Thursday’s conference was the last one before Sunday’s local elections. At the same time, it summed up the Civic Coalition’s campaign activities in the city and county. The special guest was Michał Jaros, chair of the Lower Silesian Civic Platform structures and a Member of Parliament.Michał Jaros.
The conference was led by Radosław Palczewski, a candidate for the county council. The speakers also included: Member of Parliament Michał Jaros, candidate for President of Bolesławiec – Grzegorz Przybylski, and county council candidate – Cezariusz Rudyk.
Watch the Civic Coalition conference:
Radosław Palczewski:
– I warmly welcome everyone to the final press conference of the coalition committee, the Civic Coalition Electoral Committee in Bolesławiec County. First of all, I welcome our guest, Member of Parliament and chair of the Lower Silesian structures, Michał Jaros. I welcome our candidate for President of Bolesławiec, Grzegorz Przybylski. I welcome all our candidates for council members in the cities, municipalities and Bolesławiec County. Ladies and gentlemen, with this symbolic conference we would like to sum up what has happened over this month, this month of our efforts to present our programme and campaign. First, I would like to ask our chairman, Member of Parliament Michał Jaros, to speak.
Michał Jaros:
– Good morning. Ladies and gentlemen, we are on the final stretch of the election campaign. There are still a dozen or so hours to conduct election activities before the election silence begins tomorrow at midnight. I encourage all our candidates, both men and women, this good team, this team of good cooperation, to fight for votes until the very last moments. I have also come to you with a very important message: all the residents of Bolesławiec and Bolesławiec County should see that we, as the Civic Coalition, are a team of good cooperation at city level, county level, local-government and provincial level, as well as at the level of what is very important to us today, because we won on 15 October—that of the government. It is very important to have the support of parliamentarians, so that this cooperation and synergy can create an opportunity for the development of Bolesławiec, Bolesławiec Land and all of Lower Silesia.
I stand before you to say clearly and unequivocally: enough of the coalition of Non-Party Local Government Officials and Law and Justice. I hope that this toxic coalition for Lower Silesia will be changed after these elections, that Law and Justice will no longer govern in Silesia, and I believe that change will also come to Bolesławiec. I know that the residents of Bolesławiec expect this change. Grzegorz Przybylski can lead it. His surname is, of course, very similar to that of the marshal, but it should also be made clear that Grzegorz Przybylski is from the Civic Coalition and the Civic Platform. I am very proud of this. I know that some information has appeared saying that the incumbent president is supported by the Third Way. So I will correct this, because I have spoken with representatives of the Third Way. Of course, one of the representatives of the Polish Peasant Party signed it. It is part of the Third Way, but it must be stated clearly and unequivocally that Poland 2050 does not currently support President Roman and does not support any candidate. In Bolesławiec, this is certainly a kind of abuse.
We, as the Civic Coalition, stand firmly behind our candidate and behind our female and male candidates—those running for the city council, those running for the county council, and also those running for the Lower Silesian Regional Assembly. Anna Zug is with us; she is our candidate for the regional assembly and, of course, a resident of Bolesławiec. Today I had the opportunity to take part in conferences and meetings with other candidates from this electoral district. We want to fight for three seats in this electoral district. To win those three seats, we need the residents of Bolesławiec to vote for the Civic Coalition. I am convincing everyone that if you cast your vote for the Civic Coalition, it will be an opportunity to build such synergy and cooperation at various levels.
We guarantee, from my side and from the Civic Coalition’s side—including the Civic Coalition of 15 October, which governs Poland today and has taken responsibility for Poland—that we will support local governments equally. Not as it was in recent years, when only the favourites and flatterers of the previous authorities received funds. We want everyone to receive them, regardless of whether they support the governing parties and formations, do not support them, or are neutral. Everyone should have the same right to receive funding. We will not arrive with cardboard boxes or cheques. As the Civic Coalition, we will simply distribute funds fairly, because it is not only local-government officials who expect this fairness, but above all female and male residents. Infrastructure, railways, roads, pavements, or even clean air, which we also need in Lower Silesia, have no political colour. We all want to live in a good Lower Silesia, in our region, and we all deserve equal opportunities: equal opportunities to travel quickly to the provincial capital, to avoid transport exclusion, equal opportunities to receive treatment, and an equal opportunity to obtain funding for development—and we will seek those funds.
