POLAND: A Loan Request & more – 31st July 2025

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 31st of July twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

Kicking off this week, on Tuesday, the 29th, Poland asked for fifty-two billion dollars in loans from the new EU SAFE program to fund its defense projects, but the amount it will actually get depends on how much the other countries, including Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, and Estonia, are asking for.

SAFE is a big EU fund offering up to 170 billion dollars in loans to help member countries boost their militaries.

Poland wants the money for projects like the East Shield to improve its eastern border defence.

On top of that, a few days before, on Friday, the 25th, Poland got a four billion dollar loan from the US to help modernize the country’s military. This loan is a part of a US program that helps allies buy US military gear, bringing US support to Poland to over fifteen billion dollars in two years.

Also on Friday, the 25th, Poland’s government established a new national security plan, the first one since twenty twenty, to guide how the country protects itself and keeps people safe.

It takes into account Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and focuses on things like protecting the country’s borders, keeping citizens safe, supporting sustainable growth, and making sure Poland’s interests line up with NATO and the EU. Helping Ukraine and keeping strong US ties are also top priorities.

The plan includes upgrading the military, boosting defenses, improving civil protection and cybersecurity, and making Poland stronger economically, environmentally, and technologically. It also aims to grow Poland’s own defense industry so the country isn’t so dependent on others.

Next up, immigration policies. On Wednesday, the 30th, PM Tusk announced in an interview with TVN24, a private news channel, that Poland will ask the EU for an exception to Schengen rules so it can bring back visa requirements for people from Georgia, Armenia, Venezuela, and Colombia, even though they currently can travel visa-free to the Schengen Area for up to ninety days within a 180-day period.

This comes after Polish authorities charged a twenty-seven-year-old Colombian man with two arson attacks, carried out in May twenty twenty-four on orders from Russian intelligence.

So far, Poland has arrested thirty-two people suspected of working with Russian intelligence, including Russians, Ukrainians, and even a Polish citizen.

Tusk said people from former Soviet countries are more at risk of being recruited by Russian intelligence, while Colombians and other Latin Americans usually fly into Spain on tourist visas and then travel freely around Europe.

Speaking of immigration, on Friday, the 25th, residents of the town of Bogatynia, in south-western Poland, disrupted an anti-immigration rally organized by Robert Bąkiewicz, an ultra-nationalist activist. Locals saw this rally as an aggressive, military-style event meant to scare them into supporting nationalist views.

At the rally, Bąkiewicz asked the police to stop locals from disrupting it, but when they didn’t back him, he called them “dogs.” Cezary Tomczyk, the Deputy Defence Minister, criticized Bąkiewicz, saying the state won’t tolerate insults against the military or police.

What’s more, leaked recordings showed Bąkiewicz telling his crew to act like patriots just for videos on social media.

Adam Szłapka, the Government Spokesperson, shared a video on Twitter highlighting the hypocrisy of Law and Justice politicians who funded migrant integration centers between twenty fifteen and twenty twenty-two but are now protesting against immigration.

Switching gears to internal affairs, on Friday, the 25th, the lower house of parliament voted to send Maciej Świrski, the head of the National Broadcasting Council, to the State Tribunal and suspended him from his job. The vote mostly passed with support from the Ruling Coalition, which includes parties such as the Civic Platform, the Polish People’s Party and the New Left.

This case started in July, twenty twenty-four, when Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, the former Culture Minister, accused Świrski of blocking public funds to TVN, Tok FM, and Radio Zetmedia media outlets, holding up licenses, and delaying audience checks. In June, twenty twenty-five, the state audit office also warned prosecutors about suspicious handling of millions in license fees that weren’t properly given to public broadcasters.

Following the suspension, Szymon Hołownia, the Parliamentary Speaker, will send the case to the State Tribunal, which will decide if Świrski broke the law.

Świrski refused to accept the parliament’s decision, saying he only withheld funds from biased media outlets and that he won’t resign or stop doing his duty.

Still on the domestic front, on Saturday, the 26th, Hołownia told Polsat News that some politicians unhappy with the presidential election results pressured him to block the swearing-in of Karol Nawrocki, the President-elect.

After that, opposition leaders from the Law and Justice party said they wanted an investigation and wanted Hołownia to name who pressured him. PM Tusk also criticized him for speaking carelessly, saying politics is serious and reckless talk causes trouble.

Even though this was put into question and called a threat to democracy, it could also be just a political drama.

Hołownia later said he wasn’t accusing anyone of a crime, just pointing to political pressure.

Soon after, prosecutors opened an investigation and plan to question Hołownia for more details.

Going back to the media topic for a minute, on Thursday, the 24th, Marta Cienkowska, the Culture Minister, signed a new law that changed how public media is managed.

Up until now, the National Media Council, a group set up by the last Law and Justice government to stay in control, was in charge, and people had to pay a TV and radio license fee to help fund it. Now, the new law removed the council and the government will fund the public media directly instead.

Hołownia called it a much-needed reset for public media, while Nawrocki said he’s especially interested in the changes because they affect presidential powers and he wants to work with parliament to make sure the new rules work well.

Also on Thursday, the 24th, the Center for Public Opinion Research published the results of their recent survey, which ran from the 3rd to the 13th of July with 1,000 participants, on which politicians Poles trust the most. President Duda topped the list, with fifty-three percent saying they have confidence in him, which is three percent more than last month.

Nawrocki came in second with forty-eight percent. On the flip side, people saw Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the Law and Justice party, as the least trustworthy, with fifty-three percent saying they didn’t trust him.

Grzegorz Braun, the ultra-nationalist MP, wasn’t far behind with fifty-two percent. PM Tusk followed him with fifty-one

On another note, on Monday, the 28th, Barbara Nowacka, the Education Minister, ordered extra inspections at 300 scout camps and announced plans to update safety rules after a fifteen-year-old boy died during a nighttime scouting challenge.

Dominik, who was part of the Scouting Association of the Republic of Poland, drowned while trying to swim across a lake in full uniform and boots to earn a badge—he was supposed to light a campfire once he reached the other side.

His troop leader and a lifeguard now face charges for putting him in danger.

Nowacka said scouting still matters, but safety rules need to keep up with the times.

And for our final story this week, on Monday, the 28th, the Governmental Crisis Management Team held an emergency briefing as heavy rain, thunderstorms, and strong winds hit southern and southwestern Poland for the second time this summer. The country faced the first big storms back in early June.

Marcin Kierwiński, the Interior Minister, said it was a tough night in Bielsko County, southern Poland, where the Wapienica River broke through its flood defenses, causing serious flooding.

Emergency teams handled over 800 calls, and local officials issued flood warnings and closed schools.

Kierwiński also said the government has put emergency services and over 2,000 troops, including the Territorial Defense Forces, on standby to deal with the storm.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Want to pass along an episode? Go to www.rorshok.com/poland and download any of the shows as .mp3 files. Link in the show notes!

Do zobaczenia!