POLAND: Embassy in North Korea & more – 21st Nov 2024

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 21st of November twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

Let’s kick off this edition with foreign affairs. On Friday, the 15th, Poland became the second Western country after Sweden to reopen an embassy in North Korea after the COVID-19 pandemic. Poland closed the embassy in twenty twenty after the North Korean government announced a complete closure of the state border due to the pandemic.

This week, a Polish diplomatic mission visited North Korea, where the country’s authorities allowed the reopening of the embassy. The reopening is an attempt to establish permanent diplomatic relations and create communication channels between Poland and North Korea, which doesn’t get along with the Western world and often threatens it with nuclear attacks. Poland wants to strengthen its role in global politics as a country that has active diplomatic relations with countries beyond Europe.

Poland also improved its relations with Middle Eastern and African countries in recent years. On Tuesday, the 19th, President Andrzej Duda visited Jordan, a neighbor of Israel, to discuss the latest developments in the region. Duda spoke with King Abdullah II, the king of Jordan. The discussions focused on tensions in the Middle East, including the safety of Polish nationals in the region, especially in war-torn Lebanon. During the visit, there was also a demonstration of military cooperation between Jordan and Poland, including joint operations with Poland's GROM special forces.

In some news from within the country, on Thursday, the 14th, a group of military aides from Trump's administration visited Poland and met with President Duda, and Rafał Trzaskowski, the Warsaw Mayor. Neither side gave any details about the meeting, but the Polish President’s Office said the discussions with the American delegation were of a sensitive nature.

Meanwhile, the American delegation’s meeting with Trzaskowski might have meant that the Trump administration believed that Trzaskowski would be the next president of Poland, as he ranks first in most of the polls. The Polish presidential election will take place in May, twenty twenty-five.

Switching to internal affairs, On Friday, the 15th, the prosecutor's office started an investigation of the visas issued to thousands of Belarusian IT specialists and their families who arrived in Poland via the Poland Business Harbour program. In twenty twenty, the Law and Justice government established the program after the widespread anti-government demonstrations in Belarus to enable highly skilled Belarusian citizens to escape from the country. The prosecutor's office said the program gave Polish visas to 93,000 individuals, but it suspects that some may not be IT specialists or highly skilled workers in the IT sector.

The prosecutor will also examine visas issued through this program to other nationals, such as those from India, Iran, Japan, Azerbaijan, and South Korea. It is not clear yet what will happen to people who have illegally obtained Polish visas.

On another investigation, on Thursday, the 14th, the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, or CBA, detained Jacek Sutryk, the mayor of Wrocław, in western Poland, for obtaining a university diploma without attending any courses. The CBA said that Sutryk paid around 60,000 dollars to the Collegium Humanum University for the diploma.

So far, the authorities have detained fifty-five people in relation to the investigation, including the university’s former rector, who arranged the selling of diplomas at the university. Sytryk was released on bail set at 50,000 dollars under police supervision. He is not allowed to communicate with others involved in the case. Also, a court might strip him of his mayor position. Sutryk denied all of the allegations.

Two weeks ago, we reported that more than 10,000 police officers throughout the country took sick leave to demand higher wages and better conditions. On Tuesday, the 19th, the National Police Headquarters dismissed three regional commanders: one in Kielce city, in central-southern Poland, another one in Kraków in the south, and the other in Rzeszów in the south East. Even though the police headquarters did not reveal the reason, the media says it’s related to the recent protests among police officers.

Tomasz Siemoniak, the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration, warned protesting officers to carefully consider their actions and prioritize their duty over the civilian right to protest.

In some updates on the defense sector, on Monday, the 18th, Poland and NATO activated their air force and air defense systems at Poland’s eastern border due to the Russian attack on the west of Ukraine.

Speaking of Ukraine, on Monday, the 18th, Duda congratulated Joe Biden, the American President, for allowing Ukraine to use American-provided missiles on Russian territory. He said the decision was necessary and might change the invasion's course. He also asked Western allies to supply advanced defense systems to Ukraine.

More about Ukraine as on Wednesday, the 20th, Prime Minister Donald Tusk had a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to speak about the future of Poland’s help for Ukraine. Tusk gave him details about his country’s 45th support package to Ukraine. He also stated that Poland would stimulate Ukraine’s EU integration since Poland will take the presidential position in the EU Council next year. Zelensky thanked the prime minister and the Polish people for their support.

Also on Wednesday, the Ministry of Justice announced that the number of people in prison is decreasing, and this trend will continue. The ministry said it is introducing strategies to reduce prison overpopulation, including increased use of electronic monitoring and advocating for early conditional releases.

Currently, there are approximately 70,000 inmates in Poland. Compared to last year, the number dropped by 5,000. The decrease is not only due to the ministry’s strategies for early releases but also because there are fewer crimes. However, some people on social media criticized the decision and said the announcement may motivate potential criminals to commit new crimes.

In addition to the teacher shortage and aging issue in the education system we discussed in previous episodes, Poland also has problems in the healthcare system. On Tuesday, the 19th, nurses and midwives protested in front of the Prime Minister's Office, demanding higher wages based on qualifications, better working conditions, and a solution to the growing staff shortage in healthcare.

Every year the number of nurses declines, and the current staff has to work twice as hard for the same wage. According to data from the Institute of Public Health at Jagiellonian University, seventy-two percent of Polish hospitals are facing a shortage of nurses, and the average age of a nurse in Poland is over fifty-four years old.

Some participants of the protest wanted to enter the Prime Minister’s Office to ask Prime Minister Tusk how the government would resolve the issues but the police did not allow them to go in.

Still on health news, on Monday, the 18th, Poland's Chief Sanitary Inspector said that they had detected the polio virus in the sewage system in Warsaw for the first time in forty years. The polio virus can cause an illness called poliomyelitis, which attacks the nervous system, particularly the spinal cord, causing muscle weakness or paralysis.

The inspector said the situation was serious and asked people to get vaccinated, especially children. The inspector added that eighty-eight percent of Poles have their polio vaccination shots, but the rate has to be ninety-five percent to achieve herd immunity. Polio is primarily transmitted through contaminated water, food, or contact with infected individuals.

And to close this edition, on Wednesday, the 20th, the government announced it would create a special fund of 250 million dollars for the development of artificial intelligence. The Digital Affairs Ministry said that small and medium-sized enterprises and startups can benefit from the fund to develop their new innovative AI techs. The ministry also announced it would build an AI factory in the country, and this process has already begun. With these moves, the ministry emphasized the government's commitment to making Poland a global hub for AI innovation.

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

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