“I am ready to represent everyone in Poland,” Nawrocki told a PiS convention in Kraków, Poland’s second-largest city and its longtime historic capital, referencing his working class background.
“I’ve led a normal and humble life,” Nawrocki added in a swipe at Trzaskowski, whom PiS has long painted as elitist.
“Millions believed Poland could get better, but they were wronged,” Nawrocki said of the 2023 election that elevated Tusk to power. “As president, I will table new legislation to address [issues like] energy security or economic freedom.”
In a lengthy speech, Nawrocki also criticized the EU’s Green Deal as an obstacle to growth. “No to climate madness at the expense of Polish households,” he said.
Nawrocki, 41, does not belong to a political party. As a historian he has focused on Poland’s more recent history, and from 2009 to 2017 headed the Institute of National Remembrance, a state body scrutinizing Poland’s World War II experience and its pre-1989 communist era.
Nawrocki went on to become director of Poland’s World War II Museum in Gdańsk, where — critics say — he skewed the museum’s narrative toward nationalism after it had won international praise for its portrayal of events and the plight of civilians.
