NEWSLETTER
From Poland with Love. August
Topic of the Month
PiS Is Losing Millions
National Electoral Commission (PKW) has rejected the financial report submitted by PiS related to the 2023 parliamentary elections. PKW chairperson judge Sylwester Marciniak stressed that PiS’s financial report failed to meet legal requirements, particularly regarding bank loans and their conditions.
The PKW questioned PLN 3,6 million as improperly raised and spent. The financial penalty involves a reduction of PLN 10 million from the PLN 38 million subsidy, leaving the party with PLN 28 million. Kaczyński’s party will have its annual budget support cut by a total of PLN 43,2 million until the end of the current parliamentary term. However, the most acute consequence is that PiS may lose all the subsidies that have been earmarked for it in the current term, but this will be decided later by the PKW.
PiS has 14 days to appeal the PKW decision to the Supreme Court (SN). The decision will be reviewed in the SN by a special chamber created during the PiS rule, and packed with judges appointed in the procedure rejected by, among others, the European Court of Justice. It is commented that the chamber will most probably decide in favor of PiS. The final decision, however, about making the payment will lie in hands of the finance minister. Commentators are already asking themselves if Andrzej Domański will ignore a potential ruling beneficial for PiS or not.
PiS reacted with rage. Mateusz Morawiecki denounced the PKW’s decision as “shameful” and politically motivated. He wrote on X: “It is part of the political game of the current government, whose goal is revenge and marginalization of the opposition”. PiS has a big problem now, especially in view of the upcoming presidential elections. If the party wants to create its candidate from one of the second-row politicians – like it was done in the case of Andrzej Duda ten years ago -, it needs a lot of money to promote him (Kaczyński announced it won’t be a women) and make him recognizable. Less money in the budget increases chances of one of the top PiS politicians to represent the party in the race (Mateusz Morawiecki, Mariusz Błaszczak and Patryk Jaki are mentioned). Party leadership has already started a crowdfunding campaign and announced that all MPs will have to pay additional PLN 1000 (ca. EUR 240) and MEPs additional PLN 5000 (ca. EUR 1200) per month to the party fund.
Politics
Tusk Wants PiS to Pay Back PLN 100M
Prime Minister Donald Tusk accused the previous government of illegally spending PLN 100 billion (ca. EUR 23 billion), and he announced his administration will try to recover the money. Tusk stressed that this number comes from work of ca. 200 auditors and investigators. He accused the former government of creating a “closed system”, using public money “for its own political and financial benefit”. He gave examples of PiS ministers and deputy ministers who concentrated money from the state budget in their constituencies in elections periods or employed campaigners in ministries and agencies.
According to the prime minister, 62 members of the previous “ruling elite” have been already charged and additional 149 notifications of potential crimes will be submitted to prosecutors. “This is the first time in the history of Poland that government officials have been held accountable so quickly and effectively”, Tusk summarized.
Ministerial Guidelines Instead of a New Law
The government has announced new guidelines aimed at facilitating access to safe abortion, after the Sejm rejected a bill that sought to decriminalize the act of helping someone get an abortion (read more in the previous issue). The new guidelines say that a recommendation by one specialist doctor, including a cardiologist, endocrinologist or psychiatrist, is basis enough for a woman to obtain a legal abortion in hospital, and the doctor performing the procedure should not be liable for prosecution.
Under the strict regulations introduced when PiS was in power, doctors were afraid to perform abortions and women have died in hospitals. Doctors or persons who help to procure an abortion could face up to three years in prison.
During a press conference with the justice minister, health minister Izabela Leszczyna stressed that a majority of doctors and hospitals do not follow the regulations allowing for early abortion based on one doctor's opinion and often seek further opinions which endangers the right to access to abortion due to time limits. The ministry controls hospitals, and those who do not respect the law can be fined up to PLN 500.000 zlotys (ca. EUR 115.000) or lose their National Health Fund contract.
Justice Minister Adam Bodnar added that he issued new guidelines for prosecutors on how they should act in cases concerning the refusal to terminate pregnancy and medical abortion. They include the Patient Rights Commissioner's interpretation of 1993 abortion laws, which states that the concept of health should be interpreted not only from the perspective of somatic health but also the mental one. The guidelines aim to increase sensitivity among prosecutors and improve the application of abortion laws to prevent shaming, and often victimization, of women.
