player in the European Union. Macron is not foolish and knows how reality looks – not much can be done in the EU without Warsaw, and even less so against Poland.” -- THERE IS NO POLEMIC WITH MACRON ON EUROPEAN DEFENSE POLICY IN POLAND: “This does not change the fact that President Macron's visit highlighted the need to build European defense. And there was no polemic on this topic from Poland.” -- NO INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS CAN SOLVE MACRON'S DOMESTIC PROBLEMS - GUETTA CONTINUES: “In no case. There is no diplomatic success that could help solve President Macron's problems in domestic politics.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2020/02/07/guetta-po-brexicie-europa-musi-wymyslic-sie-na-nowo/ -- BUT IT GOT MORE EXPENSIVE! GAZETA.PL MADE THE SAME PURCHASES AS ANDRZEJ DUDA IN 2015 AT THE SAME BIEDRONKA: “We went to the same Biedronka store that Andrzej Duda visited in 2015 and made the same purchases. But it got more expensive! Today's cost of shopping is 47.16 PLN. That's 27% more. In Poland, under the Law and Justice government, all items on Duda's list have become more expensive over five years. For 30 eggs, the current president paid 7.89 PLN in 2015 – we currently paid 14.48 PLN, almost twice as much. The price of sugar or bread increased by a quarter, and a Kinder Surprise egg became a third more expensive.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,25673105,koszyk-dudy-czyli-dobra-zmiana-w-naszych-portfelach.html -- PAD MAY PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE FOR HIS CAMP - DR. JAROSŁAW FLIS IN CONVERSATION WITH ŁUKASZ ROGOSZ IN GAZETA.PL: "Bronisław Komorowski's campaign showed us beyond any doubt that any advantage can be squandered and any campaign can be lost. President Duda may pay the ultimate price for the actions of his political camp. Andrzej Duda's ratings are the ratings of the United Right. The closer it gets to the election, the more visible this will be. Meanwhile, the governing party's ratings have been at best stable since the October elections, although we are increasingly observing noticeable drops in support. Already in October, the PiS lists had almost a million fewer votes than the anti-PiS bloc. This should be a warning for Duda's campaign staff. The conviction that presidential elections are the most personalized of all elections has weak factual basis." -- WHERE IS THE NORMALCY FROM THE EXPOSÉ? - FLIS CONTINUES: "The Prime Minister's exposé was indeed addressed to the center - the most frequently used word was 'normalcy.' It was the events in the judiciary that thwarted this intention. PiS has fallen into a rut from which it seems there is no way out for them. Because they have become so attached to their own rhetoric, to their own assessment of the situation concerning the courts, that they cannot imagine taking any steps other than trying to have their way." -- SCHETYNA, AN UNPOPULAR FIGURE, IS GONE FOR KIDAWA-BŁOŃSKA - FLIS CONTINUES: "In the case of Marshal Kidawa-Błońska, reaching the second round is much more probable than not reaching it. Five years ago, even Paweł Kukiz's sensational result didn't get him to the second round; he lacked not a few, but a dozen or so percent of votes. Now, Civic Platform, and thus Kidawa-Błońska as well, is free from the burden of the disliked Grzegorz Schetyna, so in theory, she should have an easier time." https://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114884,25673294,prezydent-duda-moze-zaplacic-najwyzsza-cene-za-dzialania-swojego.html -- KIDAWA NEEDS TO RESTART HER AMORPHOUS CAMPAIGN - MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI IN RZ: “On Thursday, it became clear that Bartosz Arłukowicz will lead Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska's campaign. Previously, conflicting information was coming from Civic Platform, which only amplified the impression of chaos. The last few days have also not been good for the Marshal herself, and internet users are catching her latest gaffes. If Kidawa-Błońska wants to challenge Andrzej Duda, her campaign, which has been rather amorphous so far, needs a restart.” -- TAKING AN UNEQUIVOCAL STANCE WITH THE WEAKENING PIS CAN HARM DUDĘ - SZUŁDRZYŃSKI CONTINUES: “The beginning of the incumbent president's campaign was marked by the courts. By signing the disciplinary act, Andrzej Duda entered into a sharp conflict over the changes carried out by Zbigniew Ziobro. This dispute is the cause of a strongly polarizing political conflict. However, winning an election requires more than half of the votes, and unequivocally siding with PiS, which is weakening in the polls, can harm Duda.” -- KOSINIAK NEEDS A CLEARER MESSAGE, AND BOSAK CAN CAUSE A STIR - SZUŁDRZYŃSKI CONTINUES: “This situation is an opportunity for other candidates. However, Robert Biedroń must first work on his credibility after making too many U-turns last year. And Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz needs to come up with a concrete message, as the slogan of calming down politics might lose its clarity. However, Krzysztof Bosak can benefit from Duda's troubles. If PiS and TVP marginalize the nationalists, Bosak will get fuel to stir things up in the first round.