-- PIS IS PREPARING THE LARGEST ELECTION CONVENTION SINCE 1989 - 300POLITYKA HEARS FROM ANDRZEJ DUDA'S CAMPAIGN TEAM. - Unprecedented crowds of supporters are expected at the event, which is intended to illustrate the campaign's strategic aim: that the President has the people behind him - we hear. -- JERZY OWSIAK ON LICHOCKA'S GESTURE: IT'S SO DEPRESSING, SO HUMILIATING, IT SO FORCEFULLY SHOWS ME I'M WORTHLESS - HE WRITES ON FB: “To match the annual subsidies for TVP, we need to work for many, many years. The Polish healthcare system is in shambles. There's a shortage of 60,000 doctors and 100,000 medical personnel. And yet, MP Joanna Lichocka shows us Poles the 'f**k off' gesture. And let her not f***ing lie and say she was rubbing her nose. The photos clearly show what kind of gesture it was. It's so depressing, so humiliating, it so forcefully shows me that I'm worthless, that I have no say here... I'm a second, third, or maybe fourth-class citizen... What has public debate come to? I demand that Ms. Joanna Lichocka immediately resigns her parliamentary seat. She has insulted millions of Poles. And her party has shown that our health, the health of Poles, has lost to sick, party-line thinking.” https://www.facebook.com/189787894433544/posts/2742583125820662/?d=n -- I DID NOT MAKE ANY VULGAR GESTURE - LICHOCKA IN THE SEJM, BRUDZIŃSKI, HOWEVER, SUGGESTS SHE SHOULD APOLOGIZE - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2020/02/14/ -- THE DILEMMA OF HOW FAR TO PUSH THE REVOLUTION IF ANDRZEJ DUDA WINS - PIOTR ZAREMBA IN PTT: “If Andrzej Duda, who, incidentally, allowed himself to be pushed to the forefront of the war with the judges, loses, the United Right is condemned to a fight for survival. However, if he wins, which is still more probable, the ruling camp will face a real dilemma: how far to push the revolution. It's impossible to resolve it now, but one can look for signs of who has a better chance of winning.” -- A SHOW OF UNITY, BUT DIFFERENCES ARE GROWING WITHIN THE RULING BLOC - ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “We will likely see a show of unity from the ruling right-wing on Saturday at their convention. Everyone will stand by the president, whom they have not always treated loyally and well during his first term. It will be a show of unity, but a superficial one, because differences are growing within the ruling bloc. What's more, current politics, especially that related to the ongoing wars around the courts, seems to be more important than what anyone says during the campaign.” -- THE SCENE IS SO POLARIZED THAT MISTAKES DON'T HARM THE RULERS - ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “Ziobro's program is a program of escalating the revolution, today primarily in the justice system, tomorrow possibly in other areas. The scene is so polarized that even blunders that contradict the ruling camp's propaganda don't harm them. The people still believe their side or are indifferent. What else could be such a blunder as the attack by government politicians on a court verdict that reduced the sentence of a rapist and murderer of a three-year-old by 10 years? It quickly turned out that the panel of judges included a judge promoted during the 'good change.' Kidawa-Błońska couldn't capitalize on this, but it undermined the reasoning: they, the old caste, are responsible for overly lenient sentences. It's obvious that the picture is more complicated, but PiS supporters still believe it.” https://polskatimes.pl/piotr-zaremba-dylemat-czy-ciagnac-rewolucje-rozstrzygnie-sie-po-wyborach/ga/c15-14787570/zd/41998846 -- IT'S HARDER FOR PIS WITH KIDAWĄ - MONIKA OLEJNIK IN GW: “It's much harder with Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska because she is the great-granddaughter of President Stanisław Wojciechowski and Prime Minister Władysław Grabski. These patriotic roots are likely unbearable for her opponents.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,25694209,czy-kampania-musi-byc-taka-brutalna.html -- RZ ON THE FRONT PAGE ABOUT THE PROBABILITY OF FINANCIAL PENALTIES AND PLAYING FOR TIME BY THE POLISH GOVERNMENT: “The Court can already order (or not) interim measures that are immediately enforceable. It can also convene a hearing. For some time, it was speculated that the CJEU might not only freeze the application of the provisions on the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court but also impose a high financial penalty on Poland in case of non-compliance with the prohibition. Prof. Waldemar Gontarski, Poland's representative before the CJEU, confirms that the Commission's letter regarding security does not include a request for financial penalties against Poland. However, there was no such request concerning the felling of Białowieża Forest, and the CJEU did impose a penalty. Here, Poland argues that since Luxembourg is not conducting the case under an accelerated procedure, it should not issue temporary security measures, let alone penalties.” https://www.rp.pl/Sedziowie-i-sady/302139892-Polska-chce-grac-na-czas-z-TSUE-ws-izby-dyscyplinarnej-SN.html -- THE SITUATION IS WORSE THAN UNDER TIMMERMANS - TOMASZ PIETRYGA IN RZ: “Exactly such a scenario seems most probable, evidenced by the practically icy relations between EU institutions and the Polish government. Today, no one is officially discussing the rule of law anymore, and the situation is beginning to become worse than during the times of Frans Timmermans. Warsaw and Brussels seem to be operating on completely separate planes regarding the courts, which have no chance of intersecting.” https://www.rp.pl/Opinie/302139895-Tomasz-Pietryga-Sytuacja-gorsza-niz-za-czasow-Fransa-Timmermansa.html -- WITHOUT TVP, POLES WOULD LOSE BILLIONS; IT'S AN INVESTMENT WITH A HIGH RETURN - JACEK KARNOWSKI: “How much would