NEWSLETTER
From Poland with Love. December
Topic of the Month
Polish Asylum Seeker in Budapest
The Polish government has reacted with anger to the decision of the Hungarian authorities to grant political asylum to the fugitive former Polish Deputy Minister of Justice and current Member of Parliament, Marcin Romanowski. In Poland, Romanowski was charged with 11 counts related to his oversight of the Justice Fund, including participation in an organized criminal group, abuse of power, and causing significant damage to the state treasury (PLN 112 million, about EUR 26 million). Police in Poland had been searching for the PiS lawmaker after a court approved a request to remand him in custody. Prosecutors later issued a European arrest warrant for the ex-minister, citing evidence that he was abroad.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski called the decision of Budapest an “unfriendly step”. “We consider the decision to grant political asylum to Marcin Romanowski, who is wanted under a European arrest warrant, to be an act hostile to the Republic of Poland and contrary to the elementary principles binding the member states of the European Union”, the MFA said in a statement.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk also denounced the Hungarian move, comparing the government in Budapest to the one in Minsk. "I did not expect that corrupt officials fleeing justice would be able to choose between Lukashenko and Orbán when seeking refuge from justice," Tusk commented. "All those who think they can use these tricks and dodges and get away with it are wrong. I can assure you that our state is strong and efficient enough to ensure that this kind of situation comes to a good end," he concluded.
According to the Polish prosecutor's office, there is no precedent for an EU country granting political asylum to a politician from another member state. Politicians from the ruling coalition announced that Poland could invoke Article 259 of the Treaty and sue Hungary for violating the Treaties, in particular the principle of loyal cooperation enshrined in Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union. The Hungarian authorities, however, insist that the decision is in line with Hungarian and EU regulations.
Poland's ambassador in Budapest has been recalled to Warsaw for an indefinite period, and Poland had earlier summoned the Hungarian ambassador to Warsaw.
It has been commented in Poland that this is not the last case of asylum being granted to a Polish politician linked to the previous government. According to some media, Orbán is returning favors to his friends from the PiS. It was recalled that the PiS government was very favorable to Hungarian business, especially to the oil company MOL, which had bought the Orlen station. They also remind that Daniel Obajtek, Orlen's ex-CEO and current MEP, has very good relations with Hungarian oligarchs. Obajtek himself hid from the Polish police in Hungary during the EP campaign (in a villa of a business partner of Orbán's son-in-law) and is a director of the Hungarian company Bayer Construct Zrt. (also linked to Orbán's son-in-law). Obajtek has been accused of acting to the detriment of shareholders and may become the next Polish asylum seeker in Budapest.
EU Affairs
More EU Funds for the Eastern Border
The European Commission has announced that it will allocate an additional EUR 170 million to member states bordering Russia and Belarus to improve border protection. The additional funds are a response to the increasing hybrid threats posed by these two countries, in particular the instrumentalization of migrants.
Poland will receive EUR 52 million of the total. Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak commented that the Commission had validated his government's long-standing security arguments and stressed that the funds would be used to strengthen Poland's eastern and northern borders.
Politics
Strategic TV Stations
Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced that the two largest private TV stations in Poland will be declared "strategic companies". This means that they cannot be sold without the government's approval. Until now, energy and telecommunications companies have been on the list.
The decision to include TVN and Polsat in the list came after it was announced that TVN's owner, the US-based Warner Bros. Discovery Group, was considering selling its Polish assets. Polish media also reported that the potential buyer is Hungarian billionaire and Fidesz ally Jozsef Vida. This would bring TVN - in recent years the most pro-democratic of the major TV channels - close to PiS. It was commented that such a transaction could be a follow-up to the purchase of Orlen petrol stations by MOL (read more in the Topic of the Month section). Later, the media reported that TVN could be bought by the richest Czech woman, Renata Kellnerova, owner of the PPF Group. On the other hand, Polsat is in the middle of a family drama and its ownership will be decided by a court in Liechtenstein (read more in the October issue). According to commentators, if the wife of the station's founder, billionaire Zygmunt Solorz, wins the legal battle, it would help the PiS in the presidential race.
