POLAND: Confidence Vote & more – 12th June 2025

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 12th of June twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

Kicking off this episode, on Tuesday, the 10th, Poland’s Supreme Court began reviewing complaints about the recent presidential election.

Over 300,000 people have signed a petition asking for a recount, saying there were issues during the second round of voting. For instance, in Kraków, in the south, and Mińsk Mazowiecki, in east-central Poland, election officials wrongly granted votes meant for Rafał Trzaskowski, from the Civic Coalition, to his opponent, Karol Nawrocki, from the Law and Justice party. Local officials admitted the mix-ups and said they might refer the cases to prosecutors.

Even though there have been some problems, the gap between the two candidates—more than 400,000 votes—makes it pretty unlikely that these complaints will change the overall result.

However, people can still file appeals until the 16th of June.

Speaking of Karol Nawrocki, Poland’s new president-elect, on Monday, the 9th, he gave his first interview to foreign media and said that it was really important for countries like Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia to stick together to keep NATO’s eastern flank strong. He called Hungary one of Poland’s key allies and said they share a history of fighting communism.

Nawrocki promised Poland would continue supporting Ukraine militarily but said there’s no need to rush talks about the country joining the EU, especially while it is still at war with Russia.

He also said he’s willing to work with Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister, on things that matter to everyday people but he still said that Tusk’s government mishandles the economy with rising prices and fails to control illegal migration.

He will officially take office on the 6th of August but hopes to visit Washington first.

In an update to the planned confidence vote we talked about in last week’s show, on Wednesday, the 11th, PM Tusk and his pro-European government won it, getting 243 votes in favor and 210 against.

Tusk called the vote a fresh start, and since his team holds a clear majority in parliament, they’re in a strong position to keep moving forward.

Switching gears to new laws, on Friday, the 6th, President Andrzej Duda signed a new law to make the job and housing markets more transparent.

Job ads must now include salary and benefits information so people know what they will get before applying. This should help make pay fairer and stop pay disparity

Home builders must show apartment prices online, making it much easier to see how much homes really cost instead of having to call or visit to ask about prices.

For the past thirty years, buyers couldn’t easily see or compare apartment prices because builders weren’t required to share them publicly.

On another law, on Thursday, the 5th, Poland’s lower chamber approved a bill to make the 11th of July a National Remembrance Day, to commemorate Poles killed by Ukrainian nationalists during and after the 2nd World War in the Volhynia region, in northwestern Ukraine.

These killings were part of a plan by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists to push Poles out of the Volhynia region, which used to be part of Poland before WWII. Poland officially calls these killings a genocide.

On that note about the Volhynia tragedy, on Tuesday, the 10th, Ukraine officially asked Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance or IPN for permission to exhume a wartime grave in Jureczkowa, a village in southeastern Poland. The IPN is sorting out the approvals, and the digging may start this fall. Poland’s Culture Ministry said the country will help out too.

Back in May, Polish experts found over forty bodies during a similar exhumation in Puźniki, a village in western Ukraine, one of the places where the Volhynia massacre of ethnic Poles took place.

Ukrainian officials denied rumors that the dig was paused, saying both countries are getting things ready. They also said Ukraine and Poland are making good progress on delicate historical issues and want to keep a solid, practical relationship.

On the military front, Poland’s Armament Agency canceled a deal to buy thirty-two Black Hawk helicopters from Lockheed Martin, an American aerospace and defense company. Poland had started working on the deal back in the summer of twenty twenty-three, when the previous Law and Justice government was still in charge.

Now, the military has decided to focus on more urgent priorities like air defense systems, drones, and extra ammunition because of the growing threats from Russia and the war in Ukraine. They said they might bring back the helicopter later if needed.

The Black Hawks were meant to support the land forces alongside the Apache attack helicopters that Poland has ordered, whose delivery is scheduled to begin in twenty twenty-eight.

In other news, on Wednesday, the 11th, Łukasz Krasoń, the Polish Deputy Minister of Family, Labor, and Social Policy, attended a UN meeting in New York, where he encouraged countries to run regular public campaigns highlighting the socioeconomic potential of people with disabilities.

He also shared his personal story of living with muscular dystrophy and using a wheelchair since childhood, saying that support systems shouldn’t be seen as just costs but smart investments.

Krasoń said tough times, like the war near Poland, shouldn’t stop progress on inclusion. He talked about how the country is already working on making things better by passing the Accessibility Act, expanding online services for people with disabilities, and finalizing a new law to provide personal assistance support.

Krasoń also proposed an EU-wide plan to boost awareness about people with disabilities.

In sports updates, on Sunday, the 8th, Robert Lewandowski, a top Polish footballer who plays for FC Barcelona, said he won’t play for the national team as long as Michał Probierz is the coach, as he has lost trust in him.

After that, Probierz picked Piotr Zieliński as the new captain, stripping Lewandowski of his position. Lewandowski quit Poland’s team because the way the coach broke the news really affected him, as Probierz told him he was taking away his captaincy on the phone, while the player was putting his kids to bed. Probierz said he made this decision after consulting the team and thought it was time for a change.

Lewandowski recently skipped the national team’s training camp on Wednesday the 4th, saying he was tired after a busy season with FC Barcelona. He also showed up for a friendly match against Moldova on Friday the 6th but didn’t play.

Some people say that since Lewandowski isn’t playing as much as before, he shouldn’t act like the team’s top leader or expect special treatment.

Also on Friday, Adam Strzembosz, a famous retired judge who’s almost ninety-five, responded to President Duda, who mimicked his voice on a radio show to make fun of him. Duda mocked Strzembosz, trying to make his comments on the government’s court reform sound silly to dismiss his criticism.

Strzembosz said he’s not bothered by Duda’s jokes and thinks the president just doesn’t like him personally. He added that he also criticizes Duda but tries to keep it respectful.

A lot of people also thought Duda’s mocking was very disrespectful and embarrassing for a president.

Moreover, Strzembosz believes the new president, Karol Nawrocki, might block efforts to improve Poland’s justice system.

Ending this edition on a positive note, on Saturday, the 7th, Will Smith, the famous American actor, showed up to sing a song at a big charity event in Warsaw. Omenaa Mensah, a well-known Polish TV host, organized the event to help people in need with essential services such as education, healthcare, and social support.

Jill Biden, the former US First Lady, also went to Poland to support charity causes that connect in spirit to her husband’s cancer treatment. She met with Agata Duda, Poland’s First Lady, to talk about working together in the future.

The charity auction raised over fourteen million dollars.

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

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