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Poland's new Speaker: "cancel populist commissions"

24.11.2023 14:00
Szymon Hołownia, the new Speaker of Poland's lower house and a rising political star has announced his intention to cancel populist commissions. 
Szymon Hołownia - the Sejms new Speaker.
Szymon Hołownia - the Sejm's new Speaker. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka

Szymon Hołownia, the new Speaker of Poland's lower house and a rising political star has announced his intention to call off populist commissions.

First to go would be the "Commission to Investigate Russian Influences". But rather than getting into the political reasons for creating this Commission - to attack Tusk's earlier relations as Prime Minister with Putin and win political points - Hołownia has offered a "logical argument":

"It makes no sense to me why the Polish Parliament would form a commission whose scope would be exactly the same as the tasks and competencies of the Special Services. If there were indeed undue influences from Russia in the period the Act on this Commission speaks of, then what do we have Special Services for? We should have been informed long ago of any such influences."

Hołownia is a former talent-show presenter and journalist on religious matters and has achieved a rapid rise in popularity since becoming Speaker. Commentators have suggested that his debating skills were honed in this background in television and the transmissions of the Sejm's sessions have earned the nickname "SejmFlix" or "ParliamentFlix" because of the popularity of debates moderated by Hołownia. 

Sources: Rzeczpospolita, PAP

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