The fresh edition of “Beer with Mentzen”, a popular series of meetings organized by the leader of the fresh Hope Sławomir Mentzen, was to take the form of beer talks with politicians of various options this year. The initiative, announced on 12 July, aimed at creating a space for a peaceful, semi-formal dialog about Poland and politics.
Mentzen announced a list of interlocutors including Radosław Sikorski, Krzysztof Kwiatkowski, Boris Budka, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Mateusz Morawiecki, Przemysław Czarnek, Michał Dworzyczyk, Zbigniew Bogucki and Łukasz Litewka.
However, a day later, on 13 July, the leader of fresh Hope reported that 3 politicians: Radosław Sikorski, Krzysztof Kwiatkowski and Boris Budka began to make public the conditions for participation in the event, even though Mentzen said they had expressed enthusiasm and agreed to talk in telephone conversations.
– "My intentions were clear and clear. I wanted to talk to politicians of various political options. I think it is worth talking about and dialog is needed" – Mentzen wrote on social media. He besides added that he did not intend to accept public blackmail and so withdraws invitations to Citizens' Platform politicians.
The 4th individual whose participation is in question is Łukasz Litewka. Mentzen admitted that there may have been a misunderstanding or a change of decision after political pressure. – “It is possible that we did not get along due to the fact that otherwise we realize the details, possibly he changed his head after Żukowska jumped him” – he wrote.
As a consequence of the 9 announced interlocutors, 4 people withdrew from participating in the event, which importantly alters the first plan of the cycle. Mentzen stresses that his aim was to open the space for substantive dialogue, regardless of political colors, but that the reactions of any of the invited politicians were frivolous and inconsistent with earlier declarations.
Will the fresh “Beer with Mentzen” meet its goal of building bridges between different political environments? The answer will come to wait for the publication of the first recordings to be available on Sławomir Mentzen's YouTube channel.