Later in August, Prime Minister Donald Tusk admitted that there will not be a majority for his promised liberalization of the abortion law during the current parliamentary term. “We should not fool ourselves”, he concluded.
Morawiecki’s Aide Wanted
The National Prosecutor's Office of Poland added Michal Kuczmierowski, former head of the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves (RARS; a body responsible to stockpile strategic food, medical and technical reserves, as well as fuel stocks, to be used in the event of war, public health emergencies or natural disasters) and close associate to prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki, to the wanted list. One week earlier, a court had agreed to place Kuczmierowski in custody. If found guilty, he may face up to ten years in prison.
The charges relate to his participation in an organized criminal group that may have taken as much as half a billion PLN out of the RARS. Kuczmierowski was involved in an investigation after alleged misappropriation of funds intended for purchasing electric generators for Ukraine in 2023. He is accused of pushing for a contract with the event agency that had previously provided services to PiS. The generator purchased were of such a low quality that they were never sent to Ukraine.
It is commented that Kuczmierowski is hiding in northern Cyprus, but he has recently informed he is looking for a job in London.
During the investigation, prosecutors also drafted charges against Paweł Sz., a businessmen running a patriotic clothing shop Red is Bed (very popular among PiS politicians or Andrzej Duda). RARS cooperated with the company, and in total PLN 500 million (ca. EUR 116 million) were transferred on Paweł Sz.’s bank account.
Short Life of Decree on Religion Classes
Małgorzata Manowska, the first president of the Supreme Court (SN) has challenged a decree on religious education by the Ministry of Education to the Constitutional Tribunal (TK). The changes in question allow schools to organize religion classes in groups composed from different year groups if fewer than seven children express a willingness to participate.
Manowska, a former subordinate of hard-right justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, made the request in response to petitions from the Presidium of the Polish Bishops' Conference and the Polish Ecumenical Council - an organization representing country’s minority Christian denominations. Petitioners argued that the ministry “violated the constitutional right of parents to raise children in accordance with their beliefs”, and that their right to be heard was limited by the minister. They also worry that many teachers, including priests and nuns, may lose their jobs. The SN head agreed that the decree violated the principle of the "consensual way of regulating the relations between the state and the Churches".
The TK, fully dominated by PiS loyalists, acted quickly and as expected. It has issued an interim order suspending the changes.
Ex-EP Vice-President Accused for Fraud
Ryszard Czarnecki, who was an MEP for two decades and a vice-president of the European Parliament from PiS, has been charged with fraud allegedly committed during his time in Brussels.
According to the prosecutors’ office, Czarnecki falsely reported his residence to profit from reimbursements for travel expenses and as a result collected EUR 203.000. He declared that he lived in the town Jasło, 340 km away from Warsaw where he in fact resided. If convicted of 243 counts of fraudulent travel claims, he could face a prison sentence of up to 15 years. The investigation by Polish prosecutors was initiated following a notification by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).
European Affairs
Poland’s New Commissioner
Piotr Serafin is Warsaw's nominee for its next European commissioner. He was presented by EU affairs minister Adam Szłapka and approved by President Andrzej Duda.
Serafin in unknown to general public in Poland, but very recognizable in the Brussels bubble. He currently serves as the acting Polish permanent representative to the European Union. From 1998 to 2009, Serafin worked as an official at the Office of the Committee for European Integration, the body in charge of Poland's integration policy with the EU. In 2004, he took up the position of director of the Committee’s Department of Analysis and Strategy. Between 2010 and 2012, he was deputy head of the cabinet of Poland’s Janusz Lewandowski, the then budget commissioner, and in 2012-2014 he was secretary of state for European affairs in the first Tusk government. He is a trusted aide of Donald Tusk and led his cabinet during his service as the president of the European Council.
Tusk is fighting for the budget portfolio for Serfin. Reportedly also Giorgia Meloni is trying to obtain it for her candidate.
