Politicians from Poland’s main opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), have called on the city of Gdańsk to build a statue of former Polish President Lech Kaczyński, who died in the 2010 Smolensk tragedy.

PiS MEPs Anna Fotyga and Andrzej Jaworski told a press conference on Monday that the late president deserved to be recognized for his contribution to his home town.

“To this day we do not have a dignified commemoration of the late President Lech Kaczyński in the city of Gdańsk, the city with which he was associated, where he worked, where he was vice chairman of Solidarity, where he helped the shipyard workers during strikes,” said Ms Fotyga, who served under Mr Kaczyński as head of the Chancellery of the President.

Mr Jaworski said that the city’s authorities were reluctant to agree to a statue commemorating Mr Kaczyński despite being aware of the important role he played in Gdańsk’s history.

“No one today disputes the merits of President Lech Kaczyński and what he did for Gdańsk. … And this is the thing that is permanently inscribed in the history of our city,” he said.

Ms Fotyga also urged city mayor Paweł Adamowicz to agree to a commemorative act for Anna Walentynowicz, a founding member of the Solidarity trade union, who also died in the Smolensk disaster.

Ms Fotyga said that plans to erect a plaque outside Ms Walentynowicz’s former home were insufficient and that one of the city’s streets should be named after her.

The mayor of Gdańsk’s spokesperson, Antoni Pawlak, said Mr Adamowicz was not against the plans but that this was a grassroots issue. Mr Pawlak added that councilors had previously agreed that the best place to remember the victims of the Smolensk disaster who had a connection with Gdańsk would be the former shipyard, after it undergoes redevelopment.