Ryszard Petru has a history of creating political projects that vanish quickly, a pattern dubbed ‘petrufikacja’ after his tendency to disappear himself.
The ‘Petrufikacja’ Pattern
Hardly anyone knows who Żaneta Cwalina-Śliwowska or Anna Radwan-Röhrenschef are, but these MPs initiated the exodus from Poland 2050 prepared by Ryszard Petru. Most people, however, know Petru, who recently announced: “I will do this with a larger group of colleagues… I am convinced that a parliamentary club can be formed.”
There is no reason to doubt that something new involving Petru will emerge. And knowing Petru, there is also no reason to doubt that it will disappear soon, i.e., become “petrufikated.”
The Disappearing Act
Petru has the peculiar trait that “whatever he touches appears and disappears.” Either it vanishes, or he vanishes from it, or both. In 2001, when he and Mirosław Czech began organizing elections in the Freedom Union, the party lost 3/4 of its voters and completely disappeared from the Sejm. In 2003, when he became head of the Citizens’ Club Foundation, he led it to liquidation in 2015.
In 2015, he created Nowoczesna and vanished from it in 2017, preferring a romantic trip to Portuguese Madeira over fighting in the Sejm. In 2018, he created the Petru Plan association, which immediately disappeared. In the fall of 2018, he founded the Teraz! party, which disappeared after a few months, putting itself into liquidation.
A Pattern of Vanishing
The ‘petrufikacja’ pattern works unfailingly. The Freedom Union – vanished. Nowoczesna – vanished. Petru Plan – vanished. Teraz! – vanished twice, without and with Petru. The Third Path also vanished. Recently, Poland 2050 is fading in polls, but Petru has a plan to make it finally disappear by splitting the two-percent party into two one-percent parties.
This is not the end. Unlike ‘petrufikated’ parties that routinely disappear definitively, Petru himself can vanish only to reappear soon. He is still young, confident, and collecting political funds, as no one meets the expectations of big business like he does.
Future Moves and Potential Allies
Whether Petru will gather enough MPs to create a club and then another party is unknown. But that this club and any potential party will become ‘petrufikated’ after the elections is rather certain. The question is where Petru plans to reappear and who now awaits ‘petrufikacja’.
The options are limited. The Left is not an option. Neither is Korona or Razem. PSL is already ‘petrufikated’ and won’t risk alienating its last voters by attacking Petru’s KRUS. What remains are KO and Mentzen. “His economic views are close to mine,” Mentzen said last year about Leszek Balcerowicz, who had been Petru’s patron.
Koalicja Obywatelska at Risk
Koalicja Obywatelska (KO) is more threatened. The temptation might be the funds that come with Petru and the polling percentage that could tip the scales toward a majority in the future Sejm. Tusk, who previously dealt with Petru-like figures such as Rokita, not to mention Balcerowicz and others, may feel strong enough not to fear ‘petrufikacja’.
Petru’s colleagues are probably quietly hoping that KO will accept them when they make such an offer. This only makes sense if one forgets how well Tusk remembers. And in this matter, he certainly has plenty to remember.