Latest news with #Konfederacja
BBC News
6 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Anti-immigrant rallies staged across Poland
Anti‑immigration protests have taken place in dozens of towns and cities across Poland. Most demonstrations attracted several hundred people or fewer on Saturday - but police estimated that about 3,000 took part in the largest rally in the southern city of Katowice. The protests were organised by far-right political group Konfederacja, and another nationalist from Konfederacja and the opposition Law and Justice party have been warning about a flood of illegal migration in Poland - but official figures do not support their claims. "Without closing Poland to illegal immigration, without starting deportation campaigns, without abandoning political correctness... security will gradually deteriorate," Konfederacja co-chairman Krzysztof Bosak told the crowd in the eastern city of Bialystok.A minute's silence was held at some gatherings in memory of a 24-year-old Polish woman murdered in the central city of Torun. In the capital Warsaw, rival rallies took place just metres away. There were no reports of violence. Police have since arrested a Venezuelan man in the case. Right-wing politicians claim Poland is in danger of being flooded by illegal migrants. Immigration has increased over the last decade - but official figures show that migration is lower so far this year than in previous this month, Poland introduced checks on its borders with Germany and Lithuania after Berlin began turning away asylum seekers. Germany introduced its own controls on the Polish and Czech borders in March, Poland temporarily suspended the right of migrants arriving in the country via its border with Belarus to apply for asylum.
Forbes
13-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Polish Elections: Conservative Momentum And The Fight For Economic Freedom
Few days before winning the election Poland's conservative presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki ... More spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, Tuesday, May 27, 2025, in Jasionka, Poland. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool) I have been working with think tanks in Poland since the 1990s, and the progress I have witnessed over the years is truly remarkable. Many challenges remain, but after last week's victory for conservative presidential candidate Karol Nawrocki, coupled with good first-round results for Slawomir Mentzen of the Konfederacja (Confederation for Liberty and Independence) alliance, Poland has a chance to continue building support for economic and social policies that lead to prosperity. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, with your property, are the foundation of prosperity. They also explain why Poland's economy has outperformed that of most of its neighbors. Polish society, long resilient in the face of adversity, has endured centuries of invasions and oppression from powerful countries. In 1655, for instance, the Swedish army invaded what was then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, setting off a devastating five-year conflict. The following century, in what some have called the most egregious land grab in history, Russia, Prussia, and Austria took over and partitioned Polish territory. Thus, from the late 1790s until the end of World War I, Poland existed only in the soul of its people. Then in the 20th century, of course, the country suffered years of Nazi and Soviet rule. Since gaining independence from the Soviet Union, Poland has embraced market-oriented reforms, drawing strength from its Catholic heritage and valuing life, community, and solidarity. As a result, the country has experienced rapid growth and is steadily closing the income gap with the leading nations of the Western world. Economic freedom in Poland, of course, grew following the fall of communism and jumped again in the 2010s before being negatively impacted by COVID policies. Since then, the Polish economy has continued to grow despite political differences; however, the country has yet to regain the high economic freedom scores it achieved a decade ago. Nevertheless, as the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom shows, Poland has maintained high scores in most economic areas. Economic Freedom scores of Poland show a good position on freedom to trade but low scores in ... More government spending In the country's current context, the war in Ukraine, of course, looms large. When Russia invaded Crimea in 2014, I wrote a piece arguing that Poland was back at the forefront of Western civilization; now it is more strategic than ever for the free world. Proving that in their culture, solidarity is much more than a political slogan (or the name of its famous labor movement), generous Poles have since the beginning of the conflict opened their houses to Ukrainians. Initial estimates indicated that over 3 million refugees crossed the border to Poland. Although the war continues, many Ukrainians have returned to their land, yet still close to one million have been granted temporary protected status in Poland, which is currently home to about 2 million Ukrainian citizens. In Poland, any sign of compromise or weakness in supporting Ukraine is enough for someone to be labelled pro-Putin. Most Poles see the current effort to support Ukraine as an opportunity to weaken Russia, its most dangerous geopolitical and strategic