In an interview with the Sieci weekly newspaper, published on Monday, the leader of the Law and Justice (PiS) party called on the public not to believe “the opposition’s propaganda” which “paints a bleak picture of Polish reality,” public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Kaczyński, who is Poland’s deputy prime minister responsible for national security and defence, added that suggestions of the demise of the ruling coalition “have nothing to do with the truth.”
“I won’t deny the fact that the situation is difficult,” the Law and Justice leader said, “and that things would have been far better without… bad, largely external, objective pressures and crises.”
“However, such conditions rarely exist in politics,”he emphasised.
In this connection, the ruling party leader cited the coronavirus pandemic, inflation, “the hybrid attack on the Polish-Belarusian border,” and “Russia’s activity in Ukraine and the whole region,” the state PAP news agency reported.
He also voiced concerns about the plans of Germany’s new government, saying Berlin sought “to create a European federalist state.”
Referring to Poland’s rule-of-law dispute with the European Union, Kaczyński said Warsaw could return to negotiations, adding: “but we won’t allow political decisions to be imposed on us, under the threat of funding being cut off.”
Looking ahead to the next elections
The Law and Justice leader said his party was “fully determined” to win the next general election, due in 2023.
He said the ballot could be held earlier, adding “it is unlikely, but we cannot rule it out entirely.”
“We have a big chance to win, but some aspects of how we operate have got to change,” Kaczyński said.
He also cited a recent opinion poll, according to which 64 percent of respondents said the opposition parties were unprepared for power.
In Kaczyński's view, if the opposition assumed power, its rule would be “incoherent, bad and destructive for the country,” plunging Poland “into great chaos,” IAR reported.
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Source: IAR, PAP