Sikorski Says Competing With Confederation on Nationalism Led PiS Astray

Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski slammed PiS over its nationalist trajectory as internal tensions mount and dozens of party parliamentarians face an ultimatum regarding their association ties.

Sikorski: PiS Took a Destructive Turn

Asked by journalists before the statement by the PiS leader whether a split would be the nail in the coffin for Jarosław Kaczyński’s party, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski replied that the party worked hard for it by deceiving the nation about Smolensk and shifting so far to the right that it is now an anti-Western party.

Pressed on the effect of the PiS breakup on the Polish political scene, Sikorski responded that he hopes his colleagues from PiS will draw conclusions from the fact that competing on anti-Europeanism and nationalism with Confederation has led them astray.

Müller Denies Resignations

By midnight on Thursday, the deadline set by the PiS leadership for the party’s parliamentarians to submit a declaration of non-membership in associations expired under the threat of exclusion from the party, concerning primarily members of the Rozwój Plus association founded by former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Jarosław Kaczyński stated on Friday that over thirty MPs have resigned from membership in PiS, adding that next Tuesday the PiS Political Committee will take this fact into notification, and noting that every parliamentarian knew what not signing the declaration entailed.

Commenting on Kaczyński’s words, Piotr Müller stated that association members did not resign from PiS membership, writing on the X platform that no members of Law and Justice in the Rozwój Plus association submitted party membership resignations and that the presented declarations did not concern party membership.

Internal Conflict Between Factions

The background to these events is the recently intensified conflict between supporters of Mateusz Morawiecki, known as the scouts, and a group gathered around Przemysław Czarnek, Jacek Sasin, Tobiasz Bocheński, and Patryk Jaki, called the butter-makers, who are closer to politicians of the PC covenant associated with Jarosław Kaczyński and the former Sovereign Poland faction.

One reason for the escalating situation was the decision in March to indicate Przemysław Czarnek as the PiS candidate for prime minister, assessed by some activists as a strengthening of his environment, prompting Morawiecki to build his own political base and establish the Rozwój Plus association, which currently numbers around 44 PiS parliamentarians and escalated last week when the PiS leadership obligated activists under threat of exclusion to leave associations conducting political activity within the grouping.