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/302069891-Michal-Szuldrzynski-Chmury-kurzu-jeszcze-przed-bitwa.html -- RAFAŁ ZAKRZEWSKI: THIS STRENGTHENS ZIOBRO - he writes in GW: “I think the war with the courts will continue to be the engine of Duda's campaign. The incumbent president and his supporters have put too much energy and emotion into it. The main architect of this idea, Zbigniew Ziobro, who hopes to significantly strengthen his position in the ruling camp, has invested too much. The slogan of defending Polish sovereignty, which appeals to dignity, is also significant – it is meant to stir voters' emotions.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,25672830,wojna-z-sedziami-to-pomysl-na-kampanie-dudy-ale-i-wzmocnienie.html -- FIGHTING FOR A FIRST-ROUND VICTORY WOULD REQUIRE A DIFFERENT STRATEGY - JACEK KARNOWSKI: “The campaign is just gaining momentum. The race will likely be decided only on May 24th, as Andrzej Duda's chances of winning in the first round seem slim. Paradoxically, this is also an important question: should one risk and fight for victory on May 10th, or should one immediately focus on the second round? Contrary to appearances, both answers to this question must lead to a slightly different strategy.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/485896-3-wymiary-kampanii-ktore-zdecyduja-o-sukcesie-badz-klesce -- IF THE PRESIDENT CLAIMS THE DISCIPLINARY ACT WILL CHANGE ANYTHING, HE IS OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY - ŁUKASZ WARZECHA in Onet: “PiS correctly diagnosed that trust was drastically low due to the attitude of the judicial elites themselves. PiS could have changed the situation by engaging in cooperation – for the good of the state – with that significant group of judges who would have gladly supported even far-reaching changes a few years ago, provided they were carried out thoughtfully, with sensitivity, and did not simply mean taking over institutions by their own people. Instead, they began to take over the system aggressively, turning almost all members of the profession against themselves. If the president now imagines that a repressive law will bring order to this environment, he must be dramatically out of touch with reality.” -- CHOOSE YOUR FIRST PRESIDENT AND NOTHING MORE - WARZECHA CONTINUES: “I don't know what plan Minister Ziobro and President Duda have. I suspect it's not a particularly subtle plan. Just to choose their own candidate for the First President of the Supreme Court, which the act signed by the president will greatly facilitate, and then to continue attacking the judges mercilessly – which some of them themselves justify and provoke with their behavior. However, this does not solve any problem in the judiciary. Instead, we are approaching a point where not only will no one be able to be certain of the durability of court rulings, but some people will consider that 'bad courts' can essentially be disregarded, that judges can be shouted at in courtrooms, and bailiffs chased with pitchforks – because the authorities keep repeating that these are bad people.” https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/opinie/ustawa-dyscyplinujaca-sedziow-lukasz-warzecha-komentuje/t4738ej -- HOŁOWNIA'S SPOT SHOWED HOW WE WERE TRAINED REGARDING SMOLENSK - GALOPUJĄCY MAJOR in Krytyka: “But that's not the most important thing. The reaction to candidate Hołownia's spot showed how much Poles have been trained to think about the Smolensk issue. The tenth anniversary of the catastrophe will occur in three months. Ten years, and the Polish state still hasn't explained it. And what? And nothing? For five years, PiS has been in power, PiS politicians have the prosecutor's office, parliament, president, Constitutional Tribunal, and soon perhaps the courts. And what? And nothing? Kaczyński was supposed to get the wreckage back, it was getting closer and closer to solving the mystery. And what? Well, he built steps at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. No, Hołownia shouldn't be the one to explain; Hołownia, and behind him Kidawa-Błońska, Kosiniak-Kamysz, and Robert