PO's Jarosław Gowin feels Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski's international experience makes him the party's best presidential candidate Courtesy of Jarosław Gowin

Ewe Boniecka: Do you feel that Civic Platform (PO) now has to fight to regain voters’ trust following last year’s gambling affair?

Jarosław Gowin: I agree that we put the peoples’ trust in us to a serious test. But not the whole party, only part of it, because of the bad behavior of some our colleagues.

Nevertheless, we have to ask ourselves how it was possible that people with suspicious ties to someone like [gambling tycoon] Ryszard Sobiesiak were promoted so high in the party structure. Some channels of selection and promotion failed.

So I think that we face the task of proving our integrity as a ruling party, yet attempts to link [Prime Minister] Donald Tusk and [parliamentary club leader] Grzegorz Schetyna to the gambling affair have ended in complete failure.

During his announcement that he would not run for president, Donald Tusk dismissed the presidential office as “palace and prestige.” Also, given PO’s plan to change the Constitution, it seems that your party wants to have a rather weak president, compared to Law and Justice’s (PiS) proposal to constitutionally strengthen the office? Is this the case?

We have to remember that the first years of the next presidency will take place under the present Constitution and that discussion about changing that Constitution is at a starting point. So it is important that the president we choose will observe the existing constitutional principle of “checks and balances” and respect the division between executive, legislative and judicial powers.

But we know that, in practice, the interpretation of that principle has been twisted and that President Kaczyński has moved into the domain of executive power, which has led to constant conflict between his office and the government, often paralyzing the functioning of the state. This situation should not be repeated and we need to keep this in mind in choosing the next president.

But that does not mean that we want a weak and puppet-like president.

What’s your opinion on Civic Platform’s two presidential hopefuls – Sejm Marshall Bronisław Komorowski and Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski?

First of all we have to look at the powers which the Constitution gives to the presidency. The president is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and, in that respect, both Bronisław Komorowski and Radosław Sikorski have excellent qualifications, having served in the past as ministers of national defense.

A second domain of president’s powers lies in the field of international policy. Conducting foreign policy is the government’s responsibility, of course – which was [recently] confirmed in a ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal – but the president has to cooperate with the government. And in that context I am convinced that Radosław Sikorski, due to his strong international qualifications and also his marriage to an outstanding American journalist, is a candidate who could provide important support for the Tusk government.

It looks like the presidential campaign will be full of personal attacks. PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński is already insinuating that he has some dirt on Radosław Sikorski, for example. What’s your impression?

As in the 2005 election, I think that we will be unable to avoid black PR and insinuation, because PiS is preparing itself for a campaign full of personal invectives and barbs. Civic Platform will be forced to respond to it. So I am afraid that altogether we will have a brutal campaign.

Tusk would have been a sure winner in the first round of the election and I think PiS is hoping, since he’s not running, that Lech Kaczyński has a chance to move to the second round. But I don’t think that the president will be the main rival for our candidate, because polls show that he has a stable electorate, but has no chance of increasing it. In a second round he would lose against any candidate capable of moving to the second round.

Prime Minister Tusk has said that PO’s presidential candidate should resign from his present post before the campaign gets underway. Do you agree?

I disagree, because I think – whether it is Mr Sikorski or Mr Komorowski – that the candidate should carry on with his duties. In my opinion it would be an advantage for the candidate to start off as foreign minister or Sejm marshall, rather than as a member of Parliament. And every advantage will be needed in the election campaign, as it will be very difficult in my opinion.

But if Bronisław Komorowski were the candidate and he resigned, there is speculation that you would be considered for the post of Sejm marshall.

If I received such an offer I would feel honored, but I do not expect it. And I think that if the post of marshall needs to be filled, my party should propose a woman for the seat. This would be an important gesture and a meaningful step towards the further promotion of women, who already play a significant role in [Polish] politics. But I am strongly against parity for women on candidate lists, which I see as an abuse of free choice in an election.

It seems that you often disagree with your colleagues and the prime minister. So how would you feel about appointing [independent Senator] Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz to the Council for Foreign Policy established by the prime minister?

In contrast to other parties, in Civic Platform it is possible to disagree publicly with the leader. I always speak freely about my views and disagreement with some colleagues.
I am one of those politicians for whom a person’s political biography still has fundamental meaning. So I am not enthusiastic about our party’s cooperation with Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, whose whole career is associated with the left, even if Prime Minister Tusk argues that he wants to make use of his foreign policy experience.

In previous presidential campaigns the ideologies of the candidates and parties played a significant role, but it seems that PO has avoided talking about values so far this time.

I am liberal in economic matters and consider it very important for PO to focus on financial reforms and speedy privatization. I even feel that my party is not liberal enough in dealing with some economic problems.

At the same time I am ideologically conservative and I think that we cannot avoid discussion in the future about problems such as bio-ethics, in-vitro fertilization and euthanasia. I think that they are being avoided now because of the disgrace of PiS’s “moral revolution” during its governing coalition with Self-defense and Andrzej Lepper. This discouraged Poles from listening and taking part in political debate over moral values.

But I think that Civic Platform, which is internally diverse on these problems – which I consider one of our strengths and values – can find a way to approach them in a serious way. According to European research on social and moral values, Poles are strongly attached to religion, family, patriotism and our identity is based on a respect for freedom and tradition. I think that we want to retain this identity while being a strong player within the European Union.