Who won the debate on TVP? [ OPINION]

Today was a debate on TVP. By the fact that it is organized by the largest tv in Poland, it surely inspires large interest of voters. Six candidates representing their committees were launched. Was its impartiality preserved due to the fact that the debate was organised by public institutions? Which candidate did the best? Get to know the Politiks website's position in today's opinion.

Questions asked by TVP presenters (Source : Tok.fm)

1) An influx of immigrants. In this context, too, how do you measure the European Migration Pact, which provides for a mechanics for the compulsory adoption by EU countries, including Poland, which is not clearly defined today, or a mandatory solidarity fee? The Pact provides for the anticipation of recognising and temporarily exempting states from the work to receive immigrants – specified a decision would be taken by the European Union alternatively than by associate States, specified as Poland. Representatives of the European Commission have repeatedly said that on immigration, although relocation is not mandatory, solidarity is mandatory, and countries that do not want to accept immigrants will gotta pay for not accepting them. In this case, 2 concepts clashed in Poland – 1 is the consent to relocation expressed in the past during the regulation of PO and PSL in the erstwhile version of the agreement, the another is presented at the minute by the ruling camp, which rejects bringing illegal immigrants to Poland by decision of the European Union. Which of these concepts do you intend to implement in your future term? – asked Michał Rachon.

2. The retirement age is 1 of the key issues in the Polish political dispute. This will besides be decided by Poles in the referendum on election day. In our country, there are 2 views. The first assumes a compulsory increase in the retirement age, which refers to the concept of linking the retirement age in Europe to the demographic situation, which was encouraged by the most crucial German politicians in the past. The decision to rise the retirement age was taken in Poland during the regulation of the Civic Platform and the Polish People's Party. The second concept represented by the government is to leave retirement age at the current, reduced level with additional possibilities specified as traineeship pensions or bonuses for longer labour marketplace presence. What position does your committee present for the next word of the Sejm? – Anna Bogusiewicz asked.

3) Polish groups look at social policy in 2 ways. The ruling camp introduced 500 plus in Poland, which is to turn into 800 plus. And a number of another solutions, including 13th and 14th retirement. These programs are intended to reduce poorness and support families with children. Critics of these solutions, in turn, believe that social benefits origin besides much burden that there is no money to continue, and that the State should quit funding, introduce income thresholds for recipients of funds or replace 500 and 800 plus taxation incentives. What is the view of your committees on maintaining social programs in the future word of the Sejm," asked Michał Rachoń.

4) In 2014, the Sejm received a request signed by the Members of the upcoming elections of the groups, including PO, SLD and PSL, to amend the Constitution, which included a gateway to privatization of the State Forests by adding an article saying "The Forests owned by the State Treasury are not subject to ownership transformations, but in the cases specified in the Act". The applicants lacked 5 votes to introduce this change. In 2015, the Sejm passed another bill with the support of the PO, PSL and the SLD, which states that “forests owned by the State Treasury may be disposed of only in the cases specified in the Act, in order to preserve sustainable forest management or to accomplish a public objective”. This bill was vetoed by president Andrzej Duda in October 2015. This issue raises a political dispute in Poland. On the 1 hand, another gate for the sale of Forests, which was pushed by the coalition of PSL and Left, and on the another hand, opposition to privatization, which presents the ruling group. Privatisation is 1 of the themes of the forthcoming referendum. What will be the position of your groups on this issue? – asked Anna Bogusiewicz.

5) “On the issue of defence, politicians present 2 opposing ideas. 1 was implemented during the time of the PO-PSL coalition. In the event of an attack from the east, he assumed delaying enemy attack operations, supporting Poland's defence on the Vistula line, and possibly subsequent recovery of the occupied territory with the aid of allies. By the time these plans were created, the army's numbers were reduced. You know precisely how many organizational units in the Polish army were liquidated. The counter-concept, implemented present by the rulings, assumes the defence of the full territory of Poland, the construction of a 300-thousandth army armed with state-of-the-art equipment, including half a 1000 sets of HIMARS rocket artillery, ABRAMS tanks and APACHE helicopters. Which of the concepts of defence of the Polish Republic is closer to your political imagination in the upcoming parliamentary term?" Rachon asked.

6) The fight against unemployment is besides the subject of heated disputes in the current campaign. Let us remind that the Warsaw court established in its course that during the regulation of the PO-PSL coalition it reached not 15, but 14.4%. 2 conflicting views were presented in the fight against inflation. 1 assumed to suppress inflation at the expense of slowing down the economy and consequently expanding unemployment. The second – chosen by the ruling option – was to defend jobs and workers' income at the expense of slower inflation reductions. What tools do you intend to usage in the upcoming word of the Sejm to keep unemployment at a low level or to further decrease – asked Bogusiewicz.

Unbiased debate

It could be felt that most of the questions presented by the leaders were directed at the opposition, and especially at the president of the Donald Tusk Civic Coalition. They had a character containing the thesis and suggesting to the tv viewer an answer to the question. They besides hit mainly cases that are problematic for the Civic Coalition, and have a affirmative impact on the image of the United Right (including retirement age, immigration issue). However, it is hard to measure how much the debate could have been “set up” due to the fact that all parties knew the category of questions and joined it voluntarily, resulting in not being able to put up so brave too.

Krzysztof Maj

Krzysztof Maj, a candidate from the wing of the Unpartisan Local Governments, according to our opinion, showed the BS programme on the good side, presenting as a free marketplace and regional group. He pointed out that the ruling organization does not care about the little urbanized areas and weakens local governments. Although it was surely the least popular candidate, he scored that he answered the questions specifically and did not criticise another candidates unwarrantedly.

Donald Tusk

The president of the civilian Coalition Donald Tusk, according to our opinion, failed his level of substantiveism and focused besides much on criticism of the ruling camp. However, this is understandable to any degree due to the fact that opposition representatives are not presented on public tv in a affirmative way. It is surely not easy to be on television, in which you are portrayed in a bad light and to answer questions that are asked in a way that suggests a negative consequence to the opposition. However, we believe that more programme proposals could be proposed in the speeches (such as Simon Holovnia, for example) than just focusing on “arguments” with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Mateusz Morawiecki

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, according to our opinion, was akin to the president of the civilian Coalition Donald Tusk, but in his case, he focused mainly on criticizing the erstwhile PO-PSL government. He mainly praised his group and did not mention besides much to the program for the following years.

Simon Holovnia

Co-chairman of the 3rd Dear Simon Hołownia according to our opinion fell out as 1 of the most substantive candidates. He responded calmly and specifically to questions and did not avoid answers. He made clear the 3rd Way plan for the following years of possible governments and constructively criticized the actions of another candidates.

Joanna Scheering-Wielgus

Mrs Szeuring-Wielgus, according to our opinion, was rather poorly compared to another candidates. many swappings (for example, “300 apartments per rent”) and the deficiency of justifications and description of the main programming goals of the Left may have discouraged any tv viewers to this group. The MP focused mainly on showing that the Left is simply a progressive worldview and does not focus its assumptions on political conflict as another groups do.

Krzysztof Bosak

The Co-Chairman of the Confederacy Krzysztof Bosak, in our opinion, showed a subject akin to the last debates in which he participated. He presented the party's program specifically to the questions presented to him. He was a candidate who participated in the largest number of debates in fresh months among all candidates (including Super Express, Onet), so most likely his views were known to many viewers, so he did not surprise very many of the parties.

Source:

– Debate

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