Democracy Digest: Reports of Trump's Attempt to Reshape Poland's Govt Spark Political Row

A previously undisclosed White House meeting has sparked controversy in Poland, following reports that US President Donald Trump allegedly encouraged Polish Deputy PM and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz to abandon PM Donald Tusk’s coalition and join forces with the right-wing opposition. Kosiniak-Kamysz leads the conservative Polish People’s Party (PSL), a junior coalition partner whose potential departure would cost Tusk his parliamentary majority. Trump, meanwhile, has cultivated close ties with President Karol Nawrocki, whom he endorsed during the presidential campaign, lately also calling him "unbelievable", and who is politically aligned with the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party. According to journalist Dominika Wielowieyska, who broke the story on TOK FM on October 2, Trump suggested during a March meeting that Kosiniak-Kamysz form a government with PiS, promising full US support. The encounter was arranged with the help of PiS politician Adam Bielan and presidential adviser Nikodem Rachon. The allegation rests on Wielowieyska’s account based on unnamed sources and remains unverified. However, subsequent political reactions appear to lend it some credibility. Tusk confirmed that Kosiniak-Kamysz had briefed him immediately afterwards. “It’s too interesting a conversation to discuss publicly. Military bases were not the subject. One day, history will find out,” Tusk said, adding that the discussion concerned Poland’s internal political situation. The controversy intersects with Poland’s long-running efforts to secure a permanent US military base. Bielan claimed the meeting was intended to advance those negotiations, raising questions about whether American security commitments might have been linked to a change of government. There is no evidence that Trump explicitly offered such a trade-off, and both Tusk and Kosiniak-Kamysz insist the base was not discussed. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski questioned why no official record of the meeting had reached his ministry. “Could that be because the meeting also served as an attempt to involve a foreign state in our internal politics?” he wrote on X. Even the opposition-friendly TV Republika separately reported, citing unnamed sources, that Washington had expressed interest in replacing Tusk. Kosiniak-Kamysz however has continuously maintained that his party has no intention of leaving the ruling coalition. Two knife attacks at schools in northeastern Poland within 24 hours have left one person dead and 11 others injured, prompting PM Tusk to convene an emergency meeting of senior ministers and security officials. On Thursday morning, a 15-year-old former pupil entered a primary school in Leszczydol-Nowiny, near Wyszkow, and stabbed three staff members. A 37-year-old caretaker died despite attempts to resuscitate her. The school’s headteacher, who helped restrain the attacker, and another teacher were injured. A day earlier, a 19-year-old student attacked people at a vocational school in Ostroleka, injuring nine, including five students, two teachers and two bystanders. Police later detained the suspect, who had also injured himself. Authorities said they had prevented a possible third attack in Sierpc, where a 17-year-old was arrested after allegedly threatening violence at his school. Police recovered two knives and online searches relating to an attack. Following Thursday’s emergency meeting, Tusk called for increased police patrols around schools nationwide. He also revealed that the 15-year-old attacker had worn a helmet-mounted camera, apparently intending to film the assault. The succession of attacks has raised troubling questions about what is driving such extreme violence among young Poles. Children’s rights commissioner Monika Horna-Cieslak pointed to a broader climate of online hatred and increasingly normalised aggression, warning that young people were learning from the behaviour of adults. Meanwhile, police cybercrime specialists are investigating reports that the attacks may be linked to an online challenge, although no connection has been established. With investigators yet to determine the attackers’ motives, it remains unclear whether the incidents are connected or simply occurred in unusually close succession. Jakub Poliacik of Slovakia competes in a heat of the men’s 200m freestyle competitions of the World Swimming Championships (25m) in Budapest, Hungary, 15 December 2024. EPA/Robert Hegedus Hungary tables wealth tax; Budapest mulls bid to host 2036 Olympics Fulfilling a campaign promise, PM Peter Magyar announced this week his government would introduce a special wealth tax on individuals whose assets exceed 1 billion forints (2.7 million euros). The draft legislation – which is still subject to debate – uses a broad interpretation of private wealth, including real estate, assets in companies, shares, and savings held in both domestic and foreign banks. Those affected would have to pay an additional 1 per cent tax, effective from August 2027, over the 1-billion-forint threshold. For wealth exceeding 100 billion forints (272.5 million euros), the tax rate would be 1.5 per