enemy. However, President-elect Nawrocki (who takes office on August 6) has had no qualms about seeking and accepting support from President Trump, often accused of being soft on Putin and weak in his support for Ukraine. Regarding the Trump administration, Poland's continuing balance of power and the growth of Konfederacja should allow for continued constructive engagement and the hope to open a new path for Europe. Current President Andrzej Duda was elected by the same coalition forces, with PiS (Law and Justice) as the major party, that gave the narrow win to Nawrocki. A victory by Rafal Trzaskowski, aligned with the policies of Donald Tusk, the current prime minister, would have moved Poland closer to the political forces still dominant in Brussels and farther from today's Washington. As China is a major ally of Russia and is helping with its war of aggression on Ukraine, during my recent visit to Poland, I repeatedly sought opinions on China. In Poland, though, there is almost no talk or awareness of the threat of communist China. The answers I received ranged from 'China is far from us' to 'China's diplomats are not pushy or arrogant, compared to those in the West.' On internal matters, policy players who focus primarily on economic policy have complained that Poland's leading parties, Civic Coalition and Law and Justice, seem satisfied with the economic status quo. The good election results from Konfederacja, a party which, in addition to promoting institutions and laws that protect life, faith, and family, also advocates for increased economic freedom, may in time lead to a more market-friendly center-right government. I have followed Konfederacja since its early days, when it was the creation of one of the most colorful political and intellectual troublemakers I have ever met: Janusz Korwin-Mikke. The party is now divorced from his eccentricities, which, though appealing to some of the most radical voters, alienate the rest. Much like the Libertarian Party in the United States, Korwin-Mikke's party, despite some success, was not taken seriously and struggled to achieve the 5% threshold needed to win seats in Parliament. Things have changed. In the 2020 presidential election, the party's young presidential candidate, Krzysztof Bosak, then in his late thirties, attracted 6.78% of the vote. In the first round of the 2025 election, Slawomir Mentzen, the candidate backed by Konfederacja, attracted 15% of the vote. I had been following Mentzen, also not yet 40 years old, because his allies admired the bold moves of President Javier Milei in Argentina and asked me if I had any way to attract President Milei to Poland or get him to endorse Mentzen. Leaders of think tanks and political parties working to improve rule of law and economic freedom in ... More Poland. Clockwise, from upper left, Jerzy Kwaśniewski (Ordo Iuris), Tomasz Wróblewski (Warsaw Enterprise Institute), Krzysztof Bosak MP (Deputy Marshal of the Sejm), Grzegorz Placzek, MP (Chairman of Konfederacja Parliamentary block). Right: over of the Great Reset document produced by Ordo Iuris, and Mathias Corvinus College (Budapest) The day after Nawrocki's victory, I met with Grzegorz Placzek, the leader of Konfederacja in the Sejm, or lower house. Placzek described to me some of his party's plans. In addition to consolidating the party's vote to remain in third place and become a key partner in future center-right governments, Placzek would like to push for bolder efforts. One possibility is closer collaboration with the Trump administration to form a common front against international agencies that have proven ineffective or are seen as working too closely with the Chinese government or push a leftist or 'woke' cultural agenda. Konfederacja has proposed forming a common cause with the United States and Argentina, leaving the World Health Organization, and establishing an alternative group. Placzek is well-positioned to strengthen ties with Argentina, serving as chairman of the Polish-Argentine Parliamentary Group, which aims to foster collaboration with Argentina's libertarian lawmakers. On the think-tank side, I spent time with leaders of two groups that have consistently produced quality programs and attracted support from a broad donor base. The first of these is Ordo Iuris, founded in 2013, which focuses on the rule of law and the culture and institutions of justice. The other is the Warsaw Enterprise Institute (WEI), a multifaceted pro-free-market think tank founded also in 2013. Last September, in collaboration with the Heritage Foundation, Ordo Iuris convened think tanks from across Europe to discuss the potential impact of current EU policies on transatlantic relations. The effort encouraged Ordo Iuris to collaborate with Hungary's Mathias Corvinus Collegium to produce a document serving as a guide for European reforms. This alternative 'Great Reset' [I will put a link] document is available online in several languages and calls for reestablishing a union based on six founding principles: national sovereignty over EU primacy; national constitutions over judicial activism; representative democracy over technocratic government; subsidiarity and respect for national competencies over centralization; national interests over self-proclaimed EU values; and free speech over ideological control. WEI's work encompasses research, events, and publications. One product that caught my attention is the Institute's Black