For Law and Justice, seen as the United Right, longevity hinges on underscoring the achievements of President Andrzej Duda, according to Marcin Mastalerek, the Chief of the President’s Cabinet, speaking on RMF FM today.
Mastalerek was asked if he believed President Andrzej Duda would lead the right. He responded that the president has no such ambitions.
The right wing without the president?
When asked whether he would personally pursue such ambitions in the future, Mastalek stated clearly that the right will not endure beyond 2025 without President Duda. He argued that Duda embodies the transformation seen in 2015 and signals a shift anticipated for 2020; otherwise, right-leaning formations that position themselves strategically against Duda and the millions of voters who backed him risk fading away.
Thus, Mastalek asserted, if Law and Justice, as the United Right, wishes to endure, it must highlight Andrzej Duda’s accomplishments.
– he said.
The head of the president’s office was also asked what model of cooperation between the president and groups that announced the intention to hold PiS to account might look like. Mastalek emphasized that the president would prefer to work with those willing to collaborate, noting that the potential future coalition is not homogeneous and that cooperation with some will be easier than with others.
For programmatic reasons, it would be easiest to find common ground with the Third Way and the Polish People’s Party, yet in the Sejm they will face the toughest challenge. They had promised Poles that they would be a true third way, neither Tusk nor Kaczyński, and delivering on that promise would be very difficult, Mastalek said.
– he added.
He proceeded to say that the left, if it does not loudly advocate its ideological points, might still lose some support and perhaps end up on Civic Coalition lists or fall to around 5 percent.
When asked about the reconciliation proposed by PO leader Donald Tusk, Mastalek stressed that it was important for the KO leader to voice such a stance. For him, Donald Tusk initiated the political clash with PiS, and it is welcome that he now seeks to end the Polish political clash. If that is true, it could help ease tensions, Mastalek observed.
– he said.
Forecasts on coexistence
Asked what steps Tusk should take to end the war, Mastalek suggested that if Tusk wants reconciliation, he should treat President Duda and the opposition in a manner opposite to how he treated Lech Kaczyński when he was Prime Minister, a posture that previously escalated tensions between the PO and PiS.
Mastalek was also questioned about whether the president fears a referral to the State Tribunal. No, he is not afraid, Mastalek replied, because he believes the president has not committed any illegal act.
Regarding opposition accusations of constitutional violations over the oath taken by the so-called Understudy judges, Mastalek reminded that Andrzej Duda is a jurist and that the president could have acted in conformity with the law, in the eye of legal opinion from the presidential palace.
When asked whether the president would accept the oath of office for the three Constitutional Court judges elected in 2015, Mastalek said he would consult the president. “I am part of a majority who does not understand what this dispute is about because I am not a lawyer”, he noted.
Asked about the potential separation of the roles of Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mastalek recalled that before 2015 the president, then a politician and MEP, supported a system where the Minister of Justice also served as Attorney General. Nothing has changed, he stated, and there is no evidence that his view has shifted.
READ ALSO:
— Who will be tasked with forming a government after consultations? A spokesperson indicated substantive meetings. The president now has an opportunity to draw conclusions.
– What will President Duda present today? Has he decided who will be appointed Prime Minister? Mastalek reveals the secret.
– QUESTIONNAIRE. President Duda tops the CBOS trust rankings, with Trzaskowski in second place. And what does the Onet survey show about the situation?
Mon/PAP/X