Biedroń should be asking where the investigation results are after five years.” -- ONE SHOULD NOT MOCK SMOLENSK, BUT EXPLAIN WHY A CIRCUS WAS MADE FOR MILLIONS - THE BLOGGER'S CONCLUSION: “No, one should not mock Smolensk. In my opinion, one should finally announce in the program the establishment of a parliamentary investigative committee for Smolensk scams, for payments, desecration of graves, deception and misleading of public opinion, blocking or deliberate extension of investigations, and the wagons of money that flowed to Macierewicz's experts who were so busy that for 10 years they couldn't even go to the crash site. Hołownia and all the other candidates should write about this, not allow themselves to be morally blackmailed by a team that has turned this death into a circus worth millions.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/felietony/galopujacy-major/spot-szymon-holownia-smolensk/ -- ONET ANALYZES HOŁOWNIA'S PROGRAM AND HIS HESITATION REGARDING THE USA: “The non-partisan candidate warns against basing our security on a single alliance with the United States, governed by Donald Trump, which he calls 'naivety and wishful thinking.' Hołownia also wants to create an unspecified 'consultative instrument for key issues of European policy, encompassing the government and the president, the parliamentary majority and the opposition.'” -- HOŁOWNIA WANTS A REFERENDUM ON RAISING CONTRIBUTIONS: “Furthermore, the candidate notes the necessity of increasing funding for public healthcare. He therefore proposes, together with the Senate, to hold a nationwide referendum on increasing the health contribution. He also wants to introduce telemedicine services, such as hotlines or video chats with doctors, which would 'relieve the system.'” https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/kraj/szymon-holownia-program-wyborczy-jakie-ma-pomysly-na-prezydenture/ym6ftt4 -- POP CULTURE LOSES IN POLITICS - MARIUSZ CIEŚLIK ON HOŁOWNIA - he writes in RZ: “There is much truth in this, but fortunately, when it comes to the most important matters, the purely political message proves stronger, and pop culture ultimately loses. This has been the case since the days of the Polish Beer Lovers' Party, whose MPs included (who remembers?!) Krzysztof Ibisz and Janusz Rewiński. Today, pop culture ephemera like Paweł Kukiz or Janusz Palikot are also vegetating on the absolute political margins. That's where Szymon Hołownia will end up too. This will happen, if only because voters are not convinced that candidates from the stage or television are serious.” https://www.rp.pl/Felietony/302069890-Mariusz-Cieslik-Prezydent-z-telewizji.html -- IT'S NOT LIKE TURKEY - PROF. EWA ŁĘTOWSKA IN CONVERSATION WITH EWA SIEDLECKA: “No. We will hit a wall when it's like in Turkey – judges being imprisoned. Here, for now, it's about removing them from adjudicating and cutting their salaries. But we are heading in a similar direction. There is still some room before we hit the wall. Although it's not easy to navigate in this space. What we see is the external surface of phenomena. Tactics, strategy, puffing up chests, actions just in case, for intimidation. Much depends on the judges' reactions. On whether they will be able and willing to use the legal instruments they have.” -- IT WILL SURVIVE BECAUSE IT SURVIVED IN STALINIST TIMES - PROF. ŁĘTOWSKA CONTINUES: “It will survive as it survived in Stalinist times. Then judges hid behind formalism. They didn't create interpretations; they said: I apply the provision literally, the law says this, and I am the 'mouthpiece of the law.' It's hard to be punished for literal application of a provision. The question is whether judges can today use such formal means, interpret the law in such a way as to extract the maximum decent meaning from it. And there is EU law, which provides many starting points for this. Let's hope judges learn to use it.” https://www.polityka.pl/tygodnikpolityka/kraj/1941332,1,prof-ewa-letowska-dla-polityki-teraz-wiele-zalezy-od-sedziow.read -- PEKAO PRESIDENT MAREK LUSZTYN ALREADY HAS SUPERVISORY APPROVAL: “The Financial Supervision Authority unanimously granted approval for Marek Lusztyn to become the president of Bank Pekao. He was appointed to this position by the supervisory board on November 29, 2019. The condition was obtaining KNF approval. Previously, Lusztyn oversaw the risk management division for over two years as Vice-President of Pekao.” https://businessinsider.com.pl/wiadomosci/pekao-ma-juz-oficjalnie-nowego-prezesa-jest-zgoda-nadzoru/6v1r7ff -- 1ST ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF JAN OLSZEWSKI. -- BIRTHDAYS: Krzysztof Żabiński, Iwona Guzowska.