The European Parliament voted on Tuesday to lift the immunities of Members of the European Parliament from Law and Justice (PiS): Daniel Obajtek and Patryk Jaki, as well as Grzegorz Braun, representing the Confederation of the Polish Crown, and Tomasz Buczek of the Confederation.
Why were the immunities lifted?
The lifting of parliamentary immunity always concerns a specific case.
In Obajtek’s case, it relates to his actions as CEO of Orlen, specifically a one-off decision to block the distribution of the weekly NIE at the company’s petrol stations due to an offensive cover featuring Pope John Paul II.
In Jaki’s case, a private indictment was filed by Judge Igor Tuleya after the politician accused him of knowingly approving surveillance using the Pegasus system. When the judge called this a lie, Jaki suggested that the judge was not aware of the documents he had signed.
The immunity of Braun, representing the Confederation of the Polish Crown in the European Parliament, has been lifted for the fourth time. This time, the case concerns blocking an access road in Jedwabne on 10 July 2025 during the 84th anniversary of the massacre of the Jewish population.
In the case of Confederation MEP Buczek, the matter concerns an incident during an election night event, during which he allegedly forcibly took a megaphone from a participant who was criticizing him. The proceedings were initiated through a private prosecution.
Wave of reactions in Poland
Following the announcement of all the decisions taken today in Strasbourg, Polish X erupted with reactions. Among those commenting on what they described as a scandalous decision were the politicians directly concerned.
“The demonstrative stripping of my immunity by the ‘December 13 coalition’ in the European Parliament is another element of the persecution of political competition,”
wrote Patryk Jaki.
He recalled that in the previous term his immunity had also been lifted for liking a video showing real scenes of violence by migrants. “Showing the truth was deemed ‘hate speech’,” the MEP wrote.
“And today my immunity was lifted for another instance of pure ‘hatred.’ Namely, I stated that Judge Igor Tuleya had agreed to the use of the Pegasus system. He himself admits he agreed, but claims he did not know it was specifically that system,”
Jaki added.
Daniel Obajtek, who served as CEO of PKN Orlen under the United Right government, also commented on the matter. In a video recorded in the European Parliament, he said he was proud of his decision.
“For ensuring that this disgraceful publication, one issue of it, was withdrawn from stations at a time when there was desecration of the cross and of John Paul II, one of the most well-known Poles in the world, a motion is filed to strip me of my immunity. And this left-wing parliament strips me of that immunity,”
Obajtek stated.
Tomasz Buczek, a Confederation MEP, addressed the lifting of his immunity in a more informal tone:
“Regarding ‘my’ immunity lifted by the EP:
- If it were truly ‘mine,’ I could waive it. The ‘owner’ of MEP immunities is the European Parliament, and despite my sincere willingness to waive it, I could not do so. I did not want this entire political and media farce, but that’s what politics is about.
- The lifting of immunity concerns a civil case brought by Małgorzata Zych, a former PSL activist and an unsuccessful candidate for the Senate in 2023 recommended by that party.
- The case for which my immunity was lifted is related to our candidate Sławomir Mentzen’s presidential campaign. During a rally in Tarnobrzeg, the aforementioned individual verbally attacked our candidate and disrupted the political event. Together with MP Grzegorz Płaczek, we tried to explain to her that she should stop, but she did not listen, so I took her megaphone and handed it to the police 🙂 That’s the whole story 🙂 It is worth noting that MP Grzegorz Płaczek faced identical accusations before the Rules Committee in the Polish Sejm, and both the committee and parliament, without a single dissenting vote, rejected the motion to lift his immunity. As you can see, PO, the Left, and PSL apply double standards,” Buczek wrote.
The matter was also commented on by opposition leader, PiS chairman and former Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, who described the lifting of immunities as “repression” and spoke of “defamation.”
“Once again, the European Parliament has agreed to further repression against opposition politicians. Patryk Jaki is being defamed for telling the truth, that under PiS, operational surveillance was used only with court approval,”
Kaczyński wrote.
The PiS leader also defended Daniel Obajtek, whose immunity was lifted for withdrawing from Orlen stations the weekly NIE, which featured a blasphemous cover defaming John Paul II.
“In Tusk’s Poland, responsibility is borne not by the publishers of a blasphemous weekly or those spreading false propaganda, but by those who stand on the side of truth and values important to millions of Poles. The time will come when goodness, honesty, and decency will prevail!”
Kaczyński declared.