Karol Nawrocki hosts 800 young Poles at Hel residence for Przyszłość.pl meeting

Gathering at the presidential residence

President Karol Nawrocki and First Lady Marta Nawrocka welcomed approximately 800 participants aged 18 to 26 to the presidential residence on the Hel Peninsula for the "Przyszłość.pl" meeting on 29 August 2026. Presidential spokesperson Rafał Leśkiewicz stated that attendees were selected from nearly 2,000 applicants through questionnaires detailing their civic activities and interests, adding that no political party activists were included. The selected group featured 45 young Poles living abroad. The two-day gathering was the first time the state residence in Jurata opened its grounds for a youth event. Morning rain cleared before the president greeted attendees on the beach.

Intergenerational dialogue and civic agency

During his opening address on the beach stage, Nawrocki pointed to his own family, noting his three children aged 8, 15, and 23, and recalled his previous work directing the Institute of National Remembrance and the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk. He stated that he consults the Youth Council on legislative bills and argued that Polish youth currently lack a sense of political agency. Nawrocki compared modern instant digital communication tools with the 1980 Solidarność trade union movement, which formed broad solidarity without telephones or internet networks. He asserted that national discussions regarding the country's trajectory remain incomplete without the active participation of younger generations.

Only the connection of generations gives us strength, development and awareness that we are heading into the future. Therefore, as long as I am president, until then I will listen to youth when taking up my discussions.

Event schedule and medical interruption

The program included panel discussions with presidential ministers and advisors, guest experts from business, sports, and science, sports activities, and a Catholic Mass. The cultural schedule opened with a concert by musician Skolim. After 16:00, Nawrocki held a question-and-answer session with attendees that remained closed to press cameras. Later in the afternoon, a live-streamed media briefing was halted after a participant standing directly behind the president fainted. Officers from the State Protection Service and attending paramedics provided assistance, and Nawrocki later confirmed the participant recovered after suffering from heat and stress.

Criticism from the parliamentary coalition

The Hel event drew sharp responses from governing coalition leaders speaking at the concurrent Campus Polska Przyszłości forum. Marshal of the Sejm Włodzimierz Czarzasty criticized the presence of Skolim as a headline act at a presidential gathering. Czarzasty also criticized Nawrocki for his legislative vetoes on civil partnerships, simplified divorce procedures, cryptocurrency market regulations, and the SAFE military modernization fund. The Left party politician argued that the presidential vetoes hindered necessary legal modernizations and cited the official registration of 85 foreign same-sex marriages in Poland.

I am not a fan of Skolim, but maybe Skolim would explain it. I do not know. I do not want to attack anyone. But if the most important event at the meeting of the president of our country is a performance by Skolim, then that is messed up.