It was, in essence, an extremely confrontational political speech towards the government – this is how Łukasz Lipiński from “Polityka” assessed President Andrzej Duda’s New Year’s address. – I don’t think this is the best moment or the best form to choose this type of confrontation – he added. Dominika Sitnicka from OKO.press said that “the information addressed to Donald Tusk’s government definitely stood out, not to Poles and Polish women.”
In his New Year’s address, the president said that we are dealing with a new situation in Polish politics. – The president and the government are from different political camps. This is normal in a democracy, but in a democracy you must respect the constitution, the rule of law and good political customs, he added.
– Unfortunately, in recent days, the government coalition, trying to take over the public media, broke these rules – he said. Duda also said, among other things, that “further announcements of making important decisions through parliamentary resolutions also raise serious concerns.” The president called on “the government coalition to start observing the principles of a democratic state of law and respect citizens regardless of their political views.”
He said he was “ready to cooperate on the most important issues for Poland, but he is also prepared for a situation where the government will not want such cooperation.”
Sitnicka: what stood out was the information addressed to Tusk’s government, not to Poles
The head of state’s speech was commented on TVN24 by journalists: Dominika Sitnicka from OKO.press and Łukasz Lipiński from “Polityka”.
– I think that the message addressed to the government was definitely prominent in this message Donald Tuskand not to Poles and Polish women, said Sitnicka.
She noted that at the beginning of the speech there was talk about “the challenges in the coming year, about security, that we need to take care of it, we certainly need to arm Poland, because the international situation is what it is.” She added that Duda ended his speech with wishes for his compatriots.
– But the rest of the message was titled: “I do not agree with the way in which the public media were taken away from the hands of Law and Justice” and also such a message for the future, because the president emphasized that there are further resolutions. We know that, for example, there was a resolution regarding the National Council of the Judiciary, and there will be a resolution regarding the Constitutional Tribunal soon, so it is a clear message: “I do not agree to this, I will not cooperate in the reforms you want,” the journalist said.
In her opinion, “it was really extremely confrontational.” She noted that the president “mentioned Donald Tusk very strongly in such a critical context, he mentioned individual actions.”
Sitnicka compared Duda’s speech to the Prime Minister’s speech on Saturday. She assessed that the speech of the head of government was much more general and conciliatory.
– Here we have such a clear political position – she said.
Lipiński: an extremely confrontational speech towards the government
Lipiński said that Tusk in his message “firstly addressed the citizens, and secondly, with a message where the main tone was reconciliation and building the country anew.”
In his opinion, what he said Andrzej Dudathis “mainly a political speech that was extremely confrontational towards the government.”
– New Year’s Eve at 8 p.m. is not the best moment when Poles want to listen to such a confrontational political speech. I don’t think this is the best moment or the best form to choose this type of confrontation – said the journalist.
He said that “it is clear that the president, after such initial hesitation, after taking two steps forward, one step back, after making a whole series of conciliatory gestures towards this new government, has clearly decided to take one side in political dispute.” – This is the side of Law and Justice, as the president usually does – he added.
– Of course, one can wonder whether he was provoked to do this by the tough attitude of Donald Tusk’s government when it comes to taking over public media, or by the fact that Jaroslaw Kaczynski he shouted at him that he should act more decisively in this matter – he said.
President Andrzej Duda’s New Year’s messagepresident.pl
According to Lipiński, the president used several phrases that “are particularly inappropriate for him to use.”
– One of them is talking about yourself as the guardian of the constitution, since December 2015 and the swearing in of the doubles to the Constitutional Tribunal, it is difficult to really talk about the president as the guardian of the constitution, or about the legal chaos, which is the legal chaos that the president largely introduces into the system, for example by nominating more judges, he said.
– In short, it is a confrontational political speech instead of a New Year’s Eve speech announcing not coabitation but a hard political conflict in which the president, at least it is clear from this speech, would like to take one side of the political dispute – he summed up.
Main photo source: Radek Pietruszka/PAP