Polish president moves to bring far-right Grzegorz Braun into right-wing Senate pact
Polish President Karol Nawrocki's circle is negotiating with associates of Grzegorz Braun to include his party in a joint right-wing electoral list for the Senate, a step that would break the long-running political cordon around a figure known for antisemitic, pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian views. The talks were entrusted to Nawrocki by the leaders of Poland's main right-wing parties, who asked him to assemble a Senate coalition. The development follows Braun's destruction of a UPA monument in eastern Poland and the European Parliament's recent decision to lift his immunity over Holocaust denial charges.
Key points
- President Karol Nawrocki's circle is negotiating with associates of Grzegorz Braun on a joint right-wing Senate list.
- Law and Justice (Jarosław Kaczyński), Development Plus (Mateusz Morawiecki) and Confederation (Sławomir Mentzen, Krzysztof Bosak) gave Nawrocki the task of forming the Senate coalition.
- In Rzeczpospolita, Nawrocki said Braun's Confederation of the Polish Crown has parliamentary seats and poll backing and should be treated as part of Polish politics.
- Braun has previously been kept on the political periphery over antisemitic incidents and pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian views.
- Nawrocki defended Braun by noting that Prime Minister Donald Tusk once embraced Vladimir Putin as a precedent of a pro-Russian association.
- In September, Braun posted footage of himself destroying a UPA monument with a hammer in Lublin Voivodeship and called for its official dismantling; Polish prosecutors opened an investigation.
- On 15 September, the European Parliament consented to lift Braun's immunity so he can be prosecuted in Poland for Holocaust denial — not the first such case.
Why it matters
Bringing Braun into a mainstream right-wing Senate pact would lift the cordon sanitaire that has kept him on the political margins and would normalize a politician whose record includes antisemitic incidents, pro-Russian statements and the destruction of a UPA monument in eastern Poland. Nawrocki's personal defence of Braun — and the timing, ahead of Senate elections and shortly after the European Parliament lifted Braun's immunity over Holocaust denial — make the move a sensitive signal for Polish politics and for Poland's relations with Ukraine.
What happened
President Karol Nawrocki's circle has opened negotiations with associates of far-right politician Grzegorz Braun about adding Braun's party, the Confederation of the Polish Crown, to a joint right-wing electoral list for the Senate. The initiative follows a decision by the leaders of Poland's main right-wing parties — Jarosław Kaczyński of Law and Justice, Mateusz Morawiecki of Development Plus, and Sławomir Mentzen and Krzysztof Bosak of Confederation — to entrust Nawrocki with forming the Senate coalition.
In an interview with Rzeczpospolita, Nawrocki argued that Braun's party, which holds seats in parliament and registers in opinion polling, should be treated as a legitimate part of Polish political life. His representatives have already begun formal talks with Braun's circle. According to a source cited in the reporting, Braun sees the negotiations less as a path into the Senate and more as a way to end the political isolation he has faced over antisemitic, pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian controversies.
The opening to Braun comes against a turbulent recent backdrop. In September, Braun posted video of himself using a hammer to destroy a monument and burial site of UPA fighters killed in fighting with the Soviet NKVD in Hrubieszów county, in Lublin Voivodeship, and demanded the authorities dismantle it. Polish prosecutors have opened an investigation into the destruction. On 15 September the European Parliament consented to lift Braun's immunity so he can be prosecuted in Poland for Holocaust denial — not the first time his immunity has been lifted.
Nawrocki has publicly defended Braun against the pro-Russian label, noting that this would not be the first Polish political environment so accused and pointing to Prime Minister Donald Tusk's past embrace of Vladimir Putin.
How Ukrainian sources describe it
Ukrainian-language coverage foregrounds Braun's anti-Ukrainian record and frames the prospective pact as the mainstreaming of an anti-Ukrainian actor. Headlines in outlets such as Yevropeiska pravda and hromadske emphasize that the politician Nawrocki is moving to embrace has previously been kept at the margins for his anti-Ukrainian positions. The coverage also highlights Nawrocki's personal role in opening the talks and in defending Braun despite the recent destruction of a UPA monument in eastern Poland.
Background
Grzegorz Braun has been one of the most polarizing figures on the Polish far right. He has been kept on the political periphery because of antisemitic incidents and pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian positions, and has previously had parliamentary immunity lifted. In September he posted footage of himself using a hammer to destroy a UPA monument and burial site in Lublin Voivodeship; Polish prosecutors have opened an investigation. On 15 September the European Parliament gave consent to lift his immunity so he can be prosecuted in Poland for Holocaust denial.
The current Senate initiative brings together Poland's main right-wing forces. Party leaders Jarosław Kaczyński of Law and Justice, Mateusz Morawiecki of Development Plus, Sławomir Mentzen and Krzysztof Bosak of Confederation asked President Nawrocki to assemble a right-wing coalition for the Senate elections. It was within this framework that Nawrocki's circle decided to approach Braun's Confederation of the Polish Crown.
In defending the move, Nawrocki pointed to a past precedent in Polish politics — Prime Minister Donald Tusk's embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin — as an earlier example of a mainstream political figure associated with Moscow.