Rzeczpospolita: Is Poland a country for the Left? What can you say after the local elections? Are you satisfied with the result?
Włodzimierz Czarzasty: Of course I’m not satisfied, it’s the same result as five years ago. These are difficult choices for us and have always been difficult. The left is in a series of different events. I have the pleasure of participating in the leadership of the Left when she returned to it after four years of not being in the Sejm. I have the pleasure of participating in the leadership of the Left when, after 18 years, the Left returned to co-rule. And I have – less – the pleasure of participating in the leadership of the Left when we got punched in the nose in the local elections. This result is difficult for us, we made a lot of mistakes. There will be elections to the European Parliament soon, we will try to fix it all. In these elections, all democratic structures received less than in the parliamentary elections. If the Third Way, composed of Poland 2050 and PSL, received 14 percent and PSL gets 7 percent. so is Poland for PSL? Is Poland for Poland 2050? These are the election results, we need to take a stand and tell ourselves what was done wrong and what was right. We had a management board, we accepted and agreed everything, we move on. This is politics and the ability to function in it – sometimes you ride a horse and sometimes you fall off it, I have no respect for it. I have been in various situations and the worst was when the Left was outside Parliament. Is Poland a country for the Left? In the future, for sure. Tolerance, openness, the European Union, the young generation, freedom rights – this is all that awaits us. But we must also remember that Poland is a traditional country, it has its own history, it is largely a conservative country and the clergy has too much influence here. Is it a good time for the left in Europe and the world? Differently. Judging by the European countries, the left co-rules in several, and once ruled in a dozen or so. This is all changing, it will also change in Poland.
Włodzimierz Czarzasty: Local elections? I’m happy and worried at the same time
Who won these local elections?
A little bit of everyone. These are choices that make everyone happy about different things. PO’s result is lower than in the parliamentary elections, as are Third Way and the Left. PiS has the best result, but at the same time it loses three voivodeships when it comes to management in local assemblies. We thought – and we were probably a little too confident – that PiS would rule only in one voivodeship and that was also unknown. It didn’t work. The second issue is city elections. Practically speaking, after PO – I’m talking about party structures – we have presidents in many cities. These are: Głogów, Dąbrowa Górnicza, Świnoujście, Ostrów Wielkopolski, Będzin, Włocławek, Świdnica, Rzeszów, Częstochowa. It should also be remembered that Jacek Sutryk joined the Jacek Sutryk Left Local Government Committee. We have 53 councilors in Warsaw, this is the first such result in 18 years. We have 8 city councilors and 45 district councilors. We will co-govern in many places and have vice-presidents – in Krakow, Rzeszów, Wrocław. I look at it differently. Some are happy about it, others are worried about the results of the regional assemblies. I am one of both – I am happy and worried at the same time. We achieved a similar result to five years ago. Now the European elections are coming.