The prime minister said the decree was intended to protect the media from being taken over by hostile forces, particularly the Kremlin, especially in the run-up to the upcoming presidential elections. He pointed to the recent events in Romania, whose elections were marred by foreign interference. Tusk called the Romanian election a "negative event" that "confirmed Russia's incessant readiness to attack using increasingly sophisticated methods and tools.
PiS May Receive Millions from State Budget after All
Poland's State Election Commission (PKW) has decided to reverse its earlier decision to reject the PiS's financial report. This means that the party will not lose millions in state funding. Earlier this year, the PKW ruled that the PiS had illegally spent PLN 3.6 million (about EUR 0.85 million) on its last election campaign. The commission said that Jaroslaw Kaczyński and his colleagues misused military recruitment events and an advertisement for a special fund for crime victims (read more in the July issue).
According to the PKW, the decision is solely a consequence of a ruling by the Supreme Court's Chamber of Extraordinary Review and Public Affairs. The chamber ruled that PKW's original decision was unlawful, should be changed, and money should be paid to PiS. The problem is that the special chamber was created by PiS during its time in power, packed with so-called "neo-judges" in an illegal procedure (read more in the November 2023 issue). This chamber is not recognized as a court by the European courts and institutions and, consequently, by the current Polish government.
The U-turn declared by the head of the PKW, Judge Sylwester Marciniak, came as a surprise. He said that the PKW must obey the constitution and the electoral law, and that it is not up to the institution he heads to decide whether the chamber is a court or not. The commission had voted 4-3 to accept PiS's financial report, with two members appointed by the Civic Coalition abstaining. Marciniak noted that the decision is now final and cannot be appealed.
The PKW's statement caused euphoria in PiS, as the party needs money to pay for Karol Nawrocki's presidential campaign. "Today's decision by the National Election Commission obliges the Ministry of Finance to immediately pay the outstanding and withheld funds, which total more than PLN 17 million," said PiS spokesman Rafał Bochenek. In fact, it is now up to the Minister of Finance to make the payment. It is very likely that he will decide not to pay. The main indicator of such a scenario is the tweet of Prime Minister Donald Tusk: "There is no money and there won't be any. In my opinion, that's what the PKW decision amounts to". The PKW decision will open a new battlefront on the rule of law between the PiS and the current government, confirming that judicial reform is necessary and urgent.
Ex-Prosecutor Will Lead the Tribunal
President Andrzej Duda has appointed Bogdan Święczkowski as President of the Constitutional Tribunal. Święczkowski was one of two candidates submitted to Duda by the TK's general assembly. Święczkowski was the head of the Internal Security Agency (ABW) and a prosecutor, a close associate of PiS Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro. He joined the TK in 2022 after being appointed by the Sejm. He was an internal competitor and challenger to the former chairwoman of the TK, Julia Przyłębska, a personal friend of Jaroslaw Kaczyński, and transformed the tribunal into a "puppet court" that disregarded the constitution. The European Commission and the European Court of Justice repeatedly declared that the TK under Przyłębska violated the rule of law and risked politicizing the judiciary. However, the appointment of a new president does not mean that the TK will reform itself to become an independent body again.
Duda said that Święczkowski has the ability to lead the TK effectively, ensuring both constitutional compliance and the protection of civil rights. "This is a very important moment for the court and for Poland," the president said. Duda said that he had nominated Święczkowski for "an extremely important and serious post, especially in times of various political upheavals and struggles, when the issue of the rule of law, of constitutional compliance of actions is of fundamental importance for the future of Poland".
