The conflict between Law and Justice (PiS) and the Confederation party is heating up in Poland, with leaders and top politicians trading brutal insults.
As with many other European countries, Poland features newer right-wing parties that are emerging and growing in popularity, which are eating into the establishment conservative parties.
In Poland, the Confederation co-leader, Sławomir Mentzen appeared as a guest on Polsat News, where he said those that make alliances with the establishment PiS end up dead, in exile, or suffering a nervous breakdown.
One of the hosts of the program, Marcin Fijołek, said to Mentzen that “PiS politicians can’t forgive you for suggesting that Jarosław Kaczyński is responsible for Ziobro’s situation, and Gowin before him, or what happened to Andrzej Lepper. Will you apologize?”
“Let them wait. I never said that Jarosław Kaczyński contributed to Andrzej Lepper’s suicide. I only said how his coalition partners met their end. That’s a fact that can’t be denied. Lepper committed suicide under mysterious circumstances, Jarosław Gowin suffered a nervous breakdown, and Zbigniew Ziobro is battling a serious illness,” the Confederation co-chair replied.
“They haven’t had much luck in life. And I don’t intend to end up that way,” Mentzen added.
However, Mentzen also addressed Kaczyński’s attack that appeared to allude to Mentzen’s Asperger’s syndrome.
Marcin Fijołek quoted the Law and Justice party chairman’s words from a press conference. “If someone suffers from some sort of deficiency, they should first get themselves in good health and only then enter politics. And if that’s impossible, so be it. Unfortunately, I couldn’t become a basketball player either, and I dreamed of it,” said the PiS leader when asked about a potential coalition with Confederation.
Mentzen admitted that he took this as a hint at Asperger’s syndrome, which the Confederation politician struggles with.
“Jarosław Kaczyński is not only a liar, but also a boor. He’s exploiting my condition to attack me,” he said.
There is also a third right-wing party in Poland, which the right may need to take power. Recent polls conducted by various research organizations indicate that a coalition of Law and Justice and the Confederation party would have a good chance of securing a parliamentary majority after the next elections. However, some studies indicate that a majority would also require cooperation with the Confederation of the Polish Crown, Grzegorz Braun’s party.
MEP Anna Bryłka, of the Confederation Party, was a guest on a Polsat News program, and said that PIS is attacking Confederation in the same manner it did right before national elections in 2023, which saw PiS booted from power.
“We did not start this war,” said Bryłka.
“This domination of the right wing and the domination of this right side of the political scene is the reason for such mass participation of PiS politicians, and PiS is certainly very afraid of the Confederation, but it is also afraid of Mr. Grzegorz Braun’s party, and it also seems to me that the strategy that has been implemented for many years by Chairman Kaczyński – nothing to the right of PiS can be created, it no longer works,” said the MEP.
“The entire structure on the Polish political scene looks completely different. Not only is Confederation to the right of PiS, but Mr. Grzegorz Braun’s party is also to the right of Confederation, and PiS is simply losing its monopoly on the right wing of the political scene,” she added.
Anna Bryłka also pointed to the cooling of contacts between the two parties.
“We didn’t start this war with PiS; PiS started this war with the Confederation, that’s the first thing. Secondly, PiS is making the same mistake it made in 2023. In fact, in the final weeks of the 2023 election campaign, a massive attack on the Confederation began, and we achieved a result below our expectations,” the MEP pointed out.
