Candidates in the European Parliament elections. Piotr Zgorzelski and Michał Szczerba comment

The deadline for registering lists of candidates for Members of the European Parliament is May 2. On Wednesday, the National Council of the Civic Platform approved the lists of candidates of the Civic Coalition in these elections, including current government ministers – Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, Borys Budka and Marcin Kierwiński.

The Civic Coalition presented candidates for the European elections

PiS has not formally announced its candidates yet, but the names that appear as potential candidates in the European Parliament elections include former MPs Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, as well as the former head of TVP Jacek Kurski and the former president of Orlen Daniel Obajtek.

Kamiński with a recommendation to run in the European Parliament elections

The candidates for the European Parliament elections were discussed in “Kropka nad i” on TVN24 by Piotr Zgorzelski, deputy speaker of the Sejm from the PSL-Trzecia Droga club, and Michał Szczerba from the Civic Coalition, chairman of the investigative commission for investigating the visa scandal, who is also one of the candidates for European Parliament.

Piotr Zgorzelski said that Trzecia Droga will present its candidates no later than Monday, April 29. – We are working on the best candidates – he assured. He said that the only minister from PSL who will run for the MEP's mandate will be the Minister of Development, Krzysztof Hetman. – We do not expect any more candidates from the Polish People's Party in the government – he said.

– The point is that this bond among all the democratic parties that formed the coalition on October 15 must be as strong as possible. We cannot make PiS claim that it has already won the tenth election in a row, added Zgorzelski.

Szczerba and Zgorzelski were asked whether the presence of ministers on the lists of candidates for the EP was an escape from the government benches. The Deputy Speaker of the Sejm replied that this was “taking responsibility for what may happen to the European Union.” – We know that right-wing, nationalist circles throughout Europe are gaining – unfortunately for democracy, unfortunately for the European Union project – more and more support in some countries. They threaten to become the second political force in the European Union, he added.

Michał Szczerba said that he was “absolutely convinced that this will be the most important term of office of the European Parliament in history.” – We see what is happening in the East, we see that the new topic to be dealt with by the European Parliament will be security – he continued. Speaking about his candidacy, he assured that the investigative commission he chairs will “do its job.” He said that its work should be completed in June. – We have already started writing the report. We have a detailed audition schedule for May. And there will be a very good report, which (…) will show all the deficits of the visa policy, show how to fix all the mistakes, but above all, there will be specific notices to the prosecutor's office against PiS politicians who, in my opinion, did not fulfill their duties – announced the KO MP.

Szczerba recalled Mariusz Kamiński's Monday testimony in this case. – Mariusz Kamiński admitted this at the commission, (that – editor) he knew about this corruption scandal, (…). I talked to Minister Siemoniak. We will want to declassify a large part of the materials that do not pose a threat to Polish security. So that people could see how Kamiński received reports on the table every week from all the secret services and they did nothing about it, he said.

Zgorzelski, referring to the still unofficial PiS candidates in the European elections, said that “this is the best recipe for a jury trial.” He said about Jacek Kurski that he did “one terrible thing”, which – in his opinion – “is a crime”. – Namely, he divided Polish society, divided the Polish community, leading a gang that set people against each other, generated only hate and hatred. And such a person gets a seat in the European Parliament as a reward – he commented.

Szczerba said that “PiS puts on the lists of scammers, thieves, criminals, even those who have already been pardoned, but above all, people who have no moral right to be our ambassadors in the European Parliament and represent us.” – From PiS's point of view, it will be a period of embarrassment if it turns out that we will soon have a process of lifting the immunities of Kamiński, Wąsik, Obajtek or Bielan – added the KO MP.