Donald Tusk Sanctioned by Parliamentary Ethics Committee for Calling PiS MP a "Clown"

The Sejm's Parliamentary Ethics Committee decided to impose a sanction on Prime Minister Donald Tusk in connection with an incident that occurred during one of the recent Sejm sessions. The head of government, reacting to a speech by a Law and Justice MP, used the term "clown," which became the basis for a motion to sanction him. The committee's decision was passed with votes from the opposition and a representative of the Polish People's Party, while the representative of Poland 2050 abstained. The case sparked a wave of criticism from PiS politicians, including Małgorzata Wassermann and Przemysław Czarnek, who accuse the Prime Minister of lowering the standards of public debate and using verbal aggression. The Parliamentary Ethics Committee found that the language used by the Prime Minister exceeded the bounds of permissible parliamentary criticism. Parallel to the intra-parliamentary disputes, Donald Tusk held talks in Warsaw with Prime Minister of Iceland Kristrún Frostadóttir and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan. The meeting with the head of the Icelandic government was dominated by topics of security in the Arctic region and the potential renegotiation of Iceland's relations with the European Union. The Prime Minister's gesture of presenting his counterpart with a Prince Polo wafer sparked widespread echoes on social media and industry portals. Tusk argued that this product is extremely popular in Iceland, to which Prime Minister Frostadóttir reacted enthusiastically, admitting that her father privately loves it. This gesture, though intended as an element of "soft diplomacy," was immediately criticized by right-wing media and internet users, who see it as infantilizing the state's image and compare the action to previous marketing efforts by Rafał Trzaskowski. The Polish brand Prince Polo gained a dominant position in the Icelandic market as early as the 1950s, becoming one of the most recognizable Polish export products in the region during the Cold War. The diplomatic visits also included talks with the Prime Minister of Armenia concerning stabilization in the South Caucasus region and strengthening economic cooperation. Meanwhile, government circles discussed the background of Tusk's meeting with Trzaskowski, which the media dubbed a "peace pipe," suggesting the easing of internal tensions within the Civic Coalition ahead of upcoming electoral challenges. Despite his activity on the international stage, the Prime Minister must contend with very harsh language from the opposition – Prof. Zdzisław Legutko called the head of government a "liar," further deepening polarization on the Polish political scene. „You might think it is just a candy bar, but in Iceland, it is a true symbol. My father loves them.” — Donald Tusk

Perspektywy mediów: Liberal media emphasize the symbolic and warm dimension of the wafer gesture as a successful element of building relations with Iceland. Conservative media mock the gift as infantile and accuse the Prime Minister of lacking seriousness in diplomacy and aggression towards the opposition.