Security
Hussar Rolled Out
Poland’s first F-35A stealth fighter — named Husarz (Hussar) — was officially rolled out in a ceremony at Lockheed Martin’s Texas plant. The first aircraft, AZ-01, is planned to be delivered to the Polish Air Force in December, making Poland the jet’s first user in Eastern Europe. The first two fighters will be used to train pilots in the United States, at the US Luke Air Force Base. Full readiness of both squadrons, equipped with 32 aircraft, will be reached by 2030, while initial operational capability will be announced in 2028. “Poland is the only country in the world that shares borders with Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. To keep the borders unchanged, we need the best equipment, the best capability, and the best friends”, said deputy justice minister Cezary Tomczyk during the ceremony.
Warsaw ordered 32 of the fifth-generation planes more than four years ago. The USD 4,6 billion deal is a key pillar in a multibillion-dollar modernization programme.
Foreign Affairs
Polish NGO on the Lukashenko’s ‘Extremist List’
A Polish NGO, the “Freedom and Democracy” Foundation (Fundacja “Wolność i Demokracja”) has been officially recognized as an extremist organization by the Belarusian government. The decision has been backed by the local KGB. It is the first organization registered in Poland on this list. Being involved with listed organizations brings risk of severe penalties, including up to seven years in prison.
“Freedom and Democracy”, established in 2006, is active in the field of advocating for human rights. It has been supporting victims of repressions of the Lukashenko regime. It also supports Polish media and education projects in post-Soviet countries.
The list currently includes 233 entities.
Polish Students Freed in Nigeria
Nigerian authorities have freed six Polish students and a lecturer from Warsaw University whom they detained earlier this month during anti-government protests in Kano. Polish MFA said that it was a misunderstanding, and the group happened to be in a wrong place in a wrong time. The ministry stressed that their passports, laptops and belongings had been returned, that they were in good health, and that they were staying at the university campus in the northern city of Kano and would return to Poland soon.
Economy
Tusk’s First Budget: Record Defense Spending and Record Deficit
Polish government has approved a draft budget for 2025. Prime Minister Donald Tusk described it as "generous" and supporting further economic growth for the nation. "Inflation in check. Record economic growth in years. A real increase in the minimum wage and the start of investments, especially the key ones, related primarily to energy, rail infrastructure", the prime minister added. “The budget for 2025 is being created in the context of a clearly accelerating Polish economy”, commented finance minister Andrzej Domański.
The budget includes a record-breaking level of defense spending: 4.7% of Poland’s GDP, ca. PLN 187 billion (ca. EUR 44 billion); compared to 4,2% this year, which has already made Poland the leader in the EU and NATO. This is the highest amount Poland has ever invested in its military forces.
Ca. PLN 4,6 billion (EUR 1,1 billion) will be put towards the construction of the first nuclear plant, which is expected to be operational in 2035. The draft also secures PLN 8,5 billion (ca. EUR 2 billion) for the 'Active Parent' program, and PLN 63 billion (EUR 14,7 billion) for the payment of the 800+ benefit. The increase in investment in rail infrastructure will be ca. 35%, and for road infrastructure by almost 18%.
Poland's economic growth is expected to be 3,9% next year, compared to 3,1% in 2024. Inflation rate of 5% is expected, up from some 4% in 2024.
Polish budget will have a record-high deficit in 2025. It is planned at PLN 289 billion (ca. EUR 67,3 billion), revenue at PLN 632,6 billion (ca. EUR 147,3 billion). Domański said that this amount takes into account PLN 34,7 billion (ca. EUR 8,1 billion) of state development fund PFR's debt repayment and PLN 28,5 billion (ca. EUR 6,6 billion) of Covid-19 Countermeasures Fund debt. "We expect a clear increase in revenue from VAT by PLN 50 billion [ca. EUR 11,7 billion], CIT by PLN 9 billion [ca. EUR 2,11 billion] and excise duties by over PLN 8 billion [ca. EUR 1,9 billion]", Domański summed up.
Swift Effect in Warsaw
American superstar Taylor Swift performed three days in a row in the Warsaw’s National Stadium. Over 600.000 people registered for tickets, with prices ranging from EU 46 to EUR 525, and 180.000 tickets were sold. A quarter of those attending the shows came from outside Poland and it is estimated they spent ca. PLN 44 million during their stay in the country.
