“President Nawrocki is against.” The Polish president through the eyes of the German press

Karol Nawrocki has vetoed more bills since the beginning of his term than any of his predecessors; the president is “invading” the government not only in domestic policy, but also abroad, said the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung on Tuesday.

The history of the round table

In her introduction, the newspaper's Warsaw correspondent, Viktoria Grossmann, drew attention to the decision to remove the Round Table from the Presidential Palace. The author recalled that in the negotiations in 1989, apart from Lech Wałęsa, who today supports Donald Tusk, the Kaczyński brothers – Lech and Jarosław, the founders of PiS, also participated. They all prepared a political turn that led to the fall of the communist People's Republic of Poland. “Nawrocki was six years old then,” noted the German journalist.

As Grossmann assessed, Nawrocki took advantage of the “wave of indignation”. The Round Table, for many Poles “a symbol of peaceful political change”, is, according to him, only “a reminder that representatives of the then communist leadership also sat at it.” That is why these talks cannot be “idealized,” says the president. In his opinion, as reported by “SZ”, some participants of the Round Table discussions suffered from the “Stockholm syndrome”, which led to forgiveness of all crimes of the communist system and “continued support for murderers of Poles”. According to the author, the president had in mind the party of Prime Minister Donald Tusk – the Civic Coalition.

“Nawrocki represents PiS's image of history, whose representatives portray themselves as the greatest fighters against the communists,” wrote Grossmann, noting that communists “practically no longer exist.” It's good – continues the author – that the Round Table did not end up in the trash bin, but will end up in the Polish History Museum.

Presidential veto

The “SZ” correspondent pointed out that Nawrocki won the election “by a hair”, winning “only” 50.89 percent. votes. Since the beginning of his term, which began in August, he has vetoed more bills than any of his predecessors. The president “systematically blocks the work of the conservative-liberal-left coalition”, regardless of whether it is about cryptocurrencies, excise tax on alcohol or animal welfare. “Nawrocki is against it. He constantly demands more gratitude from Ukrainians,” Grossmann emphasized, adding that the president broke with the tradition of lighting Hanukkah candles.

The author emphasized that Nawrocki does not represent all 37.5 million Poles, but only those who share his views. She admitted that 54% declare trust in the president. society, which gives him first place on the list of the most popular politicians.

Government-president conflict

For the Polish government, Nawrocki is a problem – not only in the country, but also abroad – we read in “SZ”. While Tusk and his Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski distance themselves from US President Donald Trump, Nawrocki sought close contacts with him already during the election campaign. In his speech at Charles University in Prague, he almost completely omitted the issue of aid for Ukraine, but complained about the alleged “German-French domination in the EU.” During his visit to Riga, he said that Western Europe is unable to take care of security on our continent, which is why he is glad that Trump talks about it so clearly. “We,” said Nawrocki, also referring to PiS, “have been talking about this for years,” the newspaper recalled. (PAP)

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