During a meeting with residents of Piotrków Trybunalski, Prof. Przemysław Czarnek, a Law and Justice (PiS) candidate for prime minister, spoke about Poland’s massive rise in debt under the government of Donald Tusk. “This year, a catastrophic budget year, will make Poland the fastest-borrowing country in Europe. The fastest! There is no country borrowing more quickly. The debt will reach PLN 2.7 trillion and exceed 65 percent of GDP. This has never happened before,” said Czarnek.
Prof. Czarnek recalled that the PiS government reduced public debt by 2 percentage points relative to GDP, despite major challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the outbreak of war in Ukraine, both of which caused significant global economic disruption.
He argued that the situation has clearly worsened under the current government.
“Public debt has already increased by 11 percentage points relative to GDP in just two and a half years. We reduced it by 2 percent over eight years, while they increased it by 11 percent in just two years. It already stands at PLN 2.3 trillion. And this year, a catastrophic budget year, will make Poland the fastest-borrowing country in Europe. The fastest! There is no country borrowing more quickly. That debt will reach PLN 2.7 trillion and exceed 65 percent of GDP. This has never happened before,”
the prime ministerial candidate emphasized.
He also noted that, in the view of experts, this will not be without consequences and that Poland may soon become financially strained. “As is usually the case in such situations, we will have to ask for help. And there will be no shortage of those willing to provide it from abroad,” said Prof. Czarnek.
In his assessment, this would result in “a loss of sovereignty.”
“We will not be able to plan a normal future for our sons, daughters, and grandchildren. This is a tragedy, a tragedy that translates into what we have already described as Tusk’s triad. Whenever Tusk is in power, it is always the same: debt, unemployment, bankruptcy,”
he added.
Read in “Gazeta Polska”
The current issue of Gazeta Polska writes about what it describes as the catastrophic state of public finances.
“Our country’s debt has just surpassed the historic and psychological barrier of PLN 2 trillion, and in EU terms has almost certainly exceeded the permissible 60 percent of GDP. Data for the first quarter of 2026 indicate that the budget deficit will be stretched to the limit, and in November and December, there will be enormous difficulties in financing the state’s basic expenditures. This massive hole in the budget is a mortal threat not only to our wallets but also to Polish sovereignty. Step by step, a vision is being realized in which our economy becomes entirely subordinated, and the survival of the state depends on the political goodwill of Brussels and the ruthless financial markets,”
the weekly states.
Prof. Zbigniew Krysiak, an economist and president of the Schuman Thought Institute, has no doubts about the consequences. As he noted in an interview with “Gazeta Polska,” such rapidly rising debt will inevitably trigger action from the EU, and there should be no illusions: it will become a straitjacket that ultimately stifles Poland’s development, pushing the country back into a subordinate role as a subcontractor for the strongest Western economies.
