16 December 2025
Populism Is Here to Stay
Following the presidential defeat of his preferred candidate in June 2025, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a former president of the European Council, recalibrated – or, more precisely, intensified – his strategy of imitating illiberal political forces, to the extent that his political rhetoric could easily be now mistaken for Orbán’s. What are the implications of this troubling development for what is, in fact, at least in the recent European context, a Polish speciality: the process of democratic restoration? Continue reading >>
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11 June 2025
Anatomy of a Liberal Fall
In Poland, just one week ago, Karol Nawrocki – a virtually unknown, PiS-backed candidate with a murky past – surprisingly defeated Rafał Trzaskowski, deputy leader of the centrist Civic Platform and mayor of Warsaw. How could such a random figure triumph over an experienced and popular politician? In this commentary, I argue that Trzaskowski’s defeat was no accident, but the latest chapter in a longer political story – one shaped by public frustration, broken promises, the emptiness of Polish liberalism, and anti-elitist sentiment present in the society. Continue reading >>
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