The Tusk government presented a reform aimed at depoliticizing the TK and ensuring that it serves as a protector of citizens' rights rather than the political interests of one party. The legislation notably calls for TK judges to be chosen by a three-fifths majority vote. Candidates would also be rejected if during the previous four years they had served as a MP, MEP or government member or had been part of a political party. But the reform has yet to be adopted and implemented, which is seen as one of the biggest disappointments of Tusk's first year in power. Justice Minister Adam Bodnar explains that fundamental changes are not being adopted as quickly as the government would like because President Duda is blocking them.
First Minister Out
Minister of Science and Higher Education Dariusz Wieczorek resigned. The New Left minister had long been expected to be the first to lose his job in the government due to a long list of mistakes and oversights.
The most recent questionable actions of the minister were two. He leaked whistleblower information to university authorities and misrepresented his assets. His disclosure of the identity of a trade union activist linked to irregularities at the University of Szczecin, where the minister's wife is employed, provoked a strong reaction from the opposition. Some members of the ruling coalition and the left also expressed their dissatisfaction.
Gabriela Fostiak, the head of a university syndicate, informed Wieczorek of alleged irregularities, including that the management was cutting expenses but not their own salaries. She told the ministry that she wanted her complaint to remain anonymous, but it was forwarded to the rector. She was deprived of her rights as a whistleblower. Wieczorek said his ministry had followed procedures, but his spokesman apologized to the unionist. At the same time, the media reported that Wieczorek's wife was appointed director of the same university thanks to a lowering of the requirements for the position. Curiously, the rector's wife was appointed to a committee organized by the science minister.
Wieczorek has been under fire since the summer. Especially in June, when the publicly funded IDEAS NCBR institute saw mass resignations when its then-head Piotr Sankowski, who initiated the idea of the facility, was replaced without explanation. IDEAS NCBR is the main Polish organization focused on AI, and Sankowski, a world-renowned researcher, is a leader of many exclusive EU-funded AI projects, among others. In a statement on social media, Sankowski expressed concern about Poland's future in research, criticizing the sudden shift away from successful strategies that discourage top researchers. He was supported by many scientists from Poland and around the world. He was eventually reappointed to head a new research institute, but Minister Wieczorek lost credibility in the eyes of many members of the scientific community and ordinary voters.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk commented that some decisions had to be made regarding Wieczorek. And before being dismissed, Wieczorek decided to resign himself. Wieczorek did not respond to the accusations. He only commented on "inadvertent mistakes" made in the declaration of assets. He guaranteed to make corrections. It is commented that the Left will keep the ministry and appoint a woman.
Former Health Minister Guilty
Former Minister of Health Adam Niedzielski (PiS) has been found guilty in a trial on charges of abusing his authority by disclosing the personal data of a patient. The court sentenced him to three months in prison, suspended for two years. He was also ordered to publicly announce the verdict and pay a fine of PLN 5,000 (approx. EUR 1,100), as well as court costs.
In 2023, Niedzielski was fired after revealing details of a prescription written for him by a doctor. The doctor in question had made critical comments about the ministry in a television interview. The doctor said on television that he was having serious problems writing prescriptions for certain painkillers after changes were made by the Ministry of Health. He was one of many who raised the issue, but one of the few who did so publicly. Niedzielski responded on social media that there was nothing wrong with the new system and said the doctor had prescribed himself a certain type of psychotropic drug. The disclosure of sensitive data caused an outcry. Poland's Supreme Medical Chamber (NIL) told the prime minister that doctors had lost confidence in Niedzielski and also informed prosecutors that he may have committed a crime (read more in the August 2023 issue).
Economy
Luxury Butter
The price of butter in Poland has risen so much that it has become one of the main topics of daily Polish conversations and political debate. Opposition parties accused the government of inaction and of being responsible for a very expensive Christmas for Polish families. PiS organized a press conference where they showed a stick of butter in a safe case, believing that the rising cost of living will be the most important issue in the upcoming presidential elections. On the other hand, Civic Coalition (KO) candidate Rafał Trzaskowski recently accused Poland's central bank of mismanaging inflation and offered to send the governor (from PiS) some butter as proof.
