Government in the middle. "Wow" without coalition

It began with the hope which he poured into Poles the consequence of the elections in October 2023. A period earlier, the streets of Warsaw filled the march of millions of hearts – the largest political demonstration in the 3rd Poland, the symbolic end of a certain era. The opposition then walked together, although its interior differences were obvious. possible frictions between Catholic PSL and Progressive Left were put aside due to the fact that precedence was to remove the Law and Justice from power. The run reiterated that Poland needed breath, a return to normality, but at the same time that the very negation of the policy of Jarosław Kaczyński was not enough.

The Coalition on October 15 knew perfectly well that it would not win only by being an “antiPiS”. The time passed erstwhile Grzegorz Schetyna unceremoniously said that he would not print the program, “because PiS would bargain it from him.” This time, the Civic Coalition went with a package of "100 concretes" – a paper that was not a joint programme of the full ruling coalition, but set the speech of the campaign. Among the promises were: abolishing the ban on trade on Sunday, putting the most crucial politicians of the Law and Justice before the Court of State, eliminating the Church Fund or legalising partnerships. It was a comprehensive program, distributed into many sectors of life and speaking concrete. It would seem that the rulers sign the contract in this way.

For years, the standard in Poland was that “it is adequate that politicians do not steal”. This time Tusk and his allies said otherwise: the state is to be an active associate in the lives of citizens. Poles wanted not only governments without scandals, but besides housing, better schools and lower bills. Importantly, the ambition horizon has besides changed. In 2007, Donald Tusk talked about the request to build a "second Ireland", a Poland that catches up with the West. In 2023 it sounded different: now we were expected to be ahead of Europe. Many have stressed that there are areas specified as digitalisation of public services or electronic banking, where the West has already been behind us. The fresh government was to make a akin advantage appear in another areas.

100 specifics for 1,000 days?

Today, looking at the list of “100 concretes”, it is hard to get the impression that the government has settled on the laurels, although it is not enough. From the list of 100 promises to this day, 33 were full realised (after a year there were 12 of them, so it can be joked that the pace of reforms has been preserved), respective twelve were implemented in part, and the remainder were stuck in the legislative process. The government's major successes include in vitro backing from the state budget, programs specified as "grandmother" or "active mom" and obtaining money from the KPO.

A separate success – although not included in the 100 specifics – is abroad policy. Poland has regained its position as a serious partner in Europe and the US, and Radosław Sikorski has become 1 of the most expressive figures of the planet debate. Controversy of 27:1 voting has disappeared, which over the years symbolized our isolation. The return to predictability and seriousness made Warsaw number again in key talks about the safety and future of Europe. The problem is that Poles no longer want to reward the government solely for “normality”. In the eyes of the public, diplomatic efficiency is simply a standard, not a origin for pride. As a result, even clear global successes do not translate into the enthusiasm of voters in the country.

In turn, the failure of the government to increase the tax-free amount to PLN 60 1000 and the deficiency of settlement of the politicians of the Law and Justice. To add that any of the successes of the government have become obsolete. Take the Ministry of manufacture transferred to Katowice as evidence that the state does not revolve exclusively around Warsaw. 2 years later, the sign was changed and the institution itself returned to the capital as the Ministry of Energy. likewise in education: the abolition of housework was expected to be a courageous modernisation gesture, while the improvement was shadowed by the terrible results of seniors. More and more people are asking whether the worse results were just the consequence of letting go of school at home.

But even if there were not just over 30 promises made, and let us give seventy, the distaste of the voters would remain. The reason is simple: I compose these words not a 100 days after the government is sworn in, but almost 7 hundred. Tusk's promises – made in the logic of the election run – had besides short time to implement, were calculated for the first year's effect alternatively than for long, tedious reforms. The collision of expectations with reality proved inevitable.

The platform raised its own bar. No 1 forced her to announce “100 specifics for 100 days” and awaken the expectations of voters. But that doesn't mean she won't get out of it. In 2017, after 2 years of rule, the PiS ratings were lower than today's Platform results, and Kaczyński's organization was able to bounce back from this," he says in an interview with “Angora” Prof. Jarosław Flis, sociologist at the Jagiellonian University.

