The meeting of recent presidential candidates has ended in the Presidential Palace. – This is not a courtesy visit, but I hope to talk about very important issues. First of all, about the course of the elections – the president of the capital said before the talks began.
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The Thursday meeting of President Andrzej Duda with the President of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski – a recent competitor in the second round of the presidential election, a candidate of the Civic Coalition – at the Presidential Palace began at 9.30 am and lasted just over half an hour.
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Before the meeting, Rafał Trzaskowski said that “he counts on a substantive conversation with the president”. – This is not a courtesy visit, but I hope to talk about very important issues. First of all, about the course of the elections, because we all know that these elections were not equal and I hope that the President will draw the consequences from it – he assessed. In his opinion, in the last elections, “the entire state apparatus was involved on one side”.
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Trzaskowski: This is not a courtesy visitTVN24
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Meeting without media participation
Presidential minister Wojciech Kolarski said on Thursday morning that Trzaskowski will be accompanied during the talks by two associates and that the spouses of both politicians will not be present. As he added, the meeting will take place without the media. After the meeting, the president’s office will inform about its course.
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– The meeting will be held at the invitation of the president. The invitation was presented on the day of the elections. The election time is over, the president wants to meet the person with whom he competed. It is an expression of respect for the counter-candidate and all those who voted for him – said the minister.
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Today there is to be a meeting between Andrzej Duda and Rafał TrzaskowskiTVN24
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Trzaskowski: I will talk to the president about the draft law on local governments
On Wednesday in “Fakty po Faktach” on TVN24 Trzaskowski admitted that he “counts on a substantive conversation” because there are “a lot of topics”.
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– We all know that these presidential elections were not equal and we need to talk about it clearly and honestly and make sure that the next elections in Poland are as democratic as possible – he stressed. He hoped he would “get a clear assurance from the president that the next elections would be much more democratic, much more equal, and not that it would be the exact opposite.”
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He also recognized that President Duda “has a chance that this second term will be completely different.” – I hope that the president will lead an honest, open and substantive conversation and will guarantee that he will veto those bills that will try to make (from power – ed.) Institutions that should be completely independent, attack free media or take away prerogatives and money to local governments – said Trzaskowski.
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He also announced that on Thursday he would talk to the president about “a bill on local governments” that would help local authorities “stripped of a large part of their income”. In his opinion, this is caused “either by the implementation of promises by PiS for the money of local governments, or as a result of an epidemic, because the rulers help everyone, and local governments only promise and so far want to implement them only according to political criteria.”
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When asked if he would ask the president for legislative initiative on this matter, he replied: – Yes. This is a test of the president’s intentions: will he really defend local governments, or will he support bad ideas from his colleagues from his political environment, from PiS.
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Trzaskowski: There are many topics for tomorrow’s meeting with the president. I look forward to a substantive conversationTVN24
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“It’s not meant to be just an opportunity to take a nice photo of yourself”
In an interview with journalists on Wednesday, the Mayor of Warsaw noted that there are plenty of topics to talk to with President Duda. However, he made a reservation that he did not want to announce them all now, because the direction of the talks also depends on the head of state.
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He also expressed his hope that the president would take up “the substantive challenge”. – It should not only be an opportunity to take a nice photo, but it should be a partner conversation that will allow us to talk about the real problems of Poland – he said about his expectations for the meeting.
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Trzaskowski announced that he would also like to talk about all the initiatives that we have heard about recently from the ruling camp. Another topic that Trzaskowski intends to discuss with the president is financial support for local governments, which – as he emphasized – “should not be dictated by political criteria”. – Of course, I will talk about courts and independent institutions. However, as a local government official, I will focus on local governments, because for me such a litmus test will be whether the rulers will continue to try to tighten the screw on local governments when it comes to finances, limiting prerogatives, very bad ideas for dividing Mazovia or introducing 49 provinces – he said.
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The meeting was to take place at the end of July
President During the election evening on July 12, Andrzej Duda invited his opponent, Rafał Trzaskowski, to a meeting at the Presidential Palace on the same evening. The KO candidate, however, assessed that such a meeting should wait until the official results are announced.
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Trzaskowski, asked later during media interviews, assured that he wanted to meet the president, and that the meeting would certainly take place. As the Polish Press Agency found out, representatives of the Warsaw City Hall and the President’s Chancellery agreed that the meeting would take place between 27 and 31 July, and the final date was to be set by Andrzej Duda’s entourage.
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photo-source">Main photo source: Chancellery of the President / Jakub Szymczuk
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