Ex-Orlen CEO Obajtek scuffles with Solino boss during hunger strike visit

Background of the protest

Workers at IKS Solino in Inowrocław have been on hunger strike since 15 March 2026. They fear that the planned sale of Qemetica (formerly Ciech), Solino's main brine customer, to the German K+S group will jeopardize the mine and the surrounding chemical complex. The company, part of the Orlen group, is Poland's largest brine producer and also serves as a strategic oil and fuel storage site. The preliminary sale agreement targets a closing in the first quarter of 2027.

The entry attempt

On 9 July, MEP and former Orlen CEO Daniel Obajtek arrived at the mine to join the protesters. He had promised a symbolic hunger strike lasting until Friday evening. At the entrance, CEO Wojciech Kotlarek blocked him physically, leading to a scuffle as Obajtek tried to force his way inside. Police were called. Obajtek later went to the Inowrocław police station and filed a complaint for violation of bodily integrity.

I am going there symbolically. I will protest until Friday evening with my workers. It will be a hunger strike. I have the right to enter the company's premises, I am a Member of the European Parliament, not entering the production area, only the office area, because I want to draw public attention to the fact that such economic scandals should not take place.

Political reactions

PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński strongly backed Obajtek, accusing Prime Minister Donald Tusk of executing a "Poland for Sale" plan and enabling a German takeover of the region. He claimed the government was deliberately ignoring the protest.

We cannot remain silent when Tusk is implementing another installment of his plan titled 'Poland for Sale'. Today's aggressive reaction of their appointee at IKS Solino only confirms this.

Kaczyński added that since March, Solino's workers have been protesting and going hungry while the authorities pretend there is no problem, because it was supposed to be quiet. Przemysław Czarnek, PiS's candidate for prime minister, also attended the protests and criticized the current Orlen management for not safeguarding the mine.

Orlen and legal pushback

The Orlen press office posted on X: "They act as if teeth were free," a sarcastic jab at Obajtek and his allies. Former justice minister Zbigniew Ćwiąkalski noted that an MEP has no right to conduct parliamentary inspections in Poland, comparing it to a French or German MEP inspecting Polish institutions.

Going by that logic, a French or German MEP could inspect institutions in Poland if they had such powers.

They act as if teeth were free.

Timeline of events