PiS boycotts Palikot
"We will not work on the commission as long as Palikot is its chairman," said Paweł Poncyljusz (PiS), in protest of the many disparaging remarks Palikot has made about President Lech Kaczyński, also a member of PiS. Previously, the PO politician had said that the president behaves like a "boor," and also said that the president had earlier told the chief of government security to "screw off" ("won, gnoju!"), an accusation which turned out to be untrue.
The politicians' decision to leave the commission came on the heels of the Supreme Court's verdict that Palikot's words did not constitute "defamation of the head of state," which is a crime in Poland.
Palikot said that he was surprised and sorry, especially for two PiS members who left the commission, as he praised Poncyljusz's and Adam Abramowicz's cooperation. The third commission member from PiS was the former agriculture minister Krzysztof Jurgiel.
"I will replace the vacancies now with other people who want to fight red tape in Poland," he told TVN24. The commission will continue its work, "but the PiS members are always welcome to come back," he added.
According to Palikot, there is much more than just his behavior behind the PiS politicians' decision, since his rude remarks about the president took place a few months ago.
"It is PiS's new plan by Jarosław Kaczyński to obstruct any project of the government and coalition. We have seen it from the president vetoing the bills, we are now seeing it from PiS," he explained.
"Dismissing Palikot from the position of the commission's chairman is out of the question," said Zbigniew Chlebowski, chairman of the PO parliamentary club. For his words about the president, Palikot was reprimanded by his party but is not likely to face harsher punishment. The Warsaw Prosecutor's Office has ended its investigation into the matter.
