POLAND: A Trading Pause & more – 10th April 2025

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 10th of April twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

Let’s start off with the economy. On Monday, the 7th, the Warsaw Stock Exchange paused trading for an hour because of worries about transaction safety after US President Donald Trump announced new global tariffs, including a twenty percent tariff for imports from the EU.

Poland is concerned that the new tariffs could reduce its GDP, potentially costing the country over ten billion zloty, which is almost three billion dollars. The Stock Exchange said prices were unstable because investors sold their stocks, causing a sudden drop in stock prices.

Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister, reacted on social media, saying that the stock market chaos, which affected markets worldwide, was expected because people were worried about the new tariffs. He added that Poland's political and economic stability would help the country manage the situation without making hasty decisions.

Next up, security. On Tuesday, the 8th, Poland's government passed a new law to speed up major defense projects.

The law cuts down the paperwork and delays on defense projects, such as new military bases that need only one quick approval from governors. It also lets the government take private land for defense, and offers compensation. The law’s goal is to make picking contractors quicker while saving time and money. It also skips some environmental permits for key projects, but it will still collaborate with the environment ministry.

Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, the Defence Minister, said it’s crucial to quickly use EU funds to build up Poland’s defense industry.

Also on Tuesday, the US Army Europe and Africa, a major command overseeing US Army operations in Africa, Europe, and parts of the Middle East, announced that US will move its troops from Poland’s Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport, a key spot for military aid to Ukraine in the southeast of the country, to other locations in Poland.

This change is part of the US plan to improve military operations, save American taxpayers money, and follow the NATO summit’s twenty twenty-three decision that NATO and its allies are responsible for the base, not only the US. As a result, NATO countries like Norway, Germany, and the UK will replace the US troops at the airport, which helps the US save money.

Still on security, on Friday, the 4th, Prime Minister Tusk announced a new campaign to stop people from outside of the EU from trying to enter Poland illegally.

The government will run an information campaign in seven countries, including Somalia, Eritrea, Yemen, and Ethiopia, where many of these illegal immigrants come from. Tusk warned people not to believe smugglers or leaders like Belarus’s Lukashenko and Russia’s Putin, who say that Poland is an easy way to get into Europe.

The main goal of the campaign is to tell migrants that Poland is not a suitable gateway to enter Europe — and to stop false information spread by smugglers and foreign governments.

Switching gears to the presidential elections campaign. On Wednesday, the 9th, Rafał Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw and presidential candidate from the Civic Coalition, agreed to an unofficial debate proposal from Karol Nawrocki, the presidential candidate from the Law and Justice party.

The debate will take place on the 11th of April in Końskie, a small town in central Poland. Końskie became the symbol of how small towns, often overlooked in national campaigns, can really affect election results after the twenty fifteen loss, when Grzegorz Schetyna, the former leader of the Civic Platform party, highlighted their importance. Big TV networks, including TV Republika, will broadcast the event.

Besides the Trzaskowski-Nawrocki debate, two big TV debates are planned for the twenty twenty-five Polish presidential race: one on the 14th of April with eight candidates, but Trzaskowski won’t be there, and another on the 12th of May with all registered candidates.

In updates to potential laws, on Friday, the 4th, Jean Richard de la Tour, the Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union, said that Poland should record same-sex marriages made in other EU countries in its civil registry.

He was talking about a twenty twenty case where Poland refused to register the marriage of two Polish men who had married in Berlin back in twenty eighteen. ​In twenty twenty-three the couple filed their complaint with the Court of Justice of the European Union. The Advocate General said that EU countries should recognize marriages from other EU countries because not doing so could limit married couples' ability to travel, work and live together across the EU, as well as their right to family life.

While countries don’t have to directly add the marriages taken place abroad to their records, they need to have other ways to confirm a couple's marriage. Since Poland doesn't have an alternative to the records, it must register the marriages there.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the 7th, Radosław Sikorski, the Foreign Minister, said Poland is close to finalizing the ambassador appointments that were delayed for a while because of a disagreement between President Duda and the Cabinet of Ministers.

So far, Duda has approved just one appointment, but there are still eighteen other ambassador roles waiting, including very important ones, such as Israel, and NATO. The situation became tense when Sikorski withdrew some nominations, but Duda eventually signed a few, paving the way for further negotiations. Duda was holding off because of political differences and concerns about some candidates but he is now ready to sort since his term ends in August, twenty twenty-five.

The Foreign Service Council will review new candidates for these roles, with Duda’s decisions coming on Friday the 11th.

On Monday, the 7th, seventeen Greenpeace activists protested at the Turów coal mine in Bogatynia, southwestern Poland, demanding a precise date for shutting the mine down. They spent the night on a large excavator and ended the protest the next day.

Greenpeace is pushing Poland to move away from coal energy because it’s harming the environment, and switch to cleaner, greener energy sources like solar power, and wind energy.

Polish Energy Group, the mine's owner, said the protest didn't affect energy production. He also said Turów mine is already investing in renewable energy projects like solar farms and energy storage.

On another note, on Wednesday, the 9th, Gremi Personal, a company that helps European businesses find foreign workers, said Polish employers prefer hiring Filipinos because they’re hardworking, loyal, and easy to work with.

Many Filipinos work in the Mazowieckie region in central-eastern Poland and in Szczecin, in the northwest. They usually choose long-term jobs, and after five years of legal work, they can apply for permanent residency, which encourages them to stay and keep working hard. Moreover, Filipinos fit in more easily in Polish society since they are mostly Catholic.

In twenty twenty-three, Poland gave out nearly 30,000 work permits to Filipinos—up from 7,500 in twenty twenty, and with Poland expecting a shortage of around 1.5 million workers in twenty twenty-five, especially in areas like logistics, retail, construction, and food processing, the demand will keep rising.

Wrapping up this edition with cultural news, on Tuesday, the 8th, the National Stadium in Warsaw announced that they will host Jennifer Lopez's concert for the first time in thirteen years.

The 25th of July concert is part of her Up All Night tour featuring her biggest hits. Tickets went on sale on Wednesday, the 9th, with prices ranging from 370 zloty, which is 140 dollars for general admission, to 950 zloty, around 200 dollars, for a VIP package.

If you're interested, check the link in the show notes!

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

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Do zobaczenia!