Poles lose from this? At least several hundred billion zlotys. At least. It's worth remembering that the 500+ program alone cost 90 billion zlotys by the end of last year. This money - as we know - according to the PO-PSL government, simply did not exist, and it couldn't be obtained in any way. And yet, it succeeded. And this is just one of many social programs. The government also spends significantly more on healthcare than its predecessors. Exactly twice as much; in 2015, 71 billion PLN was allocated for this purpose, now it's over 105 billion PLN. A change of government would not result in the two billion currently allocated to public media going to oncology. This money simply wouldn't be in the treasury, just like several hundred billion others. It would be in the pockets of those who are now working so hard to bring back the old, mediocre Polish state, equally patted on the back as it is robbed.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/486899-bez-mocnej-tvp-polacy-straciliby-kilkaset-miliardow-zlotych -- THE PRESIDENT WITH THE STATE APPARATUS HAS GREATER PERSUASIVE POWER. WHAT CAN THE OPPOSITION ACTUALLY PROMISE? - JACEK NIZINKIEWICZ IN RZ: “PiS will want to present Duda as the only candidate with the power to act, in contrast to his opponents, whose only aim will be to dismantle the ruling camp. Hence the barrage of election promises that Duda is supposed to shower Poles with during the campaign. Pension for years of service, 100 bypass roads – these are just some of those the president is to flaunt until May. Duda's power to act might be a real problem for the opposition. Because what can Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska or any other opposition candidate actually propose? The United Right government will not fulfill the president's promises, despite his legislative initiative. And the next parliamentary elections are more than three years away.” https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/302139891-Jacek-Nizinkiewicz-Moc-sprawcza-Andrzeja-Dudy.html -- MAREK BOROWSKI STATES HE WAS NEVER FOR THE LIQUIDATION OF THE CBA, BECAUSE THE BUREAU PLAYED A POSITIVE ROLE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION: “Legal matters are complicated. The issue of a lawsuit must be well-developed. It's quite disgusting that private conversations are published because of a fight with a former employee. This is unacceptable. The same goes for the financial affair at the CBA. The bureau has become its opposite. I was never in favor of liquidating the CBA, because it played a positive role in the fight against corruption. Countries that emerged from communism were very susceptible to this, to oligarchs and similar activities. Poland managed to escape this. I would change the laws regarding oversight of special services. In the Sejm, just like in Great Britain, there must be a cross-party (but without a ruling majority) commission that will have special powers to control the services.” -- BOROWSKI, WHEN ASKED BY NIZINKIEWICZ IF THE SERVICES CAN SPY ON THE OPPOSITION: “According to the laws that PiS passed a few years ago, special services have unlimited possibilities for wiretapping, recording, surveillance, and unwarranted control. As a result, campaign headquarters can be wiretapped, recorded, and information passed on to the current rulers. A citizen today has no certainty that the services are behaving properly towards them, in accordance with the law. And if they are not, there are no institutions that will investigate this and potentially draw consequences.” https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/302139883-Borowski-Andrzej-Duda-nie-zdal-egzaminu.html -- ON THE OCCASION OF WAŁĘSA'S SELFIE WITH CYMAŃSKI, MARCIN FIJOŁEK URGES NOT TO GO MAD: “And it's very good that they will eat, talk, and perhaps even – imagine that! – agree on one or another amendment in a parliamentary committee. Total campaigning has its own rules, but let's not go mad. And let them take more selfies – even with those with whom we don't get along on a daily basis, even at Wiejska.” https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/486794-czy-walesa-zasluzyl-na-baty-za-wspolne-selfie-z-poslem-pis -- ROMAN GRACZYK ARGUES THAT HOŁOWNIA IS THE MOST PROBLEMATIC FOR PIS: “From PiS's perspective and their candidate's, Hołownia is problematic because he takes away some of Andrzej Duda's voters. PiS would prefer to face Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska in the second round. From an anti-PiS perspective, it's important which candidate would have the greatest chance in the second round. For now, we only see the first round, and the competition between anti-PiS candidates is unavoidable. But after that comes the second round, and we should consider how the first round relates to the second. What would it bring to the anti-PiS movement if Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska made it to the second round? Of course, in such a case, opposition leaders would call for mass voting for her. But only the transfer of votes between electorates would matter, and that has always been our weakness. From this perspective, Hołownia's entry into the second round (I'm not saying he will be there, I'm hypothesizing) would offer chances for a better vote transfer balance. Unless the heralds of progress would also then preach that Hołownia represents chaos, and their lamentations would find an audience. Whoever cannot choose in politics, whoever cannot distinguish between the horizon of their values and the path to their realization, ultimately loses.” https://fakty.interia.pl/opinie/graczyk/news-szymon-holownia-przeszkadza-skrajnosciom,nId,4324379 -- BIRTHDAYS: Luiza Zalewska, Grzegorz Schreiber, Jacek Cholewiński, Aleksander Bentkowski, Bożenna Bukiewicz, Anna Budzanowska.