The government has a solution to the crisis with Kamiński and Wąsik. This is… the PiS method

The government has no illusions: the return of Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik to the Sejm means a total war with Law and Justice. – We expect the worst – says Dorota Niedziela, deputy speaker of the Sejm, in an interview with Interia. However, our interlocutors reveal how the ruling majority will defeat PiS in this clash. Interestingly, this is the method used by PiS in the previous two terms.

Due to the release of Messrs. Kamiński and Wąsik, an emotional session of the Sejm is being prepared.  The government assures that they are ready for any scenario

Due to the release of Messrs. Kamiński and Wąsik, an emotional session of the Sejm is being prepared. Those in power assure that they are ready for any scenario / Filip Naumienko / Reporter

– As we were ready, we are ready – says MP Monika Wielichowska before the Sejm session scheduled for January 25 and 26 . Another deputy speaker of the lower house of parliament, Dorota Niedziela , adds in an interview with Interia that “we expect the worst from PiS” . However, both politicians assure that the Sejm majority is ready for any scenario planned by the opposition and will not allow the work of the Sejm to be destabilized. – You from PiS have forgotten that the PiS state is over – MP Niedziela assures us.

“Scenes from horror films” in the Sejm

– I am afraid that  PiS will play up a brawl, chaos, and escalation of emotions  – says MP Krzysztof Paszyk in an interview with Interia . – PiS politicians will look for an excuse to show their electorate that they are discriminated against, harassed, and prevented from exercising their parliamentary mandates. They have been building a false myth for several weeks and this myth requires victims, requires dramatic pictures. PiS needs them and will reach for them, predicts the chairman of the PSL parliamentary club .

PiS plan for the Sejm session. “Nobody will mess around”

Our interlocutor emphasizes, however, that PiS forgets an important fact in its calculations. Namely, the fact that those in power also have an electorate that clearly formulates their expectations towards the parties forming the October 15 Coalition. As MP Paszyk says , these people expect “to restore normality in Poland, to end double standards for politicians, to end disregard for the law.” – That’s why we won’t take a step back, he emphasizes.

– PiS MPs will stage scenes from horror films , pretend to be persecuted and turn common criminals into political prisoners – adds Deputy Marshal Niedziela . – This is a game of images and emotions, we saw it with the wives of both convicts at the meeting with the president – analyzes the vice-chairman of the Civic Platform . 

We are prepared for difficulties. We won’t let it get to our heads

~ Dorota Niedziela, MP, vice-chairman of the Civic Platform and deputy speaker of the Sejm

– First, we observed a two-week spectacle with the government of Prime Minister Morawiecki , now we are observing a three-week prison and parliamentary spectacle with  Mr. Kamiński and Wąsik – says Monika Wielichowska,  another PO vice-president, assessing the row surrounding both PiS politicians .

PiS wants to gain ground

However, all our interlocutors agree on one thing: whatever means and tools PiS would not use in the Sejm, the ruling majority is prepared for it. From the words of politicians from the ruling camp, it can be concluded that their political option is currently facing quite a dilemma. On the one hand, he wants to do everything to avoid an escalation of tension, aggression and chaos in the Sejm; on the other hand, he knows that he cannot give PiS a free hand to act and just watch, because this will encourage PiS to destabilize the work of the Sejm.

Poll: Most Poles do not want Kamiński and Wąsik to return to the Sejm

In exactly this spirit, Szymon Hołownia , the Speaker of the Chamber, responded to journalists’ questions before the next sitting of the Sejm . The Polish 2050 Leader assured, among others: that he would like to avoid the use of physical force against both PiS politicians at all costs , because in his opinion it is “inappropriate and should never happen.” – Former MPs will certainly not be able to vote because their cards do not work –  the Marshal of the Sejm said in an interview with journalists .

As we learn from the ranks of the ruling majority, it may be difficult for the Marshal’s Guard to refrain from physical coercion if PiS decides that it must bring Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik into the plenary chamber at all costs. Politicians of the largest opposition party have already announced that they will try a “mass” method, i.e. entering the Sejm hall with a large group that will protect former ministers who were released from custody several dozen hours ago

Marshal Hołownia also announced that the Marshal’s Guard had been instructed about the extraordinary situation that may occur in the Sejm. Its members are to, whenever possible, avoid direct coercion against PiS politicians, but the Sejm authorities also clearly informed the guards that Messrs. Kamiński and Wąsik should not be present in the meeting room . – From the very beginning, when we decided to end these two mandates, we knew that we had to be prepared for difficulties. And here we are. We will not let anyone get into our heads – Dorota Niedziela, deputy speaker of the Sejm, assures Interia.

