Parliamentary elections 2023. Questions about financing the PiS campaign, Minister Schreiber left the room

The second day of the session of the Sejm is underway. On Thursday, the deputies discussed, among other things, party promotion at government picnics financed from the budget. Łukasz Schreiber, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers, listened to questions on this topic.

READ MORE: Millions of zlotys for government campaigns. For the promotion of 800 plus, Polish Order, taxes…

The minister then made a statement from the rostrum. – Honorable Chamber, it’s not like the rules of current information allow you to ask and formulate any absurd, dishonest thesis. It just isn’t. It is not possible to reduce the public debate in such a way and to such a level, Łukasz Schreiber began his speech.

– It is worth taking a look and reading what it looks like in the rules of procedure of the Sejm, how it looks like in the act on the mandate of deputy and senator. But, by the way, it is also symptomatic. Because here is Your Majesty, why can you be so angry? What were you supposed to promote, since we have social programs here? What were you supposed to promote during your reign? Were you supposed to organize family picnics in connection with the increase in taxes for Poles? Maybe there should have been a meeting to celebrate the increase in the retirement age? Concert for retirees – he continued.

And that’s something that hurts you. But it’s also not that even if you don’t have any reason to be successful, even if you don’t run any programs, you don’t do anything about it. Let us recall such an epochal event. Decade Poland in the European Union. You promoted it for seven million with one TV spot. You spent seven million for this purpose. And this, Your Honor, is the best example of how it used to be. Because indeed, thanks to that campaign of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, millions of Poles learned that Poland is in the European Union – he added.

– Well, Honorable Chamber, I emphasize this motion once again, it is a political chutzpah. This is a proposal that shows only one thing: a dramatic lowering of the standards of public debate. And therefore I want to make it clear that we will not take part in this political chutzpa in your election campaign. And we hope and expect a serious discussion – he said.

Łukasz Schreiber assessed that opposition MPs could formulate questions. – Here you go, how is this or that social program promoted and why? You had the right to ask, and we would have the duty to answer. But we are not going to respond to insinuations, to insinuations and lies. Because it never occurred to Law and Justice to formulate questions in such a wicked way. That is why I will not answer these questions, because I see no reason to change the High Chamber and bring it down to this level – he concluded, and then left the plenary room without listening to the subsequent statements of the deputies.

Exit PiS MP other members of parliament commented. – Mr Schreiber, I am not at all surprised that you are running away. This is an escape. Do you know why you’re running away? Because you are stealing our money. You are stealing our money, said a member of the Civic Coalition in the Sejm Slawomir Nitras. – The truth is that an election campaign is taking place in Poland, and you are illegally stealing budget money and running it with budget money – he added.

– Representatives of various political parties sit here. We all follow the law. We all have spending limits. All. Each committee can spend as much as the electoral law provides for it. And Mr. Schreiber and his principal, Mr. Morawiecki, steal our money and use it to do election propaganda. And that’s what it’s all about, he continued.

– I am not surprised that there is no one in the benches of PiS. Do you know why? Because even a thief does it at night, and when day comes, he hides under a hat. That’s why they ran away from this room. This is a debate in the Sejm about what happens to budget money. Money needed for health care, money needed for education. And the truth is, we’ll have to come back to that,” he added.

– And Mr. Schreiber, you will listen to this speech. It’s not like you’re the only one to be held accountable. Anyone who spends public money on private purposes, we will make sure that after electionsfor you to give the money back. And I don’t care, Mr. Schreiber, whether you have 20 million that you took from the state budget. I don’t care if Mr. Morawiecki has the 150 million he took. You will have to give this money back, because it is Poles’ budget money, not yours, he concluded.

He also referred to the case from the Sejm rostrum member of the Polish People’s Party, Czeslaw Siekierski. – I can’t imagine the minister leaving the room. His canine duty is to be and to answer. He violated the authority of the Sejm. He is not fulfilling his duties. Sir, that’s not possible. You should receive certain reprimands and remarks from the prime minister for that. Because it is a disregard for the Sejm – he said.

– There are serious matters, serious questions. The minister should answer these questions related to the situation in the country, the economy and public funds. I am asking you to take action and transfer these matters to the Presidium of the Sejm. If necessary, I can submit a written request – he added, turning to the deputy speaker of the Sejm, Piotr Zgorzelski, who was conducting the debate.

– I believe that the remark of Mr. Czesław Siekierski is absolutely correct – commented Zgorzelski. – I would like to ask the secretary’s office to summon the minister to fulfill his duties and return to the room. To listen to the discussion and then answer the questions asked, he added.

Zgorzelski later also commented on the minister’s behavior in an interview with TVN24 reporter Radomir Wit. – This was the ‘current information’ item and never before has a minister, authorized by the prime minister, left the meeting room together with deputies during a discussion. And while I have no objections to the deputies of Law and Justice leaving the room, because every deputy can do so, the behavior of the minister who should sit in government benches, listen to the discussion, because after the discussion he is obliged to refer to the tasks given questions, he said.

When reminded that the minister motivated his behavior by saying that he did not like the way the application was formulated, Zgorzelski replied that “the minister is not responsible for evaluating the formulation of the application, he is only responsible for answering the question, because he was appointed by the president Council of Ministers”.

– He got mad and left. I, through the secretariat, because I had no other option, asked the Chancellery of the Prime Minister to return the minister to fulfill his official duties – he noted.