In the past, specified a clear failure to meet the deadline would have been forgiven for politicians: the media functioned slower, the rhythm of public life determined by newspapers and television, and expectations of power were limited. The Prime Minister had time to show the first effects and voters more patience. present we live in a completely different infosphere. all day of government is hundreds of micro-assesses published on social media, which immediately spread to millions of audiences. tv – even the state-owned 1 who served as the main propaganda tube in PiS times – gave way to the Internet. This is where the political imagination of younger generations forms and it is where the conflict for emotion takes place. The problem is that the Tusk government in this space practically does not exist. On YouTuba, the biggest channels commenting on politics openly support the Law and Justice. Algorithms reward a simple, confrontational narrative, and this is the domain of the opposition.

Tusk doesn't have a prescription for boredom?

This comes to an anthropological factor: boredom. In the age of permanent stimulation, boredom became the most dangerous political opponent. It undermines all project, regardless of its real effects. It is not that governments do not work – it is that they cannot hold our attention. So if we're saying Tusk's office utilized up in 2 years, what about Keira Starmer? The Prime Minister of large Britain rules only a year, he has already begun renationalisation of the railways, introduced free meals in schools, increased wellness spending – and yet the British, erstwhile asked about his successes, answer that he "does nothing". Not due to the fact that it does not work, but due to the fact that reality has accelerated more than its narrative.

This leads to a second observation: not only are we bored, but we besides forget. Our political memory has shrunk for months, sometimes weeks. I myself – although I am professionally engaged in politics – for a minute I could not mention anything about the success of the current government. It's a symptom of a wider phenomenon. The Tusk governments did not make milestones that would anchor in the collective imagination. In 2008, the symbol was highways and stadiums. Beata Szydło has enrolled in the past of the 500 plus programme, and Mateusz Morawiecki, although he did not build an airport in Baranów or a Polish electrical car, functions in public memory as the prime minister “from modernity”. And Tusk's 3rd government? What would he be remembered for?

Indeed, this government has no idea. It's just a government that has taken the Law and Justice distant from power. Another thing is that he has quite a few problems, for example, look at the issue of public finances. If the erstwhile government has left the country on the verge of bankruptcy, this 1 can cross the border, and then Tusk will end up like Petr Fiala," says Flis, referring to elections in the Czech Republic, where populists will most likely regain power.

– There is no “wow” effect in 100 details. no of the coalition formations on October 15 offered anything 500 plus, due to the fact that these parties did not full believe they would take power. 1 of the flagship coalition projects was the valorization of the ceremony allowance. I think it speaks for itself – he adds Dr. Bartosz Rydliński, a political scientist from the University of Warsaw.

The answer to the question about the dominant of the Tusk government is even more complicated erstwhile we look at the environment. Today's policy is not about peace and growth, but about a time of crisis. There is simply a war in the East that does not let Europe to sleep. We have a climate crisis – not abstraction, but everyday life in the form of droughts, floods and energy bills. The migration crisis closes borders and the demographic crisis quietly dismantles the foundations of the state of prosperity. In the background we have something that seems to be the least gripping and at the same time the most pregnant in the effects: technological gallop. Artificial intelligence changes the labour marketplace faster than globalisation has always done.

“We live in a terrible world,” says Dr. Bartosz Rydliński. If it wasn't for the pandemic, and the PiS, and Trump would have held power. Anyone who governs present must face problems that a decade ago would have been unthinkable. And possibly the problem is not so much that politicians do not deliver, but that no power can equal the pace of crises that happen simultaneously.

In specified a landscape, conservatives have a natural advantage. Not due to the fact that they offer real answers, but due to the fact that they offer the simplest consolation: the communicative that it utilized to be better. That in the chaos of the present 1 can hide in a safe image of the past, even if it is idealized past. This explains why alt-right is increasing stronger throughout Europe and why it is so hard for progressives today. due to the fact that the planet is already progressive on its own – just look around to see changes. And since change has become everyday, the political triumph comes to the 1 who promises to end it.