It was we, the Civic Coalition and the Coalition of 15 October, who ensured that a stream of money from the National Recovery Plan is flowing to us. We are the guarantee of Bolesławiec’s, Bolesławiec Land’s and Lower Silesia’s success and development. We are responsible for this. Today I came to you to say clearly and unequivocally: these are good people, this is a good team, this is the Civic Coalition’s team of good cooperation. We are here to cooperate, we are here to change Poland, we are here to change Lower Silesia, and we are also here to change Bolesławiec. I believe that Grzegorz Przybylski will become President of Bolesławiec. The female and male residents of Bolesławiec deserve this. And we, the parliamentarians and people who are building the Civic Coalition today, together with those who have joined the Civic Coalition—this army of 1,261 candidates in Lower Silesia—will support Grzegorz Przybylski and all the good people who will stand on the good side of the Civic Coalition, but also on the good side of good projects for the development of our region. Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to vote for the Civic Coalition. Please vote for the Civic Coalition’s candidates for the city and county councils and for our candidate Grzegorz Przybylski, who leads this team in Bolesławiec. Thank you very much.
Radosław Palczewski:
– Ladies and gentlemen, I join this appeal to vote for our candidate and for our candidates at all county levels. I will now ask the person leading the city team, our candidate for president, Mr Grzegorz Przybylski, to speak.
Grzegorz Przybylski:
– Good morning. Our programme is based on 13 points. It was created through meetings with residents, foundations, associations and various organisations. The most important of these 13 points for me is creating new jobs, so that people who study, for example, in Wrocław can return to Bolesławiec and find well-paid work here. I have already begun talks with the university—sorry, the Jan Wyżykowski University in Polkowice—about opening a branch in Bolesławiec, as well as creating a branch of the University of the Third Age based in Polkowice and Bolesławiec, together with an entrepreneurship incubator in Bolesławiec.
The second thing that is very important to me is establishing the Bolesławiec Women’s Council. I have already taken the first steps: the first meetings and the first conferences. I would also like to expand the council’s activities to the entire copper basin, that is, the old copper basin in which we are located and the new copper basin, namely the Legnica-Głogów Copper District.
The third and most important thing for me is establishing the Bolesławiec Civic Budget, so that every resident can decide how the office’s money will be spent. I would like to warmly invite you to continue the discussions. The election silence does not begin until Saturday, and I encourage you to vote for all our candidates. Michał, thank you very much for your support, and I encourage everyone to vote for the Civic Coalition.
Radosław Palczewski:
– Ladies and gentlemen, since we are talking about the city, we must not forget the county. We also have our candidates for the county council. I am running in first place, but I would like to give the floor to and ask Mr Cezariusz Rudyk, number 2 on the city list for the county council, to speak.
Cezariusz Rudyk:
– Ladies and gentlemen, throughout all these past years we were together at protests in front of the courts. We were together here in the market square when women protested during the Women’s Strike. In the final hours of this campaign, someone wants to cement Bolesławiec in place. What Mr Jaros said a moment ago is important because candidates from the Non-Party Local Government Officials are on various lists, on lists of different committees, and I would not want the situation from 2018 to repeat itself, when we put our trust in the Non-Party Local Government Officials. It was all supposed to look different. This time I want to warn you, but above all ask you to check very carefully the names appearing on the individual lists, so that there are no surprises. Our candidate is Grzegorz Przybylski. He is the only candidate with liberal views in the city. Therefore, I strongly encourage that group of Bolesławiec residents who share such views to support Mr Grzegorz Przybylski. Let us stand together, as always. Thank you.
Radosław Palczewski:
– Ladies and gentlemen, many people asked us during the campaign why we were running with the Civic Coalition. I think it must be said clearly that a coalition is an entity where decisions and rules are worked out, where decisions and rules are made jointly so that we can develop them for everyone. They are not imposed from above; they are not imposed by one person or by who-knows-who. And civic-mindedness is a duty, ladies and gentlemen. Civic-mindedness means responsibility for ourselves, for our small communities, for our municipalities, for our counties and for our country. That is why all of us standing here are running with the Civic Coalition, because the Civic Coalition is the only such choice.