Why do the recent election results in Poland, the Netherlands, and Spain matter? What do they mean for Europe? And what is to be expected of the forthcoming elections in Portugal and the European elections? We are starting the new season of the Liberal Europe Podcast with a thought-provoking conversation between our two hosts, Ricardo Silvestre (Movimento Liberal Social) and Leszek Jazdzewski (Fundacja Liberte!).

Entrepreneurs

Donald Tusk outlined priorities for the Polish government for the next months. In his expose, he paid a lot of attention to entrepreneurs, promising to limit inspections of micro-entrepreneurs, introduce a cash-based personal income tax for entrepreneurs settling this tax with the tax authorities, and a vacation for entrepreneurs, i.e. one month a year free of social security contributions and a benefit of half the minimum wage.

Poland pledged to adopt the Euro when it joined the European Union in 2004. The adoption of the common currency will have a significant impact on the country’s future and will define our position in Europe. It should be noted that entry into the Eurozone is not only an economic issue but also a major political and social change.

I present a brief analysis of the key factors that influenced the opposition’s victory in the parliamentary elections in October. The order of the points does not imply a hierarchy of importance. In these elections, there were no radical party like Razem, which would claim that it would not cooperate with other parties and would take votes from the main parties, while not entering the Parliament due to not crossing the 5 or 8 percent threshold.

A massive social mobilization has led to the government’s defeat, one that routinely violated the constitution and basic principles of decency. Thousands of voters engaged in monitoring the election process, with tens of thousands casting their votes away from their places of residence, thereby increasing the strength of their votes in terms of parliamentary mandates.