Book of Government Spending. The book aims to raise awareness of waste and inefficiencies in government. The effort promotes transparency among authorities and fosters incentives for good practices. As it seeks input from all over Poland, it also raises WEI and its market-oriented solutions across the nation. Most other market-oriented think tanks in Poland are fragile, relying on a few donors, well-known figures, or a single main product. The oldest of these is the Adam Smith Centre, founded in 1989, which continues to celebrate 'Tax Freedom Day.' The Civil Development Forum Foundation (FOR) was established in March 2007 by Professor Leszek Balcerowicz and serves as a primary advocate for sound economic policies. The Polish American Foundation for Education and Economic Research, founded in 2000, has helped publish multiple books promoting free markets, organized important programs, and provided numerous scholarships. It is currently in standby mode with minimal programming due to the death of its founder and principal funder, Jan Malek, but there is hope that its programs will soon be reactivated. Am I hopeful for Poland's future? Yes. A few days before the Presidential election, CPAC held its first-ever event in Poland. It was very well attended, with most Polish participants aligned with the opposition to the current government led by Donald Tusk. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, the highest-level Trump administration official at the event, was extremely well-received. She did not keep quiet about the June 1 presidential election and endorsed Nawrocki. However, neither did The Economist and multiple publications and writers aligned with Brussels, who employed various scare tactics to encourage Poles to vote for Rafal Trzaskowski. The divisions between libertarians and conservatives in many countries have led to left-wing victories. Given the common ground on cultural topics in Poland and the results of this past election, I am confident that political and intellectual differences will not hinder their path to prosperity. Wojciech Popiela, wpopiela@ collaborated with this piece
LeMonde
30-05-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
In Poland, the grip of the anti-European far right weighs on the presidential election
On May 18, the results of the first round of the presidential election in Poland – the second round is scheduled for Sunday, June 1 – came as a surprise, even a shock. Not only was the liberal candidate, Rafal Trzaskowski, who had been considered the clear favorite throughout the campaign, trailed by his ultraconservative rival, Karol Nawrocki – with 31.3% and 29.5% of the vote – but the far right achieved a breakthrough not seen since the fall of communism. Slawomir Mentzen, of the nationalist libertarian party Konfederacja, secured 14.8% of the vote, and Grzegorz Braun, an openly antisemitic and homophobic royalist, received 6.3%. The surge was especially dramatic among 18 to 29-year-olds, who turned out in greater numbers than any other age group. Among them, Slawomir Mentzen gathered 35% of the vote, while Adrian Zandberg, the representative of the radical left, got 19% (compared to 4.8% across all voters). Grzegorz Braun recorded 5%. Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS), which backs Karol Nawrocki, has over the years shifted toward unabashed nationalism. As a result, far-right parties collectively garnered nearly 53% of the vote. Among young voters, protest votes totaled 60%, with 40% going to the far right. Should these numbers be seen as the rise of a "brown wave" poised to reshape the political landscape? A closer look suggests the results are more nuanced. Protest vote All studies showed that the electorate of Konfederacja – primarily young and male – is not a monolithic ideological bloc. It is volatile, with protest voting often outweighing ideological considerations. Many voters were drawn to Slawomir Mentzen's ultra-liberal promises ("zero taxes," "minimal state," etc.), overlooking other aspects of his platform. This phenomenon was amplified by an effective social media campaign, where short TikTok videos and punchy messages proved more effective than traditional speeches and TV interviews.
LeMonde
19-05-2025
- Politics
- LeMonde
In Poland, two frontrunners for one presidential seat
The picture is not what the polling institutes had been predicting for months. Expected to lead the first round of the presidential election, held on Sunday, May 18, in Poland, the pro-European liberal mayor of Warsaw, Rafal Trzaskowski, did indeed top the poll with 31.2% of the votes, according to 99% of the ballots counted on Monday morning, but he was closely followed by his rival. Supported by the nationalist-conservative party Law and Justice (PiS), Karol Nawrocki, an admirer of Donald Trump, won 29.7% of the vote. This came as a significant surprise given the forecasts had predicted a large gap and it suggested a highly contested second round on June 1. The transfer of votes is also likely to be complicated for both camps. The second surprise came from the exceptionally high score of the far right, divided between the nationalist libertarian party Konfederacja, led by Slawomir Mentzen (14.9%), and the royalist and openly antisemitic candidate, Grzegorz Braun (6.4%). This surge is particularly important among 18-29 year olds, 41% of whom cast a ballot for these candidates (36% for the former, 5% for the latter).