PiS politicians: Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik
PiS politicians: Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik / Piotr Molecki / East News

However, there is one thing that is absolutely clear in the ruling coalition: both PiS politicians are no longer MPs and cannot perform their current duties . – I have no influence on what former MPs think and say. That’s the only thing: these are former MPs. An independent court issued a final judgment and this judgment resulted in the expiry of their mandates, says Marshal Niedziela to Interia . He adds:  – There is nothing to discuss here, including legal ones, because there are as many opinions as there are lawyers . However, there is no point in getting a doctorate on it, the regulations should be applied directly.

We hear from our interlocutors from the parliamentary majority that Messrs. Kamiński and Wąsik can only stay in the Sejm thanks to guest passes or ID cards of former MPs . However, they have not yet collected the latter from the parliamentary pass office. In order to counteract the escalation of emotions and aggression, Marshal Hołownia recommended to the Sejm authorities not to issue one-day passes to the Sejm for the next session of PiS ex-ministers . This is important because their parliamentary ID cards, which are also voting cards, have been inactive for several weeks.

Kamiński and Wąsik at the president’s place. A warm welcome

As for PiS’s attempts to make political capital out of the whole situation, the ruling camp remains calm. And he intends to use the method that PiS has used many times to deal with political crises in the past two terms. So wait until the other side gets tired and discouraged and public opinion loses interest in the topic . – I think that, just like with the occupation of public media, people will quickly realize that this is political theater that will not change anything and will lose interest in it. And when this happens, PiS politicians will not want to drag it out, predicts MP Paszyk .

The National Electoral Commission has doubts

The decision of the National Electoral Commission does not make the already tense and complicated situation even easier for those in power . On January 24, the National Electoral Commission sent a question to the Speaker of the Sejm whether he upholds his conclusions regarding who can take over the parliamentary seats after Mr. Kamiński and Mr. Wąsik . The committee also asked Marshal Hołownia to “indicate the factual and legal basis on which the proposal is based, since the decisions of the Supreme Court are contradictory.”

When asked about the National Electoral Commission’s letter , Hołownia emphasized that he had not submitted a motion regarding both politicians, but only against Mr. Kamiński. – In the Wąsik case – I have said it many times – I suspended my initiation of this procedure for one simple reason: first I need to understand what happened in the Supreme Court , who stole the files from whom, who took what, where and where – explained the doubts of the Speaker of the Lower House of Parliament.

PiS politicians have been building a false myth for several weeks, and this myth requires victims and requires dramatic pictures. PiS needs them and will reach for them

~ Krzysztof Paszyk, MP and chairman of the PSL parliamentary club

He also noted that Mr. Kamiński’s case was simpler for him. He added that he would explain to the chairman of the National Electoral Commission, Sylwester Marciniak, why only one of the rulings issued by the Supreme Court should be taken into account in the case of the former head of the Ministry of Interior and Administration . – I will write to him why this ruling should be chosen, about which there is no doubt, and there will be all the legal basis there – said Hołownia.

However, the attitude of the National Electoral Commission regarding the parliamentary mandates of PiS politicians probably raises concerns among the ruling majority. – Marshal Hołownia has no problem presenting the National Electoral Commission with the legal basis for his actions, because from the very beginning of this crisis he made sure that everything was consistent with the letter of the law. However, I would not like to wait for the time when the National Electoral Commission gets involved in some political games – says Krzysztof Paszyk, MP, head of the PSL parliamentary club, in an interview with Interia .

From the left: Maciej Wąsik, Andrzej Duda, Mariusz Kamiński
From the left: Maciej Wąsik, Andrzej Duda, Mariusz Kamiński / Jakub Szymczuk / KPRP

Dorota Niedziela, deputy speaker of the Sejm, says : – This situation shows from the very beginning the paralysis and lack of decisiveness of state institutions after eight years of PiS rule. No institution commented on this matter directly, apart from the district court that convicted both politicians, but there were many contradictory or strangely conservative opinions.

Kamiński and Wąsik (again) pardoned

Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik were pardoned by President Andrzej Duda on January 23  and on the same day, late in the evening, they left the prisons where they had been staying for almost two weeks. The head of state thus completed  the pardon procedure initiated on January 11 under the Code of Criminal Procedure .

– The files returned today from the Ministry of Justice along with the opinion of the Prosecutor General’s Office, a negative opinion. Nevertheless, the procedure was completed. The gentlemen are pardoned, I confirm this with all my strength, said President Duda when announcing his decision.

Małgorzata Paprocka, secretary of state in the Chancellery of the President, announced that  “the president applied the law of pardon to Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik by remitting prison sentences and punitive measures and ordering the expungement of convictions . “

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