Jarosław Gowin, who until last year served as deputy prime minister and leader of a party in Poland’s ruling coalition, has returned to work after a two-month absence that saw him hospitalised due to his mental health.
In a series of social media posts today, Gowin outlined how he had suffered from depression, and identified one cause as the “brutal attacks” he has suffered from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party with which he was formerly allied.
“I have overcome the illness…[and] feel stronger than ever”, he declared, before pledging to seek to “remove PiS from power” before it can further “harm the Polish national interest”.
Guess who's back…
— Jarosław Gowin (@Jaroslaw_Gowin) January 24, 2022
Gowin and his Agreement (Porozumienie) party – formerly known as Poland Together (Polska Razem) – were part of the ruling United Right coalition from 2015 to 2021. For most of that period, Gowin served as deputy prime minister, as well as being an MP.
But growing tensions with the dominant PiS party – in particular caused by Gowin’s opposition to holding presidential elections by post early during the pandemic – eventually led to Agreement’s ejection from the government last August. (However, some of its MPs defected to form a new party that remains in the United Right.)
In late November, Agreement’s spokeswoman confirmed reports that Gowin was in hospital. She and his other associates refused to confirm media reports that he was suffering from depression or other mental health issues, and called for his privacy to be respected.
However, one of his party colleagues, Michał Wypij, told Rzeczpospolita in December that “it is probably no secret that a coordinated media attack and the betrayal of colleagues could have had an impact on [Gowin’s] health”. Later that month, Gowin left hospital, but remained off work.
Last night, the politician – whose last social media activity was a post about Lionel Messi winning the Ballon D’or football award ahead of Poland’s Robert Lewandowski in November – announced his return with a tweet declaring in English: “Guess who’s back.”
Gowin then followed that up today with a series of Facebook posts outlining the circumstances around his illness and his political plans. He noted that last year had been “a time of brutal and dirty tricks” with “many blows aimed at me and my people”.
The person behind this, said Gowin, was PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński, whose “goal was simple: to dismantle my party and build a parliamentary majority without me”. To do this, “they resorted to bribery, pressure, intimidation and threats”.
Gowin said that, when he met with Kaczyński last year, the PiS chairman made clear that his actions were a consequence of Gowin blocking the 2020 postal elections. “Kaczyński could not stand the fact that someone had set the limits of his power…[and] defied his policies,” wrote Gowin.
The situation left Gowin “depressed as a result of months of insomnia”, he wrote. “Lack of sleep was a side effect of catching the coronavirus [earlier in 2021]…combined with overwork and a brutal attack by PiS.”
But the politician said he was now back in politics and feeling “stronger than ever”. In a further post, he outlined his aim to “remove PiS from power”, and in particular to counter “Poland’s international isolation” under its rule. This is especially dangerous given the growing threat of Russia, wrote Gowin.
He warned that Kaczyński “subordinates everything to the maintenance of power, even if it harms the Polish national interest”. This, said Gowin, is why PiS has clashed with the EU and forged links with the “pro-Putinist European far right”.
Gowin also noted that his party had repeatedly raised concern about PiS’s flagship economic programme, the “Polish Deal”, warning that it “would destroy the middle class”. Since going into force this month, the Polish Deal’s overhaul of the tax system has been beset by problems.
Following last year’s defections, Agreement has only six MPs and is polling at less than 1%. However, with PiS currently having only a thin and unstable parliamentary majority, Gowin’s party could play a significant role in any potential effort to oust the government.
Gowin himself – a political veteran who once served as a minister in the government of Civic Platform (PO), now the largest opposition party – is also seen as a significant figure in his own right and potential member of a future opposition-led government.
Main image credit: Dawid Zuchowicz / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
