PiS Chairman on Politicians' Visits to Flooded Areas. The President Comments

The President commented on the words Jaroslaw Kaczynskiwho assessed that politicians' visits to flood areas are of a propaganda nature. Such a region was also visited Andrzej Duda. – Visits by politicians of the highest rank in this state hierarchy, well, the highest is the President of the Republic of Poland, are undertakings of a propaganda nature to a large extent, although at the same time they can be of some support – assessed the president PIS.

– I don't know why Mr. President Jarosław Kaczyński generally formulated his statement in such a way. I had the impression that it was a statement more in the context that he himself had not been to these areas – said the president.

– I actually went only after the water had passed, for a simple reason. I thought it was taking up the time of the rescuers, some of whom would have to deal with my safety, because unfortunately, such are the requirements of the regulations and such are the requirements of safety standards, they would have to deal with me, and not help people. And I think that it could really simply provoke the rage of those people who were harmed by this help and whose lives were threatened – he added.

He stressed that he “tries to help as best as he can.”

TVN's “Fakty” correspondent asked the president if he was right to have the impression that “you and Jarosław Kaczyński are increasingly disliking each other”. He also asked when they last spoke at length. – It's been a long time since we last spoke like this, but let's remember that today Mr. Chairman Jarosław Kaczyński is the leader of the opposition. I am the acting president of the Republic of Poland. If he needs to talk to me, he will ask me for such a conversation – Duda said.

Asked if there was no need to talk to Kaczyński, he replied: – Mr. Chairman Jarosław Kaczyński is not in power today. I am part of the executive power and if there is such a need, I talk to the other part of the executive power, which is the government.

– We are here together with Minister (of Foreign Affairs Radosław-ed.) Sikorski. Despite our differences on certain issues, we are sitting here together at the United Nations General Assembly and we are simply conducting Polish affairs normally, because these are the requirements – he noted.

The President was asked whether the government is effectively dealing with the challenges posed by the flood disaster.

As he said, the most important task of the government at the moment is to help people who suffered from the floods, to “return their lives to normal as soon as possible”. He added that it is still necessary to control and secure the rivers, but “the greatest damage has already been done” and it is now necessary to repair it.

Asked if the government is coping with this, Duda said: “we'll see how it goes.” – Let's let the government sort itself out in all these issues, because this is also a problem of money that local governments will receive to deal with the effects of the flood – he emphasized.

He added that not only private apartments and houses were destroyed, but also public property, such as schools, streets, squares. According to him, large financial outlays are needed for renovation and reconstruction. As he pointed out, local governments “will certainly not cope with these tasks, they need to help as much as they can”. He added that “it is also not the case that any private institution will deal with the matter – only the Polish state can cope with it”.

Duda also commented on the meeting with the Republican presidential candidate USAformer president Donald Trumpwhich could potentially have occurred at a sanctuary in Pennsylvania. On Sunday afternoon, the president and his wife visited the National Shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa in Doylestown, where they attended mass and then the unveiling of the Solidarity Monument. The sanctuary, run by the Pauline Fathers – called the “American Częstochowa” – is an important place for the Polish community, where a copy of the painting from Jasna Góra is located.

Initially, Donald Trump was supposed to attend the same ceremony, as his campaign representatives reported last Wednesday. A day later, however, they announced that these plans were off.

READ: President Duda in the “American Częstochowa”. Trump: He is my great friend

President Andrzej Duda was asked in an interview with “Fakty” TVN correspondent Marcin Wrona whether it is not a bit inappropriate that a presidential candidate is canceling a meeting with the incumbent president.

– There was no meeting arranged – said Duda. – I repeat once again, there was no meeting arranged. I received an invitation to the ceremony from the organizers, I promised many months ago that I would come to the unveiling of the monument (…). The organizers also invited President Donald Trump. They asked us if we had any objections to President Donald Trump being invited. We said of course not and that it was the organizers' decision who they invited. And that was all we knew about it – said the president.

– A meeting in the sense that we could potentially meet in one place, then in that sense yes, but there was no meeting scheduled between me and President Donald Trump – he added.

– I said that if President Donald Trump is present at this ceremony, I don't see any problem and that if he wants to meet with Poles, I don't see any problem either. I had my task to perform there. Unveiling the monument, meeting with my compatriots, saying a few words to them. This is my last year as president, so it is also a bit like my farewell as president of the Republic of Poland to the Polish diaspora and I went to Doylestown with this intention – he said.

As he said, as far as he knows, “the voice of the Secret Service decided that this trip of President Donald Trump ultimately did not take place, while my presence was completely independent of his presence.”

– We would probably meet if he came, we would certainly shake hands and so on, but no meeting as such, no joint debate, discussion or other such event was planned – Duda said.