These are the true Himalayas of hypocrisy. The Civic Platform boasts on social media that it keeps its promises. Except it’s not yours.
As promised, we started the new year with indexation from 500 to 800 plus
– PO announces on social media.
We deliver on our promises. The first payments of more than PLN 800 are already in the parents’ accounts
– says the PO poster, which PO is proud of everywhere.
They must seriously think the voters are complete idiots. After all, Jarosław Kaczyński announced in June 2023 that the amount would be increased from PLN 500 to PLN 800 plus, and on Monday, August 7, 2023, President Andrzej Duda signed an amendment to the law on financial support for families in raising children. This amendment increased the benefit from 500 plus to 800 PLN per child. It was also the PiS government that financed the project in the state budget. And on December 13, politicians from PO and the entire coalition had to change their views 180 degrees on support for families.
In September, Szymon Hołownia claimed that it would be worth withdrawing the indexation of the Family 500 plus program. According to the politician, this money should be invested in a different way.
I believe that we should seriously consider this and invest these funds in education, daycare centers and healthcare
– claimed the current Marshal of the Sejm and then leader of Polska 2050, when Bogdan Rymanowski asked him on Radio ZET whether Polska 2050 would withdraw from 800 plus after gaining power.
The current Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz was also not in favor of valorization.
If indexation, then it is for working people
– said the PSL leader in May 2023 on RMF FM.
Do you want to get more? The state will reimburse you for the taxes you withheld as long as you are professionally active
– he argued.
I cannot imagine that the Civic Platform would not support our amendment
– he said.
Let us perhaps remember the words of Ewa Kopacz, who claimed at Campus Polska in August that the 500 plus program is a handout:
Instead of more than 500, we gave a fishing rod, not a fish, increased the number of places in daycare centers and kindergartens, built highways and orchards for children. These were things that seemed very relevant and important to us. (…) Without the fact that we behaved responsibly, i.e. me as head of government, but also my ministers, they would have nothing to give, and they do so every day in a very irresponsible way
– claimed the former Prime Minister.
And what did Prime Minister Donald Tusk himself say during the campaign about families, i.e. the beneficiaries of the program:
The kings of life are those who drink alcohol, beat their children, beat women and have not been disgraced by their work for many years. A dream political clientele for the government whose way of thinking is very similar to this clientele.
Today the December 13 coalition claims it has fulfilled its promises regarding 800 plus. If she had kept them, this program wouldn’t exist today.
It is never enough to think how reluctant PO politicians were towards the family support project in general when PiS announced it in the 2015 campaign. On August 13, 2015, Ewa Kopacz claimed:
I will not be signing up for the project at this time, which I know will just be an empty promise. (…) There are no funds for these types of ideas in the 2016 state budget
— Ewa Kopacz said about PiS’s election promises.
There is no money for the promises of Law and Justice and there will be no money for the next four years. If PiS implements them, it will lead to disaster
– said Jacek Rostowski, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, before the 2015 elections.
The disaster did not happen, because it was enough to take on the VAT mafia and the money was found, but also the promises of Law and Justice from 2015 were ridiculed by Donald Tusk. Just after Law and Justice announced a “new, universal child benefit” of more than PLN 500 per month, Donald Tusk spoke about the idea at a conference in Zakopane:
I can even give an example that shows how important such open and honest conversations are, also with people, for example when elections are approaching or when serious social projects are emerging. Because if, for example, I hear a very nice idea, and I will not scoff at it, that the state in Poland should pay PLN 500 per month for every second and subsequent child (…), there is actually no point in waiting for the next election, I’m seriously ready, talk about it today, but as far as I know there is no way to finance this project. I’d rather give 500 for the second, but 1000 for the first, 1000 a month. And since in my opinion it is easy to make these kinds of promises, if there is someone who has knowledge about how the state works and how much money can be taken from the taxpayers, it may be worth talking to him, or in this case with me, about whether it is possible or not. I would really like (…) – that if someone says that he will give 500 PLN for each child – that someone can force the promised person to indicate how exactly it can be financed. Because if there is an idea of how to finance it, you cannot hide it, because it is a waste every day. If someone in Poland knows where these billions are buried (…) and they can be launched immediately and distributed to the people, I will be the happiest Prime Minister in Europe if I am the author or co-author of such a project could be .
– Tusk irrigated.
Those with short memories, i.e. the Coalition itself on December 13, should be reminded that the Family 500 plus program came into effect on April 1, 2016. Today it is also available for the first child, regardless of family income. From January 2024, this amount has been increased to PLN 800, but not because it was PO’s promise, but because the bill drafted by the PiS government was signed by President Andrzej Duda in August. Over the past seven years, as much as Złoty 250 billion has been spent on implementing the family support program. This improved the lives of 7 million children. And PO politicians today apparently hope that Poles do not remember how they argued that this was not possible.
It turned out that it was impossible to do what PO announced in the campaign. There will be no tax-free amount of PLN 60,000 for the time being.
There will also be no volunteer SISTER. However, there will be an increase in social security contributions, which will amount to 12.8% from 1 January 2024. The contributions paid by entrepreneurs increased by PLN 181.84 per month and amount to PLN 1,600.32. In the case of entrepreneurs who use the so-called little ZUS, the increase amounts to 17.8%.
Energy prices will be higher because the price freeze will only last until mid-year. The fuel surcharge will also increase. The Minister of Infrastructure has increased the rates for 2024 for all types of fuels by 13.2%. And the fuel surcharge is responsible for several percent of the price of petrol and diesel. This could mean an increase of several cents per liter.
There also had to be a depoliticization of state-owned enterprises. The so-called Under 100 specifics, i.e. a series of PO election promises, included a provision regarding the dismissal of all current members of the supervisory and management boards of the SSP. New members were to be elected in their place in a transparent manner, and their appointment was to be based on “competence, not on party or family ties”. Meanwhile, one of the first decisions of the new coalition was the appointment of Magda Roguska to the PWPW supervisory board. Ms. Roguska is a completely apolitical councilor of the Civic Coalition in Warsaw, who until now was treasurer of the Warsaw PO. She also recently became head of the political cabinet of Marcin Kierwiński, Minister of the Interior and Head of Warsaw’s PO Structures, who is also Secretary General of the Platform.
So if you can’t brag about your own promises, you should brag about someone else’s. And of course no word that it was a PiS project, because Prime Minister Tusk would be angry and say:
I get furious when I hear: “Maybe PiS is bad, but…”
Source: wPolityce