Half a decade of Prime Minister Morawiecki is a period marked by a dramatic number of deaths of Poles during the pandemic, the highest inflation in the 21st century, scandals and the growing conflict with the EU, but also a dynamically developing economy, a decrease in unemployment and subsequent social transfers.
Jacek Gądek and Mikołaj Fidziński invite you to the calendar of five years of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Below the graphics you will find a description of the most important events of Morawiecki’s five-year plan.
December 2017 – Present: Eternal War with Zbigniew Ziobro
Mateusz Morawiecki was basically opposed by Solidarna Polska from the very beginning. Ziobrists would like to overthrow him, but the prime minister is still defended by PiS president Jarosław Kaczyński, who, in order to calm down this war in the government, even briefly joined it as deputy prime minister for security.
January-February 2018: The biggest diplomatic crisis
The Act on the Institute of National Remembrance provides for the prosecution of all people around the world who attribute to the Polish nation participation in the Holocaust. The greatest diplomatic crisis after 1989 breaks out. Morawiecki himself also contributed to it, when he blurted out at the Munich Security Conference: “just like there were Jewish perpetrators, like there were Russian perpetrators, or Ukrainian – not only German ones.” The US freezes contacts with Poland at the highest level. After half a year, PiS withdraws from the act in one day.
October 2018: Morawiecki’s tapes come out
Onet reveals the testimony of waiters from the tape scandal. Morawiecki was to discuss the purchase of real estate on the so-called poles. The recording includes one of the most famous quotes from Morawiecki – about “zapier … for a bowl of rice”. The prime minister used this phrase in the context of rebuilding the European economy after World War II. The slogan finds its way into colloquial language.
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September 2018: Court verdicts, Morawiecki lied
The court finds that Morawiecki lied. The prime minister had to correct false words from the 2018 campaign. It was about spending on local roads during the PO-PSL era and the fact that the rulers of Krakow allegedly “did nothing or almost nothing” to fight smog. Minor matters, but the fact that the courts recognized that the prime minister lied is symbolic and used to criticize Morawiecki.
February 2019: The government ramps up social spending
At the convention, PiS announces 500+ for each child, thirteen for pensioners, a reduction in PIT from 18 to 17 percent. and zero PIT for young people. It is the so-called Kaczyński’s high five, but Morawiecki is responsible for the implementation. In the following years, there are also fourteens, Family Care Capital or inflationary cover allowances.
April 2019: Teachers’ strike, Morawiecki wanted to “put pressure”
Exactly one year after another protest – by parents of disabled people in the Sejm – teachers are leaving the board all over Poland. Exams are hanging by a thread: eighth-graders and junior high school students. The Prime Minister officially tries to soothe emotions by organizing a “round table”, but the leaked e-mails show that he also expected to put pressure on teachers.
May 2019: Morawiecki plots
“Gazeta Wyborcza” reveals that in 2002 Morawiecki and his wife bought from the Church for 700,000. PLN plots in Wrocław, which were worth PLN 4 million. The Prime Minister did not disclose the plot in the asset declaration, because he partially separated his assets from his wife. The aftermath of the publication in “GW” was the law passed by PiS on the transparency of the assets of politicians’ families –
August 2019: The 2020 budget was supposed to be without a deficit
although even then there were accusations that these were creative calculations “for publicity”. What happened in the following years, the prime minister could not have expected. Anti-covid shields, “anti-inflation” measures or gigantic spending on the army cause the nominal public debt to grow by almost PLN 350 billion in 2020-21 (from approx. PLN 1.05 trillion to PLN 1.4 trillion), and by 2026 is to grow by another PLN 800 billion (although in relation to GDP it is to mean only a slight increase).
May 2020: Envelope elections
In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, Jarosław Kaczyński wants to hold presidential elections in the form of correspondence. Initially, Morawiecki objects, but he gives in to the pressure. A battle between Morawiecki and Ziobro breaks out over responsibility for the failed elections in the power camp – because the prime minister wants statutory impunity for trying to organize envelope elections. After more than two years
July 2020: “Coronavirus is in retreat, no need to be afraid of it”
In the campaign to the Sejm in 2019 and the presidential campaign in 2020, Morawiecki does a gigantic job. In the latter, he encourages participation in the second round of elections. It is shortly after the first, largest lockdown. And he says this only because he wants to encourage seniors to leave their homes for elections and give victory to Andrzej Duda. The following months showed that the coronavirus should be feared, because in autumn the first really dramatic wave of infections appears in Poland. Throughout the pandemic, 160-180 thousand were recorded in Poland. excess deaths.