Poland's year-on-year inflation rate was 3,9% in November, above the EU average. Retail butter prices are about 20% higher than last year, and wholesale prices are up 50%, pointing to even higher prices for consumers in the coming months.
Even Prime Minister Donald Tusk has weighed in on the issue. He recalled that although butter in Poland is among the cheapest in Europe, it remains too expensive for people on low incomes. The government's Strategic Reserves Agency (RARS) announced the butter auction in response to a global price spike that it blamed on "a shortage of milk." The RARS said the sale of up to 1.000 tonnes of frozen 25kg blocks of the unsalted butter - available at a minimum price of PLN 28,38 (around EUR 6,65) per kilo plus VAT - should "contribute to stabilizing butter prices". "This is a win-win intervention. The State Agency for Strategic Reserves won't lose out because butter is very expensive," Tusk said.
Economists comment that this market intervention is only symbolic and will not change prices of butter in the long run. According to the European Commission, butter prices in the EU have jumped some 44% this year as dairy prices have surged around the world. Polish neighbors – in particular from Czechia and Germany - have to pay much more for the product and many decide to visit Poland for pre-Christmas shopping which makes Polish milk-based spread even more expensive.
A side effect of the butter auction by RARS is educational. Most Poles realized that their state stores food reserves, including dairy products, cereals, sugar and animal fats among other foodstuffs. The agency would not disclose where and how much butter was kept refrigerated by Poland.
Society
Jump in Fertility Treatment Ranking
Poland has jumped 22 places in a ranking of fertility treatment policies in Europe. This spectacular leap came after the Tusk government restored state funding for in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, which had been cut when PiS was in power. In the latest edition of the ranking, prepared in cooperation with the European Parliament, Poland scored 62.1%, which was enough to rank 19th.
In 2021, Poland ranked 41st with 27%. This was the worst result in the EU and the third from the end in Europe (only Armenia and Albania were behind). The new government program was launched in June 2024 and resulted in 7,000 pregnancies.
Read the full report here.
International Affairs
Will Netanyahu Be Arrested in Poland?
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Władysław Bartoszewski reportedly said during preparations for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz (January 27) that Poland is "obliged to respect the provisions of the International Criminal Court," signaling that an arrest would be imminent should Benyamin Netanyahu enter Polish territory. Media have reported that the Polish Foreign Ministry wants to send a clear message that it takes ICC decisions seriously so that it can use the court in The Hague in the case of Vladimir Putin, who is also the subject of an ICC arrest warrant.
Many Jewish organizations reacted with outrage to Bartoszewski's words. "For a Polish government official to threaten the arrest of the leader of the Jewish state at Auschwitz, the symbol of the Jewish people's and humanity's greatest tragedy, desecrates the sanctity of this solemn commemoration," commented ISGAP Executive Director Charles Asher Small. Some commentators called for a boycott of the Auschwitz event, accusing Poland of complicity in the Holocaust.
In response to the controversy, Bartoszewski issued a statement saying he wanted to "set the record straight" about his words. He noted that he never explicitly said that Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to Poland for the Auschwitz anniversary, adding at the same time that Poland "adheres to all international agreements, treaties and obligations that it has signed and ratified.”
President Andrzej Duda called on government to ensure Netanyahu can participate in anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz
Polish Neo-Nazi Criminal Deported
Janusz Waluś, a Polish far-right extremist who assassinated Chris Hani, a communist anti-apartheid leader in South Africa in 1993, has been deported to Poland.
Hani was a prominent member of the African National Congress (ANC). He gunned down Hani outside his home in Johannesburg as South Africa prepared for its first multi-racial elections. After his assassination, the ANC politician came to be revered as a hero in the country's struggle for freedom and equality.
Waluś fled communist Poland and moved to South Africa in 1981, where he was granted citizenship, which was revoked after his murder conviction. After the crime, this member of a neo-Nazi movement was sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after South Africa abolished the death penalty. In the 1990s, Waluś told a special commission investigating the apartheid years that he committed the murder "to prevent communists and radicals from coming to power in this country.” He spent nearly thirty years in prison before being released on parole in 2022, sparking protests and an outcry in the country where he was imprisoned.