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘The same faces, swapping places': Polish candidates aim to break two-party hold on power
Hidden off a charming market square in central Poland, a bar offers the closest physical experience to walking into the internet. Stretching incongruously through medieval basements, Pub Mentzen in Toruń feels like it was designed by someone on a full-fat diet of online politics. As you enter, a gallery wall displays mugshots of 'customers we don't serve', but instead of rowdy patrons, it features Polish political leaders, including at least five prime ministers. The wall presents a surreal indictment of the country's political elite. There is a 'meme museum', a blown-up, fake 'gazillion złoty' banknote with the face of a former prime minister, and a gold-plated figure of that leader with a begging bowl. In the toilets, you listen to Donald Tusk speaking German and bizarre speeches by other Polish politicians. The pub could be dismissed as eccentric if it wasn't owned by Sławomir Mentzen, the tax adviser turned politician of the libertarian far-right Konfederacja (Confederation) party that has been tipped to come third in this Sunday's presidential election in Europe's sixth-largest economy. And it is not just a commercial enterprise, but an expression of his politics. About 400 people gathered in the rain as Mentzen, 38, came to his home town to deliver a shotgun pitch covering taxes, political elites, public services, EU regulations, immigration, green policies, and the general state of the world. He first rose to notoriety in 2019, presenting 'the Mentzen five': 'We don't want Jews, homosexuals, abortion, taxes and the EU.' He has since distanced himself from that list, but remains on the far-right end of the spectrum. Emboldened by Donald Trump, he seeks to turn his unfiltered language, such as in his criticism of Ukrainians in Poland, into political strength. Related: Runoffs, reruns and rightwingers: Europe prepares for electoral 'super Sunday' His rise as the 'common sense' candidate – capturing the discontent among younger male voters, and with 1.6 million followers on TikTok – allowed him to briefly challenge the mainstream conservative candidate, Karol Nawrocki, for second place in polls. Recent comments on abortion and tuition fees reversed most of his gains, but in the weeks leading up to the vote he was on course to secure a double-digit vote share. In a well-rehearsed speech – Mentzen completed 348 rallies, visiting all of the country's powiaty (counties) – he raged against 20 years of the duopoly between the country's two main parties: Donald Tusk's centrist Civic Platform (PO) and Jarosław Kaczyński's populist-nationalist Law and Justice (PiS), which have dominated the country's politics since 2005. In this election, they have the two frontrunners once again, in the centrist mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, and Nawrocki. 'For God's sake, how long can we wait for something to change?' Grzegorz Płaczek, a Konfederacja MP, tells the Guardian. 'It's the same faces, just swapping places.' This anti-establishment rhetoric strikes a chord. Never before in the country's post-1989 history was the combined vote share of the top two candidates forecast to be as low as this year. Ben Stanley, a sociologist and political scientist at SWPS University in Warsaw, said: 'PiS is far from detoxifying itself after eight years in power, while PO is seen as responsible for the government's lack of ambition in key areas for younger voters, particularly abortion and housing. That leaves the race more open to others.' Another challenger hoping to break the duopoly is Adrian Zandberg. Born in Denmark to Polish parents, the 45-year-old is a towering figure – literally, nicknamed 'the Mighty Dane' – with a booming voice and hard-left socialist views. In the last parliamentary election in 2023, his party, Razem (Together), ran as part of the coalition against PiS but declined to join the government because it didn't feel it was offered the tools to meet its promises to voters. Now 'outside the tent pissing in', he, too, has become a brutal reviewer of 'two 70-year-old men' he says are stuck in disputes irrelevant to younger voters. Addressing about 800 people near Warsaw University on Wednesday, he focused on immediate challenges facing his audience, such as housing and healthcare, as well as Poland's long-term ambitions. He spoke in an urgent, angry tone – the crowd shouted 'disgrace' as he rhetorically asked them about the track record of previous administrations – and urged voters to back a Poland 'made of nuclear power, silicon and steel, and not of plywood'. He resists one label that captures his views, having recently said: 'I am less interested in the word 'the left', more in pro-social and libertarian change.' Aleks Szczerbiak, a professor of politics at the University of Sussex, says: 'For this 'stuff-them' electorate, a reaction against the duopoly … the ideological profile doesn't really matter that much.' Zandberg's fellow Razem MP Maciej Konieczny says the left's response to the far right needs to go beyond 'old leftwing aesthetics', adding: 'Younger people may not have settled political opinions, but they can smell bullshit and want [politics] to be about something. 'And we are credible: because we actually refused to play ball.' Polls published before the country went into electoral silence on Friday night suggested Mentzen and Zandberg would take almost half of all votes from under-35s, streets ahead of the established candidates. Despite polarised views on migration and abortion, some of their voters even suggested they could see themselves voting for the other candidate, instead of mainstream parties. Angelika, a 'campaigner on maternity leave', is not surprised when asked about these views at Zandberg's rally. 'The young electorate of Zandberg and Mentzen want largely similar things: to get stability and live a dignified life,' even if their proposed solutions are largely incompatible, she says. 'Instead we get this ping-pong from PO and PiS.' The two candidates could get up to a combined 20% of the vote share on Sunday. That would force the two mainstream candidates who are expected to advance to the runoff to at least consider how to court their supporters. If they fail to do that, they, too, will end up on the wall at Pub Mentzen. And the 2027 parliamentary election is just two years away, with that anger not going anywhere.