As the concert coincided with the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, Taylor Swift warned fans to expect loud sirens.
Poland & Germany
‘Apologize and Keep Quite’
Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacted to reports that revived questions about who blew up the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022. He advised that the initiators of the pipeline project should “apologize and keep quiet”. It was clear to observers, that he specifically reacted to a claim by a former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence agency August Hanning, who told the daily Die Welt that the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines must have had Poland’s support.
“According to the results of German investigation, it was carried out by a Ukrainian team, and when we look at the map, we can understand that this can only be possible with support from Poland”, Hanning said, adding that: “Such decisions are not made at our level, they are decisions made at the highest political level, and I believe that there was an agreement between President Zelenskyy and President Duda to carry out this attack”. Hanning was supporting the construction of the pipeline, and served under Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who worked then for Russian state-owned energy companies. On the other side, Poland has always been opposing the project underlying it harmed its security interest.
Before the Tusk’s tweet, deputy PM Krzysztof Gawkowski strongly denied the claims of Polish involvement in the explosion. “I believe that this is the sound of Russian disinformation”, he commented.
It is important to add that the Hanning comment took place after German media reported that Warsaw refused to help Berlin arrest an Ukrainian citizen living in Poland suspected of causing the Nord Stream 2 explosion. Polish prosecutors announced that the wanted man had already left country. However, media revealed that they did not execute the warrant. According to the The Wall Street Journal, prosecutors first claimed to have found an error in the German request, and said that the case should be handled by the Polish Internal Security Agency. Reportedly, the issue was discussed during the intergovernmental consultations in July, but Poland refused to execute the warrant. German authorities found the whole case insulting. Surprisingly, the explosion from two years ago was haunting bilateral relations.
Second Bilateral History Textbook in the World
After being blocked by PiS government, “Europe – Our History”, fourth volume of the German-Polish history textbook series can finally be used in schools in Poland.
This is the final volume of the big project started in 2008, a result of common work of dozens of academics from both countries. It was completed in 2020, but due to objections by the former Polish government it could have been used only in classes in Germany. From now on teachers in Poland can use it in grades 5 to 8.
“Europe – Our History” is only the second bilateral history textbook in the world, inspired by the Franco-German one. It was initiated by a 2006 speech by German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier delivered at Viadrina University in Frankfurt an der Oder on the Polish border. He suggested both nations needed a common history book to "understand each other better". The idea was later picked up by Polish MFA Radosław Sikorski. Both governments tasked the German-Polish Textbook Commission, founded in 1972, with drawing up a list of recommendations, which were later used as the basis for work. The first volume was presented in Berlin in presence of the PiS foreign minister. Also two following volumes did not meet much objections, but the final one, which dealt with World War II and the post-war period, was opposed by the Kaczyński’s party. Polish national populist government claimed that there is too little about the catholic church and too much about the Berlin wall at the expense of Solidarność, and an excessively critical assessment of the 1944 Warsaw uprising.
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In July, a ceremony to present the Maria Wawrykowa Award to Professor Anna Wolff-Powęska was held at Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. It is an honor granted by the German-Polish Textbook Commission for outstanding achievements within the bilateral textbook dialogue. Wolf-Powęska is a professor of humanities, a specialist in Polish-German relations, and former director of the Western Institute in Poznań (1990-2004). She has been awarded, among others, the European Citizenship Award, Ryszard Kapuściński Award, and the KLIO Award for her book "Memory - Strain and Release. Germany vis-à-vis the Nazi past (1945-2010)". The award of the Commission is named after its co-founder, Maria Wawrykowska, a survivor of the Auschwitz camp and professor of history at the University of Warsaw, specializing in German history and 19th-century Polish-German relations.
Racoon Invasion
Scientists warn that thousands of racoons from Germany have invaded Poland, and they advise they should be shot.
Hundreds have been already shot in the region bordering Germany, but the problem is growing in urban areas where shootings are not allowed. Racoons are dangerous for the farmers as they eat corn, berries and other fruit. They also feed on small birds’ nests and nesting boxes, foxes, deer and storks.