July 2020: Morawiecki brings KPO promise from the EU
Morawiecki brings success from the EU summit – he negotiated the budget for 2021-27 and the KPO. Billboards with “PLN 770 billion for Poland” are plastered on the streets. After more than two years, we have not seen a penny from KPO, and funds from the classic budget are also at risk. Morawiecki, however, is striving to reach an agreement with Brussels on the implementation of “milestones” regarding the judiciary, because he knows that without money for KPO, the Polish budget will collapse in 2023.
July-December 2020: Acceptance of the “money for the rule of law” principle
Mateusz Morawiecki accepted the principle of “money for the rule of law”, which was created in the EU as a whip for Hungary and Poland. To this day, this is the reason for massive criticism by Solidarna Polska and demands for the Prime Minister’s resignation. The Prime Minister also accepted ambitious climate goals – Fit for 55, which is a gigantic challenge for the Polish energy sector.
October-November 2020: Constitutional Tribunal judgment on abortion, but the coronavirus is not going back
Protests continue in the streets of Polish cities after the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment tightening the abortion law. Morawiecki, on the one hand, argues that “women should not be forced to heroism”, on the other the Prime Minister – like the president – wants an amendment to the law to allow abortion in the event of lethal fetal defects, but Kaczyński says “no”.
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June 2021 – now: Email leak, Dworczyk’s resignation
Someone (probably Russian services) is hacking into the e-mail accounts of the head of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister, Michał Dworczyk – the prime minister’s closest associate. We learn, among other things, that Morawiecki wanted to throw Ziobro out of the government and prosecute his party, and how much emphasis he put on PR. And Confidential Chat reveals new emails all the time.
July 2021: Morawiecki elected vice-president of PiS
At that time, Jarosław Kaczyński was still fascinated by the Prime Minister and was very keen that he join the party’s presidium. Morawiecki won the largest number of votes among vice presidents, but he is still perceived as an outsider among hard-core PiS supporters. And the president’s fascination with him is waning.
September-October 2021: Poland is to pay for Turów and the “muzzle law”
The unexecuted judgments of the CJEU are one of the symbols of Morawiecki’s “five-year plan”. The replacement of the prime minister in December 2017 was seen as an opportunity to normalize the government’s relations with the EU. None of these things. Disputes with Brussels appeared on subsequent fronts – KPO, rule of law, climate policy or unpaid fines in connection with the judgments of the CJEU regarding the Turów mine (September 2021, EUR 500,000 per day) and the Disciplinary Chamber of the Supreme Court (October 2021, EUR 1 million per day) . – Brussels salons lack reflection, they are governed by soulless, bureaucratic automatism –
January 2022: Polish (not)Ład
From the beginning of 2022, a major PIT reform will enter into force. However, it turns out to be totally underdeveloped, many people get lower salaries, not higher, as promised by the prime minister. The government must save the situation by lowering PIT from 17 to 12 percent, which of course turns into a propaganda success.
March 2022: Inflation in Poland is already in double digits
In March 2022, annual inflation (despite the launch of anti-inflation shields) exceeds 10 percent. In the following months, it is still growing, to 17.9 percent. in October. This is the most in 26 years. Supervising inflation is the NBP’s task, and one cannot ignore the fact that, among others, the post-COVID revival or the energy crisis are boosting inflation across Europe. However, “high prices” is a social problem, and the head of the government – despite the aid measures (limits on energy prices, VAT reductions, etc.) becomes one of its faces. “Expensive” will be one of the keywords of the last five-year plan. The economy was doing very well, tax revenues are rising (Morawiecki’s pride), unemployment has fallen to the lowest levels in over 30 years, the average and minimum wages have been growing significantly (although in 2022 this pace began to lose with inflation, and the government is “miserent” to some groups budgets). But this inflation…
September 2022: Jack Sasin’s takedown attempt
The PiS president wanted to talk about creating an election staff, and meanwhile Jacek Sasin launched an attack on Morawiecki. He wanted to lead to the resignation of the Prime Minister and replace him with Elżbieta Witek, the Marshal of the Sejm. Morawiecki’s position has never been so weak, and his fate actually hangs in the balance. The war lasted for weeks, but
December 2022: There is no money from KPO, but Morawiecki is fighting
Mateusz Morawiecki was supposed to be an effective prime minister in relations with the European Union. So far it is not, because there is no money from KPO. The prime minister – and this is the most important thing in practice – managed to convince the PiS president that it is necessary to get along with Brussels. If the Prime Minister – and it is very possible – will snatch money for KPO before the elections in 2023, he will be able to talk about his success.
Source: Gazeta
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