cent. The government expects the wealth tax to affect around 15,000 people in Hungary and generate an additional 800 billion forints (2.2 billion euros) in revenue over the next four years. According to Forbes magazine, the number of ultra-wealthy individuals who would come under the 1.5 per cent threshold is only around 35 or 36. As the wealth tax would be imposed on individuals, many families can breathe a sigh of relief, as their wealth would be assessed on an individual basis. Critics, however, warn that wealth taxes imposed on billionaires have not necessarily been successful internationally and could trigger an exodus of some individuals. To prevent people from circumventing the system, the Hungarian government would introduce a ten-year period during which those whose wealth was accumulated in Hungary would remain liable for the tax, regardless of their country of residence. Hungary has expressed interested in hosting the 2036 Olympic Games, as was revealed by the International Olympic Committee this week. Under the previous government of Viktor Orban, which was keen to use international sporting events to burnish Hungary’s reputation, the country considered bidding to host the 2024 Olympics, but was forced to withdraw its application in 2017 after the newly established Momentum party collected more than 260,000 signatures in support of a referendum against the plan. Experts say that most of the sports infrastructure needed to host the Olympics has already been built over the past decade, largely due to Orban’s strong interest in sports. Budapest – and Hungary more generally – would now be well suited to hosting the Games, they say. The capital has already hosted the World Athletics Championship in 2023, while its swimming facilities are due to host the 2027 World Aquatics Championships, meaning that organising the Olympics would not require massive additional investment in sports infrastructure. A so-called Budapest Olympics Masterplan was already submitted in March by the previous government. The plan envisages a “regional Games”, with some basketball and golf events staged in Austria and Slovakia hosting equestrian events. Surfing would be held in Ericeira, Portugal. Gergely Karacsony, the mayor of Budapest, has cautiously floated the plans several times throughout the year, while PM Magyar also expressed support for hosting the Olympics in earlier interviews. “As the sports infrastructure required to host the Olympic Games has already been built in Hungary in recent years, an Olympic bid that involves no stadium construction and requires no significant investment in sports infrastructure is both feasible and realistic,” hvg.hu quoted the mayor’s office as saying. The costs are estimated at 5.5 billion euros, with 90 per cent expected to come from the private sector, while the projected economic benefits are estimated at 4.7 billion euros. According to a recent Median poll, 64 per cent of Hungarians would support hosting the Olympics. This is a considerable increase from the 50 per cent polled only two years ago. The list of countries competing with Hungary for the 2036 Games currently includes Germany, Turkey, South Africa, South Korea and Qatar. Czech President Petr Pavel waits to welcome Romanian President Nicusor Dan during a ceremony at Prague Castle in Prague, Czechia, 30 September 2026. EPA/MARTIN DIVISEK Czech president faces backlash for election no-show; municipal elections ahead Czech President Petr Pavel is facing a rare bout of criticism over his decision to vacation abroad during this weekend’s municipal elections – and therefore won’t be able to cast his vote. Czechia is holding partial senatorial elections and a local ballot in more than 6,000 districts on October 9-10, including in the presidential couple’s place of permanent residence Cernoucek, a small town of about 300 people north of Prague. The president, however, will be away on a private trip abroad during that time in what his office has so far described as a “scheduling error”, but in what politicians from across the political spectrum – both government and opposition parties – have described as a political blunder that could backfire, especially if Pavel decides to run for a second term in 2028. “It’s wrong that the presidential couple is not participating in the elections… We constantly hear that it is important to take part in the elections, that no elections are useless. And then the president doesn’t make time for it” said political scientist Michal Maly from Charles University in Prague, echoing the opinion of other political observers who accused the head of state of double standards. First Lady Eva Pavlova, too, has faced a backlash after joining the fray and saying the government should have taken steps to allow eligible voters to vote outside of their place of permanent residence, whether abroad or somewhere else in the Czech Republic. Hit back Interior Minister Lubomir Metnar: “If the Castle [seat of the presidential office] wants to start a debate about online elections, let it say so openly. But we will not overturn the entire country’s electoral system just because the president has planned a vacation on the date of the [municipal] election.” Czech citizens – as well as eligible EU nationals – will vote for