Jarosław Kaczyński wants to defend Polish freedom. “His words are a very impudent thing”

At the PiS family picnic in Chełm, Jarosław Kaczyński this time warned against privatization and sale of forests. All after the opposition wins the elections and will allow officials from Brussels to do so. – (In Europe – editor’s note) it is very rare to find a forest that you enter calmly. We have this freedom, we go mushroom picking. A huge part of Poles goes mushroom picking. We go there to rest, to take a walk. For various purposes (…) This is part of our freedom and we will not let this freedom be taken away from us – said the PiS president.

Jarosław Kaczyński’s statement was commented on by Donald Tusk. “Kaczyński stated that the stake of these elections is the freedom of mushroom picking. I feel a bit strange having such a rival…” wrote the PO chairman on the X portal (formerly Twitter). It’s just that Jarosław Kaczyński was seriously convincing the participants of the picnic that it was during the rule of PiS that Poland became one of the last islands of freedom – not only in the EU, but also in the world. – It is worth defending our position as an island of freedom. Islands of freedom and democracy – stressed the president of the ruling party.

But what does the reality look like? In the press freedom ranking, since the beginning of the PiS rule, we have fallen from 18th to 57th place. In the democracy index from 40 to 46, and in the European ranking examining the level of equality of LGBT+ people, Poland was ranked last among the EU countries for the fourth time. Jarosław Kaczyński did not talk about these hard data.

– For them, it is an island and an oasis of freedom, because they do what they want and steal as much as they want – believes Monika Rosa from Nowoczesna. Opposition MPs enumerate specific examples, arguing that civil liberties have been restricted or even violated in Poland for eight years. It is about the personal ones – concerning women, judges, prosecutors, teachers or participants in anti-government demonstrations – but also about freedom of speech, and recently also scientific research. – Freedom in which women cannot decide about themselves and their bodies, and when they make decisions in their lives, for example about termination of pregnancy, the police are waiting for them at the doctor’s office – says Barbara Nowacka from Initiative Polska.

– The island of freedom is when people in Poland have the same, equal rights, regardless of what political views they have or what party they belong to – adds Agnieszka Pomaska ​​from PO.

The PO MP refers here to the conference under the slogan “watch the elections”, which the opposition organized on Friday in front of the main entrance to the Castle Museum in Malbork, where Deputy Prime Minister Piotr Gliński was visiting. It was he who decided that the opposition meeting was illegal and notified the police. – Our conference was not even about Minister Gliński. He did not like the fact that citizens of our country want to watch over these elections, so that these elections are fair at least on the day they are held, emphasizes Agnieszka Pomaska.

– His (Kaczyński – editor’s note) words about freedom are very impudent – says Krzysztof Brejza from PO.

Senator Brejza and his wife have been traveling around the country for months, organizing meetings. They talk about how the PiS authorities, using the services, eavesdropped and followed not only their political, but also private lives. – The point is to control all citizens, and discredit defiant people, disobedient doctors, disobedient oppositionists, lawyers with materials – explains Krzysztof Brejza.

The key question for assessing freedom and democracy today is whether the power in Poland is properly controlled by the prosecutor’s office, services and the Constitutional Tribunal. And whether they are still independent institutions.