Is PSL in Bolesławiec Eyeing the Mayor’s and County Head’s Positions?

Mateusz Mikołajewicz does not know whether PSL will go together with Poland 2050 in the local elections. He believes he communicates well with people from Impuls Lokalny – they are connected by shared views, although the president of PSL in Bolesławiec is not as radical as Impuls when it comes to banning abortion and hostility toward LGBT+ people. He would also gladly welcome Kinga Gęsicka-Biały into his ranks; she is running in the parliamentary elections from the list of Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy.

Grażyna Hanaf:
Good morning, everyone. Today I am joined by Mateusz Mikołajewicz, president of the Polish People’s Party in Bolesławiec. Good morning, Mr. Mateusz.

Mateusz Mikołajewicz
Good morning, Ms. Grażyna, Ms. Editor, and greetings to everyone online.

So my first question: has this alliance with Poland 2050 given you enough wind in your sails that you will make a grab for the county head’s office or the mayor’s office in Bolesławiec? In the upcoming elections? They are not far away now...

We are preparing for these elections because they are important to us, very important. Nevertheless, I do not know whether it will be a coalition with Poland 2050. Of course, we worked together very well, and perhaps this should continue. But here in Bolesławiec, Poland 2050’s structures are not particularly strong, so I think a great deal will depend more on PSL, unless these structures actually take shape somewhere and we have a strong coalition partner with whom we can create lists for the county.

To be honest, PSL is not really visible in governing either the county or the city. You have... There is no one from you on the city council.

We have no one on the city council because we also did not take part in those city council elections. Of course, we have some councillors who sympathize with us and with whom we have good contacts. As for the county council, the last elections did not go particularly well for us either.

They did not go well, and the coalition did not work out for you either, Mr. Mateusz, because we remember 2018: you wanted to join forces with Impuls, Platforma and PiS. Tomasz Matyjewicz was unaffiliated, but associated with PSL.

Tomasz Matyjewicz, with whom I personally spoke several times. I still remember when he ran for the county council, and I also ran for the county council, only from Bolesławiec. In any case, I got a rather poor result then. It was a rushed, ill-considered campaign (editor’s note). Tomek did get elected, and that was his achievement, but after the elections he did not want to go forward with PSL, even though he appeared on PSL’s lists. It is a shame, but that is how it goes. You simply have to draw conclusions from it and perhaps select candidates for the lists a little better.

Mr. Mateusz, who sympathizes with PSL on the City Council? Will you tell us?

There are several people on the City Council who are, of course, from other groups; we speak with them.

Will you tell us whom you speak with?

I do not know whether the names are really important here. There are such people.

That is the most interesting part—or at least where you are trying to win people over: the Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy electoral committee, or perhaps Impuls? Who sympathizes with you most?

Who do we speak with more often?

Hmm, yes.

We speak more often... Personally, I have a great deal of respect for the people who are councillors from both Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy and Impuls Miasta. I know many councillors personally; we have carried out some joint activities at various points in my past, so they are close to me to the extent that conversations with them are always friendly. Impuls Miasta is also close to PSL ideologically, so there is some room for cooperation here.

Now it is probably called Impuls Lokalny; the group supports banning abortion and restricting rights for LGBT people—very radical positions. Mr. Molak, Mr. Małkowski...

Well, I am telling you that we are less radical.

What brings you together, then? On what issues do you see eye to eye?

PSL is a conservative, or let us say conservative-liberal, party, also oriented toward agrarianism. And here there are those conservative views. We know that people from Impuls hold such views, although Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy also includes people who come very strongly from conservative circles. In reality, if we create lists, they will be designed so that a potential current Impuls Miasta voter, a PiS voter or a Bezpartyjni Samorządowcy voter has an alternative: a conservative-liberal alternative, one based on common sense. Not an alternative that is extremely radical.

One that excludes no one. Let me make sure I understand: will PSL lean more toward the March for Life and Family, or more toward the Equality March? So it will go in both directions, to make everyone happy?

No. I think PSL would be in the middle and ensure that neither the Equality March is attacked by radicals nor the March for Life and Family prevented from proceeding peacefully.

The pro-life march proceeds peacefully; absolutely no one even pays attention to it.

I think it does proceed peacefully, and why should the Equality March not proceed peacefully? In fact, I greatly admire this initiative in Bolesławiec. I also admire Kinga Gęsicka-Biały’s initiative, whom I know and respect for her work for Bolesławiec and for refugees from Ukraine.

Would you like to see Kinga in PSL’s ranks?

Kinga probably has her own outlook on life and wants to follow her own path. She is not someone who can be put into a box within a party or association. That was clear from her involvement with Poland 2050. It did not go as intended, and a different decision was made. I respect her choices, and we speak often simply because we know each other. Such a person is genuinely important to the Bolesławiec community: she is a born community activist. Therefore, if I had the opportunity for Kinga to be on PSL’s lists, I would of course be very happy to see her there. Certainly.

That is a very interesting declaration. Let us return to politics: what are you hoping for? A repeat of 2018? To create a coalition in the county and, for example, have your own county head?

Half the councillors in the county, I think. But those are dreams.

Is that perhaps a strategy, or maybe a plan, for the elections?

We have a plan, we are implementing it, and we will continue to implement it. Certainly. Our involvement, like that of every party, is aimed at obtaining and maintaining power. As president, I will of course keep a very close eye on these lists to ensure they are good and include people who genuinely matter in Bolesławiec and will be good councillors. It is not enough for someone to get onto the County Council and be a mediocre person who is barely present on committees or lacks substantive knowledge. If we have our own councillors, I want them to be substantive councillors who do not promote exclusionary slogans, as you mentioned, Ms. Editor, because we do not need such people. We need to unite, not divide. Yes. So that all these unnecessary arguments finally end, because they are not good for Poland. Arguments are not good for our local government; what is good for it is for every level of local government to be connected in some way, while recognizing that our shared interest matters. That means a Voivodeship Marshal who supports local governments and municipalities and does not treat one local government differently from another or show one less favor. That is how I dream it could be.

That is a dream, a kind of goal. But before the local elections, do you intend to change anything in the county administration? Or do you lack the strength and resources? What does it look like?

Before the elections? No, we are not going to stage any coups here, no, no. Let the residents elect specific councillors; it should not be that President Mikołajewicz comes to one councillor or another and bribes them with something because we now have the ability to do so as part of the governing coalition. That makes no sense. Let the voters decide whether they want the current balance to continue or something different—a new quality in politics, which is what we represent.

So you are proposing a new quality. Mateusz Mikołajewicz, head of PSL in Bolesławiec, says: we will be a stable coalition partner. Thank you very much for this conversation. I hope listeners will also open themselves up to PSL in Bolesławiec and elsewhere. Thank you very much, goodbye, thank you.

Goodbye.