about 190,000 candidates running for more than 60,000 municipal seats in the country’s 6,255 municipalities over the next two days. While elections in smaller municipalities are usually driven by local issues and residents’ opinion about their current local council and representatives, those held in Prague and other larger cities can also be seen as a test and public barometer of how the population assesses the government, roughly a year after the ruling ANO party’s national election victory. Voters will also cast their ballot in the first round of voting for a third of the Senate’s seats, currently controlled by the opposition. The second round will be held a week later, on October 16-17. As political analysts have reminded, municipal elections may be some of the hardest to predict, with one party’s electoral result in a given city or municipality not necessarily translating into control of the city hall. As in previous years, most eyes are set on the capital Prague, also in the hands of the opposition, where hot-button issues such as housing affordability, transport infrastructure and tourism management have been at the centre of a heated campaign in the past few months. Statue of Marshal Ivan Stepanovich Konev during its ceremonial unveiling in the Valley of Death, within the territory of the village of Kružlová, Svidník District, on Saturday, October 3, 2026. Photo: TASR – Veronika Mihaliková Fico’s budget battle; Soviet statue – removed in Prague, unveiled in Slovakia Three years of higher taxes and austerity measures have done little to bring Slovakia’s public finances under control. PM Robert Fico’s government is preparing to enter the 2027 election year with a deficit close to the level it inherited in 2023. The budget approved by the government envisages a deficit of 4.9 per cent of GDP next year, against an earlier target of 3.0 per cent. Public debt is expected to climb to 66.3 per cent of GDP. The Council for Budget Responsibility estimates that net debt will have increased by 30 billion euros over the current electoral term. Fico has presented the budget as ‘good news’ for voters. There are no further tax increases planned, while energy subsidies and the extra annual pension payment will continue. Employers, trade unions and local authorities have criticised the proposal, as well as the fact that they received its roughly 300 pages less than a day before consultations. The coalition says it can count on all 76 of its MPs (out of a total 150 in parliament) to approve the budget next week, although questions about its narrow majority have persisted. Parliamentary approval, however, would not necessarily settle the matter. The opposition has challenged the deficit budget before the Constitutional Court, arguing that the government was obliged under Slovakia’s debt-brake rules to submit a balanced budget. The cabinet maintains that an exemption applies. An adverse ruling could force the government to submit a new budget and, depending on what the court decides, leave Slovakia operating under a provisional budget at the start of 2027. The coalition has, meanwhile, pushed through changes to the rules governing such an arrangement. It removed the usual monthly spending ceiling, allowing Finance Minister Ladislav Kamenicky greater discretion over when funds are released. Opposition MPs warn that this could make it easier to concentrate spending in the run-up to September’s general election if a provisional budget is needed. The new rules could also strengthen Fico’s position within the coalition, giving his finance minister more control over the flow of money to ministries run by his partners, Hlas and SNS. A Soviet marshal whose statue was removed from Prague six years ago now has a new monument in Slovakia, following an initiative discussed by Fico and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin last year. The statue of Ivan Konev was unveiled on October 3 near the Dukla Pass in eastern Slovakia, where Soviet and Czechoslovak troops suffered heavy losses fighting Nazi Germany in 1944. Konev is remembered for his role in defeating Nazi Germany, but also for commanding the Soviet suppression of Hungary’s 1956 uprising. He was involved in intelligence gathering ahead of the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. The Nation’s Memory Institute has previously opposed erecting monuments to him. The unveiling was attended by Russia’s ambassador, Sergei Andreyev, Agriculture Minister Richard Takac and pro-Russian Smer MEP Lubos Blaha. Fico stayed away because of illness. An investigation by Slovak daily Dennik N found that neither the organisers nor the sculptor would say who paid for the statue. The Russian embassy denied involvement. The Slovak Union of Anti-Fascist Fighters, which organised the unveiling, said it had only lent its patronage to the project. The local mayor said the municipality had approved the site but contributed no money. The sculptor, Slavomir Gibej, who also makes erotic artworks, declined to answer questions about who commissioned the statue, how much it cost or whether any Russian money was involved. Gibej previously made a statue of another Soviet commander, Rodion Malinovsky, unveiled in Slovakia in 2021. Who paid for that monument also remains unclear.