An invitation at a business congress

The exchange took place at the fifth 'Dialog o Gospodarce' congress, organised by the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs. Deputy defence minister Magdalena Sobkowiak-Czarnecka asked Sławomir Mentzen, leader of Konfederacja, whether he would come and train with her at 'wGotowości'. When he replied 'With you?', she said she was the one inviting him and asked whether going to training with a woman was a point of dishonour. Radosław Sikorski, deputy prime minister and foreign minister, and Marcin Horała, deputy speaker of the Sejm and a Rozwój Plus MP, were among those listening, and Sikorski said the glove had been thrown and had to be picked up. The ministry describes 'wGotowości' as free, voluntary training for acting in crisis situations, built around four one-day modules of eight hours each: security, first aid, survival and cybersecurity.

Mentzen's refusal

Mentzen declined to take part. He put his position in these words:

“I will not make a circus act of myself, or do somersaults for journalists' amusement.”

He also said he had not fully understood the challenge and could not accept it blindly, and that he did not know what the training involved. That refusal sits uneasily with his call to restore universal military training for 19-year-old men, which he said should resume right now. It also sits uneasily with his view that suspending conscription had been a mistake. The training he turned down is aimed at ordinary citizens, so the offer was not limited to politicians or officials.

The clip and the row over it

Sobkowiak-Czarnecka posted the recording on X with the caption 'Kozak w necie, klaun w świecie' ('hero online, clown in the world') and a clown emoji. In a radio interview on the morning of Friday, 23 October, she told Radio ZET that the issue was how to react in a crisis, not somersaults, and she added:

“If someone says it reminds them of a circus, they are an irresponsible boor and a lout.”

Users of X quickly argued that the posted clip had been trimmed. In the full version, they said, Mentzen invites her to the Independence Run, and both confirm that they will run and meet there. Her own reply in the fuller exchange was that if she ran, they would meet. Journalists present at the exchange also reported the rest of the conversation, which the published clip does not include. The post also added a line from the film Chłopaki nie płaczą, and the segment in which Mentzen answered journalists was spliced in afterwards.

Reactions and open points

According to the reports, Sikorski and Horała were visibly amused as they listened to the exchange. The sources do not report any ministry response to the dispute over the clip, beyond the official description of the programme. They also do not give a date for the Independence Run, the event at which, according to the full version described by users, the two politicians said they would meet. Whether Mentzen will attend any wGotowości session remains unstated in the sources.