A reader wrote to the istotne.pl newsroom, outraged by the behavior of Bolesławiec Mayor Piotr Roman during an event held on August 6 in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw.
Karol Nawrocki took office exactly one year earlier, on August 6, 2025. This year’s event was organized by the Chancellery of the President to mark the first anniversary of his presidency.
According to the official website of the President of the Republic of Poland, Karol Nawrocki invited Poles to “celebrate together and summarize the first year of the presidency.” The Chancellery described the event as the first of its kind organized in the courtyard of the Presidential Palace.
The reader wrote to us:
Dear Editorial Team, I am sending you a video that makes my blood boil. I cannot believe that the mayor of our city of Bolesławiec, whom I personally voted for, is embracing someone from one of the ruling parties at a time when he ran for mayor advertising himself as non-party and apolitical.
Watching this recording, I feel disgusted; in my humble opinion, this is a two-faced man. The city is managed in the same way, through personal connections, as you yourselves have already had the opportunity to inform us, the residents of Bolesławiec.
These are strong words. That is why we watched the recording and distinguish the message’s author’s assessment from what can actually be seen in the video.
There is no “embracing” in the video
Piotr Roman is standing in the front row, relatively close to the path along which Karol Nawrocki and his wife Marta Nawrocka are walking.
The President of the Republic of Poland walks along the assembled people and shakes their hands one by one. He also greets Piotr Roman. However, there is no indication that he stops by the mayor of Bolesławiec for longer or that their greeting differs significantly from those with other people. The first lady’s passage looks similar.
Piotr Roman disagrees with the suggestion that his presence at the anniversary of Karol Nawrocki’s swearing-in meant taking sides in the political dispute.
– I greeted the president of my country, Mayor Piotr Roman replied to a question from the istotne.pl portal. He added that mayors of large cities affiliated with the Left were also standing beside him, and that there were no party leaders at the event, either from the government or the opposition.
The mayor of Bolesławiec takes out his phone
The next passage draws more attention. After the presidential couple passes by, Piotr Roman takes out his phone and starts taking pictures of Karol and Marta Nawrocki. And here, opinions may already differ.
For some people, this will be the ordinary behavior of an event attendee who wants to take a picture of the president of Poland. Others may expect greater distance from a city mayor who himself holds an important public office and represents Bolesławiec.
For a moment in the recording, Roman behaves more like an event attendee photographing a politician than a representative of a large local government taking part in a public event. This does not, of course, mean that taking a picture itself is proof of political support for Karol Nawrocki.
Czy dobrze, że prezydent Roman był na rocznicy przysięgi Karola Nawrockiego?
There is, however, a political context
In this case, the nature of the event itself also matters. It was not an inauguration ceremony, where the attendance of a local-government representative could be treated primarily as participation in an official state ceremony.
It was a meeting organized at Karol Nawrocki’s initiative on the first anniversary of his presidency. As the Chancellery of the President reported, the president invited those gathered to celebrate together and summarize the year he had spent in office.
During his speech, Nawrocki also thanked people for the votes cast for him a year earlier and summarized the implementation of his campaign promises. Therefore, the question of Piotr Roman’s presence at such an event and the way he behaved there is not entirely without basis.
Piotr Roman has appeared for years as a non-party local-government official
This is particularly significant because in local politics Piotr Roman presents himself as a local-government official independent of the largest nationwide parties. Residents may therefore ask whether participating in an event with a clear political background, and his conduct during the meeting, are consistent with his declared distance from party politics.
On the other hand, regardless of the political backing from which his candidacy emerged, Karol Nawrocki is the incumbent President of the Republic of Poland. The mayor’s contact with the head of state therefore cannot automatically mean support for a particular party or political camp.
Bolesławiec decisively chose Trzaskowski
The results of the most recent presidential election in Bolesławiec itself are also interesting. In the second round, the city’s residents voted for Rafał Trzaskowski significantly more often. The results in Bolesławiec were as follows:
- Rafał Trzaskowski – 10,885 votes, 58.21 percent.
- Karol Nawrocki – 7,816 votes, 41.79 percent.
Across Poland as a whole, however, the election was won by Karol Nawrocki.
The recording sent to us therefore does not confirm the reader’s most serious allegations. It does not show any exceptionally warm greeting between the two mayors.
One question remains, however: should the mayor of Bolesławiec, who declares political independence, attend such an event and photograph the presidential couple in such a demonstrative manner?
Each resident can decide that for themselves.