“Anyone who does not sign (the law implementing the EU SAFE program – editor’s note), anyone who takes 200 billion zlotys away from the Polish army, is acting against Poland’s interests. (…) If the president does not sign it, he will behave in the most foolish way possible. And he knows it, and right now he does not know how to get out of it”, said Włodzimierz Czarzasty. The Speaker of the Sejm accused President Karol Nawrocki of presenting a proposal for the Polish SAFE 0 percent program that contains no details.
President Karol Nawrocki is set to meet today with Prime Minister Donald Tusk regarding the proposal for the Polish SEJF 0%, which would serve as an alternative to the EU program. The meeting will also be attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz and President of the National Bank of Poland Adam Glapiński.
The issue concerns the proposal presented last Wednesday by the president and the head of the central bank for the Polish SEJF 0% program, which is intended to be a beneficial and effective alternative financed with the support of the National Bank of Poland to the SAFE loan. At the time, the president said that SEJF 0% would guarantee 185 billion zlotys that “will not be tied to credit, will not involve changes to Poland’s situation in the EU, and will provide the flexibility needed by the Polish armed forces in choosing equipment”.
Czarzasty attacks the president again
Włodzimierz Czarzasty, Speaker of the Sejm from the New Left (Lewica), stated even before the president’s meeting with the prime minister that “neither side will convince the other of its position on SAFE”.
“SAFE, which was adopted by the Sejm, already exists in the form of a law and the president is doing everything to avoid signing it. And the SAFE proposed by the president does not exist. Therefore, it is difficult to convince the government side of something that does not exist”, he said on the program “Fakt”.
Continuing the narrative of the ruling camp, he assessed that the details of the president’s proposal are not known. He added that if “any concrete proposals appear and there is a possibility of using the available funds which – according to the central bank president – are in the National Bank of Poland, then the government will certainly make use of them”. “Regardless of whether it goes toward armaments or toward some other form of providing security to Polish women and men, for example healthcare”, he added.
Later, criticism of the president followed. Czarzasty stated that the proposal of the head of state appears ill-considered and “made in order to create a pretext for vetoing a good law”.
“This is nothing new. Stupidity is nothing new to us”, he said.
He also added that he is surprised that the president “wants to take 200 billion zlotys away from the Polish army based on an argument that is one big lie”.
“Anyone who does not sign (the law implementing the EU SAFE program – editor’s note), anyone who takes 200 billion zlotys away from the Polish army, is acting against Poland’s interests. (…) If the president does not sign it, he will behave in the most foolish way possible. And he knows it, and right now he does not know how to get out of it”, he continued.