Not only is Donald Tusk fully aware that the hospital scandal could permanently cost him power in Poland. The governing Left is also worried about its political future. That is why, unlike the Razem party, it has chosen to bury its head in the sand over the issue. However, this attitude is unlikely to win Włodzimierz Czarzasty’s party any sympathy among voters, who are clearly furious with the government.
The latest poll conducted by SW Research leaves little room for doubt: nearly 60 percent of respondents demand decisive consequences in connection with the hospital scandal. The growing nervousness displayed by Donald Tusk best illustrates just how dangerous the affair has become for the Civic Coalition (KO). Officially, the prime minister says he wants complete transparency and for the matter to be fully investigated. But what does reality look like?
“A Drowning Man Will Clutch at Straws”
First, it is increasingly clear that Marcin Kierwiński, the political heavyweight within Warsaw’s Civic Coalition, has no intention of becoming a scapegoat—a point he made unmistakably clear in a recent interview with Gazeta Wyborcza. Second, Donald Tusk has come close to openly attempting to discredit the whistleblower from Warsaw’s Southern Hospital. The overwhelming majority of commentators interpreted his social media post as an effort to destroy the credibility of Dr. Emil Jędrzejewski. Moreover, internet users believe that institutions loyal to the prime minister received a clear signal regarding how to treat the doctor who stood up to Dawid Kacprzyk, until recently one of Tusk’s party’s rising stars.
For the leader of the December 13 Coalition, this is not just another political scandal that inevitably accompanies any government without significantly affecting its future. It has already become evident that the “Bypassed Queue Party” will not be able to easily extinguish the public’s anger and disappointment. Consequently, just as during the presidential campaign, Tusk is expected to resort to increasingly aggressive political tactics. Last year, such a strategy proved counterproductive—the episode involving Jacek Murański being presented as the prime minister’s informant and authority ultimately backfired against Rafał Trzaskowski. There are many indications that history could repeat itself, as public opinion increasingly embraces the view that “a drowning man will clutch at straws.”
The hospital scandal erupted at the worst possible moment for the Civic Coalition. Sweeping reforms dismantling the public healthcare system are moving ahead at full speed. Patients are suffering from ever-longer waiting lists, canceled medical procedures and surgeries, and increasingly difficult access to examinations and diagnoses. Outside hospitals and hospital wards facing closure, desperate and angry people have gathered. Residents of Lesko are clenching their fists in frustration, convinced that Tusk broke his promises regarding their local hospital. In the Sejm, he also treated Razem MP Marcelina Zawisza dismissively when she attempted to hand him a petition signed by concerned residents of the Bieszczady region.
Although liberal media outlets have been sparing in their coverage of such scenes in recent months, public memory and imagination do not function according to the editorial line of pro-Tusk newsrooms. The VIP lounge scandal has become the catalyst unleashing some of the strongest public emotions in recent years. It was not a grenade exploding in a cesspit—it was an atomic bomb. Panicked Civic Coalition politicians ignore journalists in parliament, offer increasingly vague and implausible explanations, or openly threaten the whistleblower whose revelations have shaken the entire system. Tusk’s party had apparently hoped it could limp into the next election with just over 30 percent support, win, and somehow cobble together another coalition. That scenario now appears increasingly unlikely. Neither attempts to intimidate and discredit the whistleblower nor the dismissal of the supposedly “non-partisan expert” Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda are likely to help.
The Left Held Hostage by the Hospital Scandal
The governing Left, led by Włodzimierz Czarzasty, finds itself in a similarly uncomfortable position. Although the scandal does not directly concern them, and politicians from the New Left have repeatedly criticized Warsaw’s Civic Coalition leadership, they nevertheless face a serious image problem. At the end of April, Czarzasty’s party voted against a motion of no confidence in Jolanta Sobierańska-Grenda, effectively endorsing what the author describes as the dismantling of Poland’s public healthcare system.
During the years when Law and Justice (PiS) governed Poland, the entire Left consistently demanded even greater spending on healthcare, called for the abolition of all funding limits, and claimed it would provide ordinary Poles with easy and rapid access to medical care. According to the author, reality has turned out quite differently. As Tusk’s junior coalition partner, Czarzasty’s party can now do little more than put on a brave face, agonize over the situation, or quietly complain about its colleagues in the Civic Platform. For voters, that means very little when the once-popular slogan “You Will Never Walk Alone” has effectively become, in the author’s words, “You’ll stand in the doctor’s queue alone. And you’ll probably die there.”
Incidentally, where are the “Lightning Bolt” activists associated with Marta Lempart during the hospital scandal? According to the author, Lempart herself has reportedly focused on obtaining lucrative grants and teaching “the fight for democracy” under the patronage of public institutions. Meanwhile, no one speaks to young women from smaller towns wondering whether they too will become victims of creeping unemployment. Some may dismiss such criticism as mockery when discussing a supposedly “socially sensitive” left-wing movement. Yet, according to the author, there remains a substantial group of left-wing voters who feel betrayed. Regardless of why they were disappointed, the more important question is whether they will once again vote next year for what the author describes as the “old-new post-communists” governing alongside Tusk and building a state that resembles a VIP lounge.
“Tusk Is Dodging Responsibility”
The Razem party finds itself in a somewhat stronger position. I recently watched—broadcast by TV Republika—a press conference held by the party’s leaders. Adrian Zandberg declared that Warsaw’s Civic Coalition had much to answer for regarding the hospital scandal and what he called “Kierwiński’s octopus” controlling the capital.
“The laboratory of political pathology is right here in Warsaw. The politicians running this city have become so arrogant that they believe they cannot lose,” Zandberg said, pointing to municipal companies allegedly filled “like a plague of Colorado beetles” with appointees from the Civic Coalition, the New Left, and the Polish People’s Party (PSL).
“When I see Prime Minister Tusk standing there saying, ‘What can I do? I’d like there to be no politicians in hospitals,’ it makes me laugh. Mr. Prime Minister, you’ve governed Poland for three years—that makes it your responsibility! And when I see Marshal Czarzasty pretending that he has nothing to do with governing… I’d like to remind him that he leads a party that is part of this government. The problem with both gentlemen is that whenever difficulties arise, they dodge responsibility!”
The author adds two observations. First, Zandberg once again attempted to portray PiS and KO as “equally bad,” disregarding what the author argues were years of Law and Justice efforts to strengthen public healthcare through increased funding and investment—policies that are now allegedly being rolled back by the Civic Coalition. Second, under the PiS government, every mistake made by those in power was met with relentless criticism from liberal and left-wing media, accompanied by what the author describes as hysterical reactions from part of public opinion. Today, those same media outlets are, according to the author, doing everything possible to downplay the hospital scandal. Journalists from liberal television stations reportedly yawn with boredom when Zandberg criticizes Tusk. In the author’s view, Jarosław Kaczyński could once be accused of virtually anything, while liberal media professionals are now afraid to cast even a critical glance at the leader of the “Bypassed Queue Party.”
Most Polish men and women, however, are far from bored. According to the author, the Left—whether entangled in its alliance with Tusk or attempting to strike a posture of political symmetry—is marginalizing itself. Meanwhile, the political right is once again channeling public anger and frustration. In the author’s assessment, the situation is becoming increasingly dramatic and increasingly dangerous because Donald Tusk has now begun playing for everything.