South African authorities said they had nothing to do with the decision, which was made solely by the Constitutional Court. The spokesman for the Polish Foreign Ministry said that Waluś had received help from the government to return to his home country. "Any citizen who does not have the means and the opportunity to return to the country receives assistance," he explained.
Culture
First Queer Museum in CEE
The first LGBTQI+ museum has opened in Poland. It operates under the name QueerMuzeum in Warsaw. The collection includes around 150 exhibits documenting Poland's LGBTQI+ history, including letters, pamphlets, photos and magazines. It was developed by Warszawa Lambda, the oldest national queer NGO in Poland. There are another 100,000 items in the archive.
"It is a statement. We are right in the heart of [the capital] Warsaw, and this should be a message to politicians: 'Look, we are opening the fifth queer museum in the world in a country where the legal situation for queer people is the worst in the whole EU,'" commented Milosz Przepiorkowski, president of Lambda Warszawa.
It is the first such museum in post-communist Europe and the fifth in the world.
Monsters’ Map
A team of Polish researchers from the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) has published a map showing the distribution of supernatural creatures from Polish folklore along the Polish-German border. It includes ghosts, devils, gnomes, giants, dragons, mermaids, ghosts, werewolves, and nightmares. In total, 12 general categories of supernatural creatures were represented in the project.
It is the result of an analysis of over 1,200 supernatural accounts collected by ethnographers and folklorists during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The stories collected linked myths to landscape features.
The project, funded by the National Science Center, covers the regions of Pomerania and Mecklenburg, and the 1:720,000 scale map was designed in a Renaissance aesthetic. The result is not only a piece of scientific research, but also visually beautiful. "We have taken a step forward and shown how to make modern maps. We are at the forefront, and as such some will copy us, others will criticize us - but we are the ones who have shown a new way of presenting scientific content," commented Dariusz Brykała from PAN.
Discover the map here.
Poland & Germany
Border Controls in Court
Jakub Woliński has filed a lawsuit challenging the German government's border controls, potentially reigniting the debate over the principles of the Schengen area. Woliński, a Polish citizen who lives in the German city of Görlitz and regularly travels to the Polish city of Zgorzelec, argues that these measures are a violation of the EU's long-standing commitment to free movement.
"Through this lawsuit I want to show the achievements of almost 40 years of the Schengen area," he said. He adds that these controls are at odds with civil rights and expresses the problems faced by daily commuters.
Border controls with Poland, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland were implemented in mid-October 2023. In December 2024, Germany extended border controls these countreis due to threats to public safety and public order. These were attributed to persistently high levels of irregular migration and migrant smuggling, as well as strain on the asylum reception system. The measure is set to expire in March.
Polls & Trends
Party Support
United Surveys for wp.pl, 20-22.12.2024
Civic Coalition 31,3%
PiS 27,4%
Third Way 10,4%
Confederation 9,9%
Left 9%
Together 0,3%
One Year of Tusk Government
United Surveys for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna
Are you satisfied with the Tusk government?
Yes 39,3%
No 51,4%
Pollster for Super Express
How is your life one year after Donald Tusk’s new government took power?
Better 14%
Worse 44%
The same 36%
Unsure 6%
Poles on Ukraine
CBOS, December 2024.
The best thing to do is to seek an end to the war and a return to peace, even if Ukraine has to give up part of its territory or part of its independence?
Yes 55%
No 31%.
According to the state-funded CBOS institute, for the first time after the beginning of the full-scale invasion, a majority of Poles believe that the war in Ukraine should end even if it requires Kyiv to cede part of its territory or independence. In September, only 39% of Poles said yes, and 46% said no. According to CBOS, this change of opinion "is probably related both to the increasingly bad news from the Ukrainian front and to Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, who announced a reduction in support for the embattled Ukraine and a move to end the conflict".