POLAND: Disruptions at Civic Platform Event & more – 17th April 2025

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 17th of April twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

Let’s start off with updates on the upcoming presidential elections. On Friday, the 11th, Rafał Trzaskowski, the presidential candidate of the ruling party Civic Platform, filed a legal complaint after a violent incident at his campaign event in Końskie, central Poland. A group of people stormed the place, shouting political slogans, causing chaos and quickly leaving. Trzaskowski blamed people linked to the opposition party Law and Justice and TV Republika, a conservative private broadcasting channel, for disrupting the event.

Meanwhile, the Confederation party is also taking legal action, saying Trzaskowski made an unfair campaign event by allowing only certain media outlets to attend.

Speaking of TV Republika, ten presidential candidates participated in a debate on the channel on Monday the 14th.

Rafał Trzaskowski, the current frontrunner, skipped it and went to another campaign event mostly because TV Republika, which sides with the Law and Justice conservative opposition party, didn’t let in media like TVN, TVP, or Polsat, which align with the ruling coalition.

The debate covered topics such as security, economy, healthcare, and the EU. Most candidates were against adopting the euro or sending Polish troops to Ukraine. Karol Nawrocki, the Law and Justice candidate, and Sławomir Mentzen, from the Confederation party, opposed further EU integration, while Adrian Zandberg from the Together party, and Joanna Senyszyn, an independent candidate, supported it.

Since we mentioned Nawrocki, on Tuesday, the 15th, during his campaign event, he said that Polish citizens should get priority in healthcare over foreigners and that Poles shouldn’t be treated worse than immigrants. His comments received strong criticism from both politicians and medical experts.

Jakub Kosikowski from the Supreme Medical Chamber said that healthcare should be based on a person’s health, not their nationality.

Poland’s healthcare system is dealing with staff shortage, overloaded clinics, and long wait times — people sometimes wait months or even years just to see a specialist.

Next up, new laws. On Tuesday, the 15th, parliament passed a bill that bans taking photos at about 25,000 places, including military bases, power plants, railways, airports, and other critical infrastructure — both military and civilian.

The Ministry of National Defence introduced the draft in mid-twenty twenty-three as part of changes to the Homeland Defense and Counterintelligence Act. The current government is backing the bill now, saying it’s needed to strengthen national security and protect important infrastructure from spies.

However, some people think the law could limit their personal freedoms, with checks and questioning about what they’re photographing at bus or train stations, which could delay them. There’s fear that it will feel like airport security, and commuters or travelers could get uncomfortable and frustrated with all these extra security checks.

Remember that last week we brought up Poland’s challenge in appointing ambassadors? Well, on Tuesday the 15th, Radosław Sikorski, the Foreign Minister, officially nominated Agnieszka Bartol as Poland’s new EU ambassador. She's the first woman to hold the role.

Bartol will represent Poland in Brussels, work with EU leaders, and push the country’s interests in key talks on security, energy, and funding. It’s a major post, and her appointment finally gives Poland a solid presence at the EU table.

Sikorski hopes this move will break the deadlock and open the door for more ambassadorial nominations.

On that note about the EU, on Wednesday, the 16th, Poland hosted a meeting of EU equality ministers in Warsaw, where Poland, Denmark, and Cyprus signed a joint declaration on gender equality.

Ministers talked about updating EU strategies on gender equality, LGBT rights, and anti-racism. They also discussed ways to combat disinformation, especially content targeting minority groups like the Roma community.

Katarzyna Kotula, Poland’s Equality Minister, called for stronger rules to protect people from discrimination, saying that diversity should be seen as a strength, not a weakness, and that gender equality, fighting discrimination, and safe AI development are top priorities for Poland’s EU presidency.

On another event, on Monday, the 14th, Poland hosted the TOGETAIR International Climate Summit, also known as the Polish Climate Summit, bringing together the government, NGOs, scientists, and business leaders to develop a practical and effective climate policy that benefits both the environment and the economy.

Tomasz Siemoniak, the Interior Minister, said that climate issues aren’t just about the environment—they’re also a matter of national security. He added that rising temperatures and water shortages are forcing people to leave their homes, especially in parts of Africa and Asia and that leaders need to take climate change seriously, because it’s the biggest long-term threat we’re facing.

On Friday, the 11th, the anti-corruption agency arrested Mariusz Wójcik, a journalist from TVN24, one of the biggest private news broadcasters in Poland, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, for participating in an organized crime group.

This case is a part of a larger investigation involving some big names, like a former national police chief and a board member at Orlen Ochrona, a company linked to the state-run fuel company Orlen. They’re facing serious charges, including tax fraud and obstructing investigations.

Karolina Stocka-Mycek, the prosecutor from the District Prosecutor’s Office in Wrocław, southwestern Poland, said that they have placed Wójcik in three-month pre-trial detention and suspended him from his job while the investigation continues.

Switching gears to foreign affairs. On Wednesday, the 16th, Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister, met with Olaf Scholz, the German Chancellor, in Warsaw to talk about Polish-German relations and global issues.

Scholz is stepping down from the office in two weeks and this meeting was to wrap up important talks between Poland and Germany before he leaves. He skipped public speeches and media events to keep things low-key and focus on private talks.

In sad news, eighty-three people from a Border Guard training center in Kętrzyn, northeastern Poland, got salmonella over the weekend, with seventy-six trainees ending up in the hospital on Monday the 14th. The affected officers were hospitalized, but fortunately, none of them is in life-threatening condition.

Police started an investigation after someone filed a complaint, accusing the center of putting people’s health at risk. Health experts said that the water wasn’t the source of the outbreak since only people at the center were affected; and that it probably came from something at the training center, like the food, equipment, or environment.

The Border Guard center informed the national commander and the Interior Minister about the situation, since the outbreak raised questions about how well training centers are taking care of basic safety and hygiene.

On Sunday, the 20th, Poland will celebrate Easter, a public holiday where people usually attend church, spend time with family, and enjoy traditional meals.

One fun tradition in Poland is Śmingus-Dyngus, where people splash water on each other the morning after Easter, symbolizing the cleansing of sins and the renewal of life in spring.

Another tradition is going to church to get the blessing of Easter baskets, filled with eggs, bread, sausage, and other festive foods. The baskets represent gratitude for the earth's blessings and the promise of new life.

Speaking of Easter, on Sunday, the 13th, the 22nd annual Misteria Paschalia early music festival kicked off in Krakow, southern Poland, running until the 20th of April.

It's one of Europe's biggest festivals for early music, held during the week leading up to Easter. The event features eight days of concerts and artistic events across ten venues in and around Krakow, including the Tyniec Benedictine Abbey and the Wieliczka Salt Mine.

Vincent Dumestre, a French lutenist and the artistic director of the festival, is leading the event, showcasing both famous and long-forgotten masterpieces.

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

Did you know that the Rorshok Poland Update is just one of many? We’ve got country updates, and non-county updates, including the Arctic Update, about the area north of the Arctic Circle, the Multilateral Update, about the world’s major multilateral institutions, and the Ocean Update, about the 70% of the world covered in salt water.

To check out the full list of updates, follow the link in the show notes!

Do zobaczenia!