Aren’t you too young to enter the Sejm?
Arkadiusz Krzemiński: It is time for a generational change in politics. I have been active in local government for 14 years, first as chairman of the Bolesławiec Youth City Council and, for the past five years, as a City Council member. I have decided to stand in the election because I am consistent in my actions and life choices. My run for the Sejm is the next stage of a path planned many years ago.
I can draw on my legal and economic education as well as my professional experience. Since 2009, I have worked on legal matters and helped thousands of specific individuals. The best school for a future MP is daily work for residents, and that is my everyday life. Above all, I am close to people’s concerns, which are very often extremely difficult. I learn from people how to deal with problems and help them overcome them. I can listen to another person with understanding and empathy in order to learn their point of view. I also work successfully as part of a team.
What specifically would you like to work on as an MP? What is most important to you?
Arkadiusz Krzemiński: I always repeat that people are the most important. One of my priorities will be repairing the law, in which a paragraph is more important than a person. In my professional work, I often encounter human tragedy; the greatest frustration is the helplessness felt in situations where the law does not allow real help to be provided to a person. When what matters most to people is pushed to the margins by legal loopholes.
From the perspective of a council member, I have observed that no one in our region has ideas for strictly regional investments that fall outside the competences of local-government authorities. I am talking about seeking funding for national roads and the construction and modernisation of bridges over the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers. As an MP, I want to stay close to people and will effectively pursue the interests of our region. Unfortunately, MPs from the large cities of Legnica and Jelenia Góra often forget about us and are not interested in us. Residents of Bolesławiec and the inhabitants of the six municipalities in our county can meet me in the street or in a shop, or visit me at my law office to maintain direct contact with me.
You said that you have experience working in your own company and meeting
people. Have any of their cases inspired you to create a programme?
Arkadiusz Krzemiński: Laws are drafted and enacted in the Sejm, while professionally I deal with applying those laws. I am a practitioner of the law in various life situations. People’s problems are often a consequence of bad legislation. At my law office, I very often meet wives or husbands who unsuccessfully seek court-awarded child support. Child support is collected slowly and, in many cases, not at all. This creates a kind of impunity for debtors, while those obliged to make payments often abandon legal employment to avoid their obligations towards their child.
Another example is people in debt who have fallen into a debt spiral. In many cases, this is the fault of loan companies that draft contracts with borrowers in a prohibited and convoluted manner, including a range of hidden fees. This situation illustrates the weakness of the laws being created, and the loopholes in them are exploited by loan companies. This is precisely what I intend to change.
Today, it is not easy to encourage people to be active and vote for Civic Platform politicians. What distinguishes you?
Arkadiusz Krzemiński: I think this does not apply only to Civic Platform politicians. When it comes to our attitude towards politics, we have three options: we can take no interest in it, watch it passively, or participate actively and make changes.
I cannot sit back with my arms folded, which is why I participate actively. As a young-generation Civic Platform politician, I ask my older colleagues about many issues; I often disagree with them and propose different solutions. We will not change Poland by merely sitting in front of a computer and posting hate. If we want to have a political elite, then as young people raised and educated in a free Poland, we must build it ourselves.
Moreover, I believe that Civic Platform’s programme, our vision for the country’s development, proposals to resolve the problem of junk contracts through a single contract, the abolition of trade-union privileges, financial support for people starting work, and the abolition of contributions to the NFZ and ZUS are a way towards a modern Poland. The ideas presented by other parties are often detached from reality. Whenever a party wants to give you money, it means that it has to take it away from someone, because there is only one pot. Let us not be fooled by election handouts, and let us beware of those who promise to distribute our money freely in their election pledges.
Funded from the resources of the KW Civic Platform RP