It is still unclear what will happen to the subsidy for Law and Justice. All members of the National Electoral Commission are working on a response to the Minister of Finance, who asked for an interpretation of the latest resolution. We already know that the answers will be mixed.
The members of the National Electoral Commission themselves admit that it has been going on for too long. – I am not a supporter of Brazilian series, but, indeed, the issue of subsidies for PiS is taking a while – admitted Paweł Gieras, a member of the National Electoral Commission.
There is no solution on the horizon. – The atmosphere in the National Electoral Commission is, to put it mildly, average. For now, things are not making much progress, said Tomasz Żółciak, journalist of money.pl.
After the December resolution of the National Electoral Commission, which everyone understood in their own way, the Minister of Finance asked for it to be clarified. The head of the Commission replied, but the minister wants a response from the entire National Electoral Commission. It had a meeting on this matter, but there was no decision.
– I submitted such a request that the entire National Electoral Commission would respond – said Ryszard Kalisz, member of the National Electoral Commission.
As money.pl journalists found out, both those who believe that PiS cannot be paid money and those who believe that PiS should receive the money should have their own draft responses. The National Electoral Commission is to discuss these projects only on January 27.
– The decision about which of them will land on the Minister of Finance's desk will be very difficult and the question is whether the National Electoral Commission will not move from one clinch to another – pointed out Tomasz Żółciak.
Szymon Hołownia in front of the National Electoral Commission headquartersTVN24
A case for the court?
On TVN24, Paweł Gieras, one of the committee members, said that the National Electoral Commission would issue an extended explanation of the basis for the December resolution. Will there be a phrase: to pay or not to pay? Probably not.
– The National Electoral Commission cannot take such a strong position because it is not the court that decides on this issue – said Paweł Gieras.
The National Electoral Commission is not a court and, as we hear, it cannot determine whether the Chamber of Public Affairs and Extraordinary Control of the Supreme Court, which ordered PiS to pay the money, is the court. The Minister of Finance is also not a court. We're back to square one. That's why a member of the National Electoral Commission puts forward ideas.
– It would be good if the court commented on this rather complicated legal situation – said Paweł Gieras.
Perhaps the Minister of Finance should issue a decision refusing the payment, then PiS could appeal to the administrative court and wait for the court's decision. Or perhaps it would be best to place the funds intended for PiS in a court deposit and wait whether the court will or will not allow the funds to be paid to PiS.
– All this actually takes place somewhere outside the Electoral Code, outside the procedures provided for there, and since there are no procedures, everyone gets lost somewhere in it all. Whatever decision is made, whether by the members of the National Electoral Commission individually or by the Minister of Finance, everyone is then legally, not to say criminally, responsible for the decision they make. This is the reason for this blockage – pointed out Tomasz Żółciak.
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PiS is already threatening the Minister of Finance with consequences. – Every day of delay, every day in which Minister Domański decides not to transfer these funds, exposes him to criminal liability – commented Mateusz Kurzejewski, deputy spokesman for Law and Justice.
The previous rulers blame the current ones for all the confusion. – The December 13 coalition wreaked more havoc in the Polish justice system than even the communists after the war, said Marek Suski, an MP from Law and Justice.
The Civic Coalition replies that the sources of the problem lie somewhere else. – PiS was a specialist in disorganizing the state – said Jacek Karnowski, MP from the Civic Coalition.
– Who is responsible for this chaos? Who created this chamber on the Supreme Court that should never have been created? – asked the mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, rhetorically.
Prof. Zoll: there is no decision that would bind the Minister of Finance to pay the money
The Chamber of Public Affairs and Extraordinary Control consists exclusively of judges appointed with the participation of the new National Council of the Judiciary, politicized by PiS. The chamber, which is supposed to decide on many electoral issues, is being questioned by European tribunals. That's why a number of lawyers treat her decisions as if they didn't exist.
– There is no decision that would oblige the Minister of Finance to pay the money – said Prof. Andrzej Zoll, former president of the Constitutional Tribunal and former head of the National Electoral Commission.
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PiS argues that at the threshold of the presidential campaign, failure to pay out funds is an element of unfair electoral game.
– This is destroying the opposition, depriving them of funds and equality in the presidential elections, because the point is that the opposition does not have the funds to run a campaign – said Marek Suski. – If (the candidate – editor's note) is a citizen, these citizens should probably help him finance this campaign – commented Kamil Wnuk, MP from Poland 2050-Third Way.
– They are not entitled to the money, because they have already paid themselves this money from public money during the campaign, including Mr. Ziobro for advertising and election spots, and other politicians – said Dariusz Joński, MEP of the Civic Coalition.
Opinions are divided on the left
On the left side of the political scene, opinions are divided. – I think it is very unfair that PiS, after what it did during that election campaign, should receive money, but it is legal in this situation, due to the resolution adopted by the National Electoral Commission – said the co-chair of the Razem party Adrian Zandberg.
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– The National Electoral Commission must ask itself whether in the future it is in favor of candidates running for the Sejm, who are, for example, ministers or deputy ministers in the Ministry of Health, spending money from the Ministry of Health on their campaigns. Is this allowed or not – because this is the whole point of this question – said Wojciech Konieczny, Deputy Minister of Health, MP of the Polish Socialist Party.
All this confusion currently concerns the issue of refunding funds for the last parliamentary campaign. On Tuesday, there will be one more element, because the contested Chamber of Public Affairs and Extraordinary Control will deal with PiS's complaint about the rejection by the National Electoral Commission of the party's financial report for the entire year 2023.
Main photo source: TVN24