PiS MP Szymon Giżyński defects to Morawiecki's Rozwój Plus, boosting club to 41 MPs

Long-time Law and Justice (PiS) MP Szymon Giżyński confirmed on Friday that he has left the party's parliamentary club to join Rozwój Plus, the newly formed group led by former prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Giżyński told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that the transfer had been formalized, even as the Sejm website still listed the club at 40 members. His addition brings the club's total to 41 MPs and one senator, most of them former PiS parliamentarians.

Giżyński described the decision as one of the most serious of his political and personal life. He recalled that in 1990 he built the Centre Agreement (Porozumienie Centrum) together with Jarosław Kaczyński and with the goodwill of later president Lech Kaczyński, and in 2001 he joined PiS.

This is what I value most in my life's journey, something unchanging that will remain with me until my last days.

He said he would continue to seek "that essence, that strong path" which tied him for life to Kaczyński, while seeing the new club as a chance to revive what was once at the heart of the right-wing movement.

Paradoxically, the new grouping opens a chance to return once more to what was most precious, most beautiful in the history of Law and Justice and earlier the Centre Agreement, and remains very attractive for today's times.

Weeks of tension with PiS leadership

Giżyński's departure did not come in isolation. In mid-July he was suspended from PiS membership pending disciplinary proceedings after he publicly criticised the local party leadership in Częstochowa for backing a referendum to recall the city's mayor and council. He argued that such tactics could harm the party's interests and inadvertently aid its rivals.

A week ago, the PiS leadership set an ultimatum for its MPs: sign a declaration that they did not belong to associations conducting political activity, or face expulsion. Last Friday, PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński said that a group of politicians had resigned from the party, aware of the consequences of not signing. Morawiecki's allies insisted at the time that they had not left PiS and that the statement did not concern party membership, accusing "intriguers" of trying to push them out.

Morawiecki rallies his new formation

The Rozwój Plus parliamentary club was officially registered on Thursday, 30 July. On Friday, Morawiecki held an open-air conference-cum-grill in Warsaw, launching a series of events under the banner "Rozwój+Wy". He told the gathered crowd that the eight years of PiS government were something to be proud of, but the group now had to look forward.

Difficult days, difficult months lie ahead, fire from the external and internal enemy, but we will not surrender, because such is our vocation on this journey.

Morawiecki added that the "mission to repair the Republic of Poland" had been interrupted more than two years ago because "we lacked the ability to reach agreement."