POLAND: EU Fines & more – 6th Feb 2025

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 6th of February twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

Let’s start off with internal affairs. On Monday, the 3rd, Poland’s justice ministry introduced two proposals to determine whether the National Council of the Judiciary, or KRS, appointed 300 judges independently from government’s influence after twenty seventeen. The European Court of Human Rights questioned judges' independence and criticized KRS’s ties to the previous ruling party, Law and Justice.

The proposals offer two options: either review 300 judges’ appointments by twenty twenty-seven or by twenty thirty, but the latter may risk EU criticism and funding issues. The proposals also include classifying 3,200 judges into three groups: the legal status of 1,700 will stay the same, 1,200 will return to previous positions they held before twenty seventeen, and 300 will be reassigned as clerks until their status is decided. These 300 judges may lose their positions but can still appeal to the Supreme Court. Further discussions will occur before a final decision is made.

Speaking of the judicial system, on Wednesday, the 5th, the EU's General Court rejected Poland's objections to 352 million dollars in fines imposed on the country in twenty twenty-one. In July twenty twenty-one, the EU court ordered Poland to suspend the Supreme Court's Disciplinary Chamber because it was under the influence of the then-ruling Law and Justice party, violating EU laws on judicial independence. Poland did not comply and received daily fines of up to one million dollars, totaling 576 million dollars.

In mid-July twenty twenty-two, the EU Commission deducted 352 million dollars of the fines from EU post-pandemic recovery funds for Poland. In twenty twenty-three, the Civic Platform government suspended the chamber to unlock the funds, but the EU court ruled that the EU Commission was right to withhold the money. Poland now has two months to appeal the decision.

On Tuesday, the 4th, Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister, announced that the government would cut the number of ministries after the presidential election as part of a systemic reform to make the government more efficient. The executive will share the details about the new reform after the election, set for the 18th of May.

Also on Tuesday, Tusk announced a monthly housing allowance for uniformed services, including the police, fire service, and Border Guard. Starting from the 1st of July, officers will monthly receive from 900 to 1,800 złoty, which is from 230 to 460 dollars, depending on their location. The government replaced the previous system of smaller and inconsistent housing benefits with the new one to improve financial support for law enforcement and attract new recruits.

Next up, on Friday, the 31st, Adam Bodnar, the Justice Minister, shared details about the investigation into the mismanagement of 340 million zloty, which is about 82 million dollars, within the Government Strategic Reserves Agency or RARS. The Polish prosecution authorities charged eleven people, including the head of the office of former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. She took nearly four million złoty, which is 960,000 dollars, from Red is Bad, the Polish clothing brand, in exchange for favorable treatment, contracts, and decisions that benefited the company. The head of the RARS and three other agency officials also faced charges, with the former awaiting extradition from the UK.

In more legal cases, on Friday, the 31st, the Pegasus parliamentary investigative committee issued a thirty-day arrest warrant for Zbigniew Ziobro, a former Justice Minister, after he refused to appear before the committee for questioning. Recall that the ruling Civic Platform party created the committee in January twenty twenty-four to investigate the unauthorized use of Pegasus spyware by the Law and Justice party during the twenty nineteen parliamentary elections and the twenty twenty presidential elections.

On the same day, Ziobro gave an interview on TV Republika instead of attending the committee session and said that the committee's actions were illegal due to a September twenty twenty-four Constitutional Tribunal ruling on procedural irregularities.

The committee has asked the Attorney General to take disciplinary action against Ziobro.

Another politician is also in a tight spot. On Friday, the 31st, Gazeta Wyborcza, one of Poland's largest independent daily newspapers, reported that 8,000 historical albums worth over 200,000 zloty, which is about 48,000 dollars, went missing during Karol Nawrocki's time as director of the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, in northern Poland.

Nawrocki, now the president of the Institute of National Remembrance or IPN, allegedly ordered Karolina Imianowska, a former employee, to destroy the albums because of their unwanted political or historical content. Imianowska later received a directorial role at the IPN. The investigation is still ongoing and will continue until April.

On Monday, the 3rd, PM Tusk visited Brussels for an informal summit of EU leaders and spoke about US President Trump's recent announcement to impose tariffs from ten to twenty-five percent on various goods from the EU, Mexico, Canada, and China. Trump said that the EU’s trade practices were unfair to the US, saying that the EU limited imports of US cars or farm products with high tariffs, while the US imports large amounts of cars and food from the EU at much lower tariffs.

Tusk called the introduction of customs duties a significant mistake and asked the EU to take a clear, firm, but friendly stance towards the US. He also added that the EU should stay united in the face of threats from Russia and China.

Also on Monday, the British newspaper the Financial Times published an interview with Andrzej Duda, the Polish President, who said that the end of Russia's war against Ukraine could cause cross-border crime in Poland, Western Europe, and the US. Duda explained that soldiers returning home might suffer psychological issues like PTSD and join criminal activities, similar to what happened in the early nineteen nineties, when Afghan war veterans joined criminal gangs after the Soviet Union collapsed.

He also added that Poland would not send its Western troops to Ukraine, given the significant support it has already provided. However, he said that Poland should participate in peace negotiations since it shares interests with Ukraine in resisting Russian imperialism.

On a positive note, on Friday, the 31st, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, a Polish astronaut, said that he would take Poland’s national flag and pierogi (or dumplings), one of the country’s traditional dishes, on his upcoming Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station in April. He added that a Polish company would develop a freeze-drying process for the pierogi. During the pre-flight press conference, he said that his mission was to represent Poland in space and show that space is accessible to everyone.

On Wednesday, the 5th, PM Tusk met with the Axiom-4 crew, which includes astronauts from Poland, Hungary, India, and the US. Tusks said that the mission was an important step for Poland's space exploration and technological development.

Uznański-Wiśniewski announced that he would conduct thirteen Polish experiments related to medicine, biology, biotechnology, and engineering during the mission.

On the downside, on Wednesday, the 5th, a massive fire broke out in Gdańsk, a port city in northern Poland, releasing large amounts of toxic smoke in the air. The fire started at a former train repair plant in the Przeróbka district, where the city maintains and repairs passenger cars, freight wagons, and trams.

The fire affected a CityBike Global facility, storing over 1,300 electric-assisted bikes and 1,000 batteries, contributing to the toxic smoke. Authorities asked residents to stay indoors, close windows, and avoid the fire zone within a one km or 0.6 mile-radius.

Closing with cultural news, on Saturday, the 1st, 100 Viking reenactors from across Europe arrived in Szczecin, a city in northwestern Poland, for a training session ahead of the annual Slav and Viking Festival in August on Wolin Island in the northwest of the country. Participants from Poland, Germany, Britain, Sweden, and Denmark will reenact the Battle of Jomsborg, one of the largest Viking battles in history, to revive Viking warrior culture. The Jomsborg organization, a global community dedicated to reviving Viking warrior culture, expects up to 3,000 participants from thirty-two countries.

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

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