2024-12-07 14:38 update: 2024-12-11, 15:01
Photo PAP/Jarek Praszkiewicz
Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski presented the programme for his potential presidency on Saturday, two weeks after his centrist Civic Coalition (KO) party endorsed his candidacy after a party ballot.
On Saturday, KO organised a party convention in Gliwice, a town in the southern industrial region of Upper Silesia, where Trzaskowski was introduced by Donald Tusk, the KO leader and the prime minister.
"We must ensure that the promises made at that time (October 2023 parliamentary elections - PAP) are fulfilled," Trzaskowski said, referring to incumbent President Andrzej Duda vetoing a number of government reforms, which led to the disappointment of KO voters with the slow pace of reforms.
Duda, an ally of the former ruling party, the conservative Law and Justice (PiS), is at odds with KO, the main party in Poland's pro-EU coalition government.
"We need to prepare a package of bills that will be ready so that we can implement the changes that are the most important for us already in the first hours, the first days after victorious elections," Trzaskowski said.
He also said that, based on his talks with Poles, in his campaign he would focus on economy, security and equality.
Elaborating on the security aspect, he said that Poland "will have the most modern armed forces in Europe." He went on to criticise the EU for what he saw as too cautious investments in defence and called it "absurd" that Germany, "whose economy is nine times bigger than ours, practically spends the same, or just slightly more in nominal terms on security than us."
In his address, Trzaskowski prioritised two aspects of the Polish economy, energy production and agriculture.
"The prices of energy in Poland have doubled in recent years," he said, accusing the former PiS government of importing Russian coal, hindering the development of wind power and wasting European energy transition funds.
He vowed that the current ruling coalition would ensure lower electricity prices "through a well-planned, strategic policy."
Trzaskowski also showed understanding for Polish farmers, who are dissatisfied with the EU's lower entry barriers for produce from Ukraine or China.
"This is not right when the European Union raises standards to protect biodiversity and at the same time opens its borders to goods from Ukraine or China," he said.
"This is not right when the European Union, in order to win new markets in South America, is planning to accept an agreement which unfortunately endangers the interests of Polish farmers," he added.
Farmers in Europe, especially in Poland and France, have vented their anger over the EU's plans to sign a deal with Mercosur, a group of several South American nations, which the farmers fear will make their produce less competitive in the EU.
Poles will elect their next president in May 2025. (PAP)
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