“Decision time”. Dorota Olko and Anna Radwan-Röhrenschef on the proposals of the Left and the Third Way regarding public transport, schools and housing

The guests of the “Time for Decision” program were two candidates for the Sejm from district 19 (Warsaw): Dorota Olko (Left Wing) and Anna Radwan-Röhrenschef (Third Way). They discussed housing, education and public transport.

Olko spoke about her group’s promise to introduce a ticket for all transport connections for PLN 59 per month. – This is the plan to get to the cheapest public transport. And to expand this public transport as much as possible, she said.

She admitted that the cost of this idea “is a lot of money.” – But it must be said today that public transport is not adapted to the needs of residents throughout Poland, because it does not reach many places. And I think that providing public transport in every place, in every commune, simply gives freedom, she argued. She also pointed out that elderly people who cannot drive and minors cannot travel by car on their own.

The Third Way proposes that each local government offer free transport or tickets to children and young people. In this context, Radwan-Röhrenschef was asked whether local governments would receive budget support to ensure such a solution.

She assessed that “transport is one of the most important topics.” – When it comes to money, (…) I am coming back to European money. We lose a lot of money every day, for example because we do not have a KPO or because we do not have stable relations with Brussels. The money that we could obtain for local governments lies in the European Union, she said.

The candidates were also asked how to deal with problems in Polish schools, including overcrowded classes and teacher shortages.

Radwan-Röhrenschef mentioned “increasing funds for education” as a solution. She emphasized that “psychological support, support for teachers who today need not only money, but also such appreciation for their work” are also important.

Olko proposed “raises for teachers”. – If a beginner teacher earns PLN 90 more today than minimum wage, it is no wonder that there is a shortage of almost 30,000 teachers in Poland today. We will not have a good school if teachers leave the profession, if young people do not want to become teachers, she said.

– The second thing is that I think that we should finally have a truly secular school. Instead of religion classes, which are obviously needed by believers but can take place in catechetical rooms, we could have foreign language classes. But also lessons that are not available today – digital security, labor law, decent sex education – she said.

The next topic discussed by the guests was housing. Dorota Olko referred to the Left’s idea to build 300,000 cheap apartments for rent.

– We will not tell fairy tales that it is possible to build apartments without money. That’s 20 billion a year. We say it honestly right away. But we will obtain three billion for this purpose from the KPO, which does not exist today, she proposed.

– There is still PLN 17 billion to find in the budget – she admitted. In her opinion, these funds can be obtained, among others, from a digital tax or a tax on extraordinary profits. – We have to find money for apartments because we cannot go the way we are going today. That is, by subsidizing loans, because banks and developers benefit from this.

Anna Radwan-Röhrenschef, however, announced that Trzecia Droga will “focus on local governments” in this matter and ensure that they have the greatest possible opportunities to use local housing resources.

As she said, “local governments have empty apartments in their resources.” – They need money to adapt these apartments and these housing resources to the housing market – she added.