Elections 2023. How Morawiecki manipulated the words of Urszula Zielińska from the Green Party in the recording

“Tusk’s coalition is considering violating the Polish-American energy alliance! This is pure madness and extreme irresponsibility! We are fighting – and will continue to fight for Poland’s security!” – Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote on October 3 on the X website. The entry was hashtagged “safePoland”. He attached a 42-second recording in which the Prime Minister says: “We have a contract for the first nuclear power plant in Poland. It has become a fact. Together with American partners, we will build guarantees of Poland’s energy security.” “Tusk’s team slept through the most important years for the Polish energy industry,” he continues. Then, instead of the premiere, a screenshot of appears on the screen an article from the Money.pl website entitled “The energy battle between Berlin and Paris. They turned out to be agents of influence.” The title is circled in yellow, as is the first sentence of the lead, “German foundations ran anti-nuclear campaigns in neighboring countries. The money flowed from Berlin.”

At the same time, a question can be heard asked by Radio ZET journalist Beata Lubecka: “What about the agreement signed with the Americans?” A loud “yyy…” is heard and the question continues: “From the consortium that is to build the first nuclear power plant here.” And then on the screen we see Urszula Zielińska, MP from the Civic Coalition, co-chair of the Green Party. Zielińska is running as the “number two” of the Civic Coalition in Warsaw. He begins to answer: “We need to find out what…”. Then another question is asked: “I’m sorry, the Civic Coalition would take this into account to break the contract”? The MP says firmly: “Of course.” There is a cut and Mateusz Morawiecki says again: “We reversed it. Thanks to the alliance with the United States and good cooperation, we ensure not only security, but also thousands of jobs and rapid economic development of the country.”

Did the MP really say that the electoral coalition of which she is a part wants to terminate the contract for the construction of the first Polish nuclear power plant? The conversation used by the Prime Minister had a different course.

On Wednesday, September 27, Polskie Elektrownie Jądrowe (PEJ) signed the contract from a consortium of American companies Westinghouse and Bechtel to design the first nuclear power plant in Poland as part of the government’s nuclear energy program. The consortium has 18 months to prepare documentation of the main components of the power plant: the nuclear island, the turbine island and associated installations. According to the current schedule, construction in Lubiatowa-Kopalina in the Choczewo commune in the Pomeranian Voivodeship will begin in 2026, and the first unit will be launched in 2033.

Mateusz Morawiecki refers to this agreement in the election spot. The conversation in the radio studio concerns her too. But the Prime Minister manipulated her.

Around the 26th minute of the conversation, the host is Beata Lubecka, she asked Urszula Zielińska, how within the Civic Coalition the various parties that constitute it will reach an agreement on energy issues. She pointed out that the Green Party is opposed to nuclear energy, unlike other groups that make up KO. Zielińska began to explain that her party was in favor of Poland using only energy from renewable sources and that Poland could only cope with them.

He explains that if a government with KO is formed, during the first 100 days of its operation it will prepare plans for financing energy based on renewable energy sources and similar plans for the development of nuclear energy. He also talks about the agreement regarding the nuclear power plant. To better demonstrate the prime minister’s manipulation, we present a transcript of this fragment of the interview.

Beata Lubecka, Radio ZET: You are a supporter of renewable energy and as a representative of the Green Party, but how will you reach an agreement with Donald Tusk?
Urszula Zielińska, KO, Green Party: We will come to an agreement that today these plans regarding nuclear energy have one big flaw, these Polish plans. They have no account – financing and economic. There is simply no business plan there. And what we agreed on, this is our consensus in the Civic Coalition, is that for the first 100 days of the new government, which will have a majority…
BL: If it’s…
UZ: … we will prepare a plan for financing energy based on renewable energy and what the Polish government has not done, i.e. a plan for the development of nuclear energy. And now I, as the green one…
BL: What about this contract then? What about the agreement signed with the Americans? From the consortium that is to build the first nuclear power plant here?
UZ: We need to find out what, how long it is valid and what penalties we face for breaking this contract…
BL: Withdrawal.
UZ: … withdrawal from this contract. It is absolutely terrifying that the Polish government, imagine…
BL: Does this mean that – sorry – the Civic Coalition would take this into account to break the contract?
UZ: I think we have to look through everything and just see, take everything into account. Of coursebecause, imagine, the plan…
BL: If I wanted to write information about this, for example, what would the lead be? “The Civic Coalition is considering withdrawing from the contract regarding…”.
UZ: NO.
BL: …construction of the first nuclear power plant in Poland”?
UZ: The Civic Coalition will prepare a development plan with financing for nuclear energy. In the first 100 days. This is specific. And this plan will show us what comes next.

The word “of course” appears in this fragment of the conversation, but it is an interlude, not an affirmative answer to the question about the possible termination of the contract for the construction of nuclear units.

Zielińska herself reacted to the prime minister’s manipulation she posted on website X, a transcription of a fragment of a conversation from Radio ZET.