Society
Bad Games
Poland has finished the Olympics in Paris on 42nd place in the medal table, its lowest ever. It won only one gold medal, which means the worst result since 1956. Also the total number of medals was the lowest since 1956. The picture is particularly dark if compared with the previous games in Tokyo, where the Polish sportspersons won 14 medals, 4 of them gold.
Polish people are very disappointed, and politicians stared looking for whom to blame. Prime Minister Tusk said that sport in Poland is not managed well, and sport minister Sławomir Nitras blamed sport unions and associations. The minister said that the performance is "inadequate given the country’s potential, size, and investment" (ca. PLN 500 million was spent on preparations).
In particular, the Polish Olympic Committee (PKOl), and its head Radosław Piesiewicz, became the object to attack. Piesiewicz is accused of being more interested in his own career and self-promotion than of the success of Polish athletes. Nitras criticized the Olympic training system, stressing that successes in Paris were due to the individual efforts of sportsmen and sportswomen rather than the support from associations, which have wasted public funds on luxury goods (Piesiewicz family used limousines at airports, something that athletes had no access to). For example, a silver medalist Daria Pikulik, has smacked the Polish Cycling Association, disclosing that she had to pay for her own training camp. Piesiewicz is defending himself, saying that it was the Ministry of Sport that was ultimately responsible for overseeing competitive sport.
The minister has requested that all expenses related to the official Polish delegation at the Olympics should be disclosed to PKOl president. He also called for a review of the salaries for the PKOl board, reminding that in previous terms board members served without any compensation. Additionally, the parliamentary commission investigating offenses allegedly committed by PiS, will file a notice with the prosecutor’s office against the PKOl board members for alleged misuse of state funds. “In connection with the emerging information about the use of PKOI’s de facto money coming directly or indirectly from the State Treasury to finance the families of PKOI activists, including the president himself, to the detriment of PKOI, but also to the athletes who had the right to count on PKOI’s help, we are submitting a notice on the possibility of committing a crime by members of the PKOI board of directors”, commented Kierzek-Koperska, MP from the Civic Platform.
Nitras announced his will to introduce legal reforms allowing national team members to elect association leadership and to ensure that at least 30% of management positions are held by women. It is important in light of the fact that almost all medals in Paris were won by women. The gold one won by speed climber Aleksandra Mirosław, silver – by canoeist Klaudia Zwolińska, boxer Julia Szeremeta, cyclist Daria Pikulik, and bronze – by tennis player Iga Świątek, speed climber Aleksandra Kałucka and 400m runner Natalia Kaczmarek; in addition to that, male volleyball team won a silver medal.
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Poland will formally apply to host the Summer Olympics in 2040 or 2044. Sławomir Nitras said that, like Paris, Poland is also “capable of carrying out such a project. Poland is ready”.
Tour de France Winner
Kasia Niewiadoma won the 2024 women’s Tour de France by four seconds, the narrowest margin in the history of either the women’s or the men’s race. Niewiadoma fought off the challenge of defending champion Demi Vollering in super exciting final stages of the race, where the Dutch rider crossed the line first but the Pole won the entire thing. Niewiadoma completed the eight-stage tour in 24 hours 36min 07sec.
Culture
Best Film School in the World
The Leon Schiller Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź has found itself in the prestigious group of the 15 best film schools in the world by The Hollywood Reporter.
According to the organizers, the school from Łódź is “one of Europe’s oldest film schools, with an alumni list that runs from Oscar-winning directors Roman Polański and Andrzej Wajda through legendary auteur Krzysztof Kieślowski and an astounding number of world-class cinematographers (Paweł Edelman, Dariusz Wolski, Łukasz Żal). Lódź offers full- and part-time instruction to work toward a bachelor’s, master’s or Ph.D.”
The Hollywood Reporter, an industry magazine in publication since 1930 in the United States, is known for its comprehensive coverage of film, television and entertainment. Among the schools awarded this year are Beijing Film Academy, HFF Munich, FAMU Prague, and La Fémis from France.
Polls & Trends
Party Support
CBOS, 26-29.08.2024
Civic Coalition 32%
PiS 28%
Confederation 16%
Left 9%
Third Way 6%