This does not mean that progressives are to quit their agenda. And yet those who entered the Tusk government were no longer a leftist of Leszek Miller – pragmatic, centrress, ready to compromise in the name of participation in power. In vitro passwords (at least controversial), abortions or partnerships ignited left-wing heads, but mostly in vain. Their reconciliation with the conservative PSL proved simply impossible. And it's not just about screwing up 1 task or another. More about kind – communication chaos, spectacular defeats in the Sejm, humiliation of the government whose own laws were lost in voting.

Tusk, observing the skirmishes of his coalitions, increasingly struck the table with his fist. The motion remained the same as before, but the weight was completely different. There was no longer the power of a patriarch who could set the wayward children in line. More like an echo of old authority. Sixty - 8 - year - old Prime Minister is no longer the same man who had taken over for the first time eighteen years earlier. Now the reflexes faded, the reactions became more violent, little thoughtful. Its media base – although working at full velocity – is incapable to cover this change. The camera captures not only words, but besides a minute of hesitation and irritation. These are insignificant signals, but in the age of constant public exposure, they become the main message. small wonder, then, that the media began to speculate who could replace Tuska, most frequently pointing out Radosław Sikorski. I'm not certain he's the kind of man who could handle the reconciliation of specified different coalitions. Let us besides remember that Sikorski is not a folk politician. He takes a alternatively lofty pose and lives in a manor house. An interesting candidate for the Prime Minister would be Elżbieta Łukacijewska, the mayor of Cisna and the long-standing MEP. specified a amazing candidacy could completely dismantle the PiS strategy, says Jarosław Flis.

No wonder Tusk tried to strengthen his leadership in view of specified speculation. In the summer, he received a vote of assurance from the Sejm and appointed a government spokesman. It was Adam Trap. He's a busy politician, available, answering phones at all times. Unhappily hard questions, and at conferences giving darts answers. But his social media entries do not even scope half the scope of Mentzen's or another right-wing faces. Not due to the fact that the Trap is inept. Just the opposition began its media tour de force much earlier, and the Tusk government had been playing defensively from the beginning.

The TVP could have helped. In point 99 ‘100 concretes’ it was clear: We will depoliticize and socialize public media. We will destruct the National Media Council. We will immediately halt financing the mill of lies and hatred that TVP and another public media have become. According to our commitment, we will allocate PLN 2 billion from TVP to treat cancer. After 2 years of this declaration, there is small left. tv Poland is inactive openly government. Yes, she lacks the venom she fed viewers in Jack Kurski's day. There is no more feeling on minorities, no more spilling of hectolitres of slop on the opposition all day, but it is besides not a socialized or depoliticized institution. alternatively of a breakthrough, a political decision came: television, although more subdued, inactive remained the tube of the government.

And the short memory of voters does the rest. More and more frequently and completely wrongly, there is simply a sign of equality between the current tv and the 1 from a fewer years ago. Not due to the fact that it is actually equally aggressive, but due to the fact that the promise was extremist and its half-life. As a result, the symbol of change became a symbol of disappointment.

The government will either be avant-garde or not at all

So what should the government do to stay in power in 2 years? Self-administration is not enough. Normality, the efficient usage of European money, the seriousness of Brussels – that is apparent today. Poles want more: a story that gives meaning to their everyday life. The problem is that it's hard to build erstwhile the budget deficit grows, and half the state's money is eaten by the military and wellness care.

For years, Tusk has been assigned a bon mot saying that “he who has a imagination should go to a doctor”. In fact, these words were said by Helmut Schmidt, the chancellor of Germany, who looked with distrust at all large idea. present this conviction sounds like a relic of another era. due to the fact that imagination is the only cure for political boredom and short memory of voters. Railway, energy, digital revolution – whatever will be a symbol of this power, must be something that will decision imagination and not just the diary of laws. Therefore, the brutal fact is that the Tusk government will either be avant-garde or it will not be.