Not a zloty from this program will go to the pocket of Mieczysław Baszka or any other political activist – said the Minister of Sport and Tourism Kamil Bortniczuk in an interview with journalists, referring to the subsidy granted by his ministry to an organization led by a member of the Republican Party. It is to receive PLN 14 million, i.e. more than half of the subsidies under the “Sport for All” program.
– In the provinces, apart from the Association of People’s Sports Teams, there is often no sport. It is a huge association with a great history – said Kamil Bortniczuk, Minister of Sport and Tourism, and at the same time vice-president of the Republican Party, answering journalists’ questions about the ministry’s subsidy.
He added that “since last year, Mr. Mieczysław Baszko has been the president”. Previously, the president was Mr Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz – paid attention.
Kamil Bortniczuk: it’s not like a friend gave money to a friend
– This is often the only organization that conducts sports activities in rural areas or the Polish province. It unites thousands of sports clubs. The program we are talking about, because it is presented as if a friend gave money to a friend, is a systemic, year-round program. As part of it, we are restoring the organizer of rural sports in each poviat to the map of Poland – he explained.
Bortniczuk added that “this program will go to 250,000 Polish children.” Therefore, this is its financial dimension. Not a zloty from this program will go to the pocket of Mieczysław Baszka or any other political activist. So please do not judge ZLZS, the largest sports organization in the country with several decades of tradition, through the prism of its president. Should I throw rural sports upside down because Mieczysław Baszko won the election and is the president? asked Bortniczuk.
Journalists pointed out that many more organizations received grants under the program last year. – I can reassure all representatives of associations, organizations. For them, recruitment will most likely be announced in February as part of “Sports Holidays” or systemic activities promoted by sports associations. This money will be more than last year – he said.
He explained that the “Sport for All” program had a very small budget, PLN 30 million. – It was aimed at systemic, year-round programs that had to start relatively quickly. Therefore (recruitment-ed.) had to be completed relatively quickly. We could not afford our small department to be jammed by the prism of evaluating all projects – he said.
Kamil BortniczukPAP/Piotr Nowak
Money for an organization led by an MP
In mid-November 2022, the Ministry of Sport and Tourism, headed by Bortniczuk, announced an open call for tenders for co-financing tasks from the state budget in the field of promoting sport of various social and environmental groups, carried out in the period from 1 January to 31 December 2023. Its results have just been announced.
The largest amount of funds, PLN 14 million (out of the allocated PLN 26.5 million), is to be received by the National Association of People’s Sports Teams, headed by Mieczysław Baszko, MP from the Republican Party. Radio Zet was the first to inform about it, which explained that 1080 applications were submitted in the competition. The committee of the Ministry of Sport gave negative opinions on 736 of them, rejected 336 for formal reasons, and gave 8 positive opinions.
Mieczysław Baszko has been the president of the National Association of Folk Sports Teams since November 2021. The current member of the Republican Party – like Kamil Bortniczuk – was previously associated with the Agreement Jaroslaw Gowin.
The second largest subsidy for 2023, in the amount of PLN 4 million, was awarded to the Łukasiewicz Institute Foundation. Co-financing also went to: the Association of the Polish Community (PLN 1.38 million), the Polish Football Association (PLN 1.2 million), the Polish Volleyball Foundation (PLN 1 million), the Academic Sports Association (PLN 3.5 million), the Polish Swimming Association (PLN 0.748 million) and the Polish Masters Athletics Association (PLN 0.7 million).
Also in the competition settled at the beginning of 2022, the largest beneficiary was the National Association of People’s Sports Teams (almost PLN 10 million in total). At that time, the list of entities that received funding included over 800 items.
KZ Ludowe Zespół Sportowe also received a subsidy for a total amount of approx. PLN 4 million in 2021. The competition was settled by the decision of the then Minister of Culture, National Heritage and Sport Piotr Gliński. The association was headed by the president PSL Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz.
Further subsidies
Last week, there was a lot of talk about a purchase financed by the Ministry of Education and made by the Polska Wielki Projekt foundation, associated with representatives of the ruling camp. The Foundation bought a villa in Warsaw’s Mokotów district from the state-owned Polski Holding Nieruchomości, which is under the supervision of the minister Jack Sasina. She paid five million zlotys. After seven years, the property can be used for commercial purposes.
This week, Onet also reported that over the past three years, the foundation founded by Mariusz Chłopik, an informal adviser to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, PLN 2.5 million in state subsidies. It is also described how his wife’s company made money on cooperation with state entities.
The publication mentions that Chłopik tried to “dissuade” journalists from being interested in his wife’s activities and “offered help in checking various cases”.
Main photo source: PAP/Piotr Nowak