POLAND: Judiciary Reforms & more – 13th Nov 2025

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 13th of November twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

Let’s start this episode with internal affairs. On Friday, the 7th, Stefan Krajewski, the Agriculture Minister, said the government sent two reports to the prosecutor’s office over the suspicious handling of the sale of a 160-hectare plot in Zabłotni village in central Poland, right on the path of a planned high-speed rail route to the Central Communication Port.

The first report targets Rafał Romanowski, a former deputy minister, accusing him of interfering with the National Agricultural Support Center or KOWR, and trying to control how they handled the land sale. The second report goes after former KOWR leaders who blocked the land transfer to the Central Communication Port.

The case also involves a twenty twenty-three transfer of seventy-five million złoty, around sixteen million dollars, to an investment fund, which the previous Law and Justice government planned to keep funding for three more years, but the new Civic coalition government stopped the payments due to potential mismanagement.

In another report, on Wednesday, the 12th, the European Commission shared its new EU migration solidarity plan, which allows EU countries to get financial support or a one-year break from migrant relocation and other obligations, such as contributing financially, or sending personnel to help other countries.

They said Poland can apply for a one-year break from relocation and other obligations, and await the EU members’ green light. If approved, the Commission will have to check the situation after the break is over using the latest data on arrivals, asylum requests, and other factors.

The plan is part of the bigger Migration Pact, starting in June twenty twenty-six, designed to share responsibility more fairly among EU countries, especially border states. Poland ended up in two groups: one for countries at risk of migration pressure, which can get support, and another for countries in a tough migration spot, eligible for partial or full exemptions from payments.

Switching gears to new laws, on Thursday, the 6th, the Justice Ministry proposed reforming the National Council of the Judiciary, allowing all judges to vote for council members and putting the National Electoral Commission in charge of running the elections. The goal is to make the council more representative of all courts and fully comply with the constitution.

Under the new plan, district courts get six seats, regional courts three, courts of appeal two, and the Supreme Court, military courts, the Supreme Administrative Court, and provincial administrative courts get one seat each.

Judges or professional bodies, like the Supreme Bar Council, can nominate candidates who have at least ten years of judicial experience, including five years at their current court.

Also on Thursday, the 6th, the Czech train company RegioJet accused PKP Intercity, a state-owned Polish railway company, and other PKP-related firms of unfair treatment in Poland.

RegioJet said its trains between Kraków, in southern Poland, and Warsaw take up to nine minutes longer than PKP Intercity trains, because they have to follow PKP Intercity’s slower tracks and schedules, and one pair of trains has to detour through Zawiercie, southern Poland.

The company also said PKP blocked it from buying advertising space at stations, giving incomplete passenger information online, and even threatened its employees against working with RegioJet. They will complain to the Polish Transport Authority and also contact the European Commission.

PKP Intercity replied that it runs its business transparently and legally and will not comment while authorities investigate.

Following that, on Friday the 7th, Orlen, a Polish energy company, and Ukraine’s state-owned Naftogaz, signed a deal on gas deliveries for twenty twenty-six.

Orlen will send over 300 million cubic metres of US liquefied natural gas through Polish pipelines starting in the first few months of the year.

The deal builds on earlier shipments of 600 million cubic meters, about ten billion cubic feet, helping boost energy security in the region and support Ukraine during the ongoing conflict with Russia.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the 12th, Kraków’s city authorities picked six companies, including DOHWA Engineering, ILF Consulting Engineers, and PwC Advisory, to work on a metro project. The companies will advise on feasibility studies, environmental approvals, construction permits, and other key documents.

Kraków plans to open its first metro line in about ten years and eventually build two lines totaling around twenty-nine km, about eighteen miles, running from Nowa Huta in the east to Opatkowice and Kurdwanów in the south of Kraków.

The city expects the project to cost up to fifteen billion zloty, around four billion dollars, funding it with money from the city budget, EU funds, and private investors.

On Wednesday, the 12th, Ryanair kicked in a new rule requiring all passengers, including those flying from Poland, to use a digital boarding pass from the myRyanair app when checking in, as printing paper passes is no longer available.

The airline says the change is meant to make flying quicker and greener. The app also lets passengers check flight info, get real-time updates, and find other flight options. Ryanair says around eighty percent of its passengers already use digital passes.

If a phone gets lost or the battery runs out, airport staff will provide a free boarding pass.

In Poland, Ryanair flies from thirteen airports and has six bases with forty-four planes.

On Tuesday, the 11th, Poland celebrated National Independence Day, a public holiday marking the country's regaining independence in nineteen eighteen after 123 years of partitions. In Warsaw, tens of thousands joined the Independence March, including President Karol Nawrocki, waving Polish flags. There was a strong military presence in case of any incidents, but the event remained peaceful.

Later, Rafał Trzaskowski, the Mayor of Warsaw, hosted the Shared Independence concert in the city.

People joined patriotic events all over the country and also celebrated the Polish language, including contests testing the participants’ knowledge of it. Speakers, from politicians to activists, highlighted the importance of unity despite differing opinions and paid tribute to those who fought for Poland’s freedom.

On Saturday, the 8th, Łukasz Najder, Polish writer, essayist, satirist, published an essay in Political Criticism, a Polish cultural and political online platform, about the struggles of progressive groups in Poland.

He said they’re pretty small in numbers and everyone expects them to show up at schools, churches, protests, workplaces, and pop culture events while also trying to have political influence.

According to the author, in reality, they get very little done, fight among themselves, depend on outside money, and focus more on politics than everyday struggles of people.

On Wednesday, the 12th, the first Podkarpackie Science and Innovation Festival kicked off in Jasionka, a village in southeastern Poland. Around 5,000 people will be taking part, mostly high school students from the region.

There are over fifty exhibitors from all over Poland, representing the IT, aviation, and automotive industries, and more than 100 speakers, including scientists, athletes, and artists. The event aims to inspire young people to grow and help them find out their future career paths.

On Saturday, the 15th, it’ll wrap up with XChallenge twenty twenty-five, Poland’s biggest mobile robot competition, bringing together top engineers from Poland and across Europe.

Next up, on Wednesday, the 12th, Marta Cięnkowska, the Culture Minister, announced that the Ministry of Culture has planned thirty programs for twenty twenty-six with a record budget of over 560 million złoty, around 110 million dollars, up from last year’s 530 million złoty, about 145 million dollars.

The biggest change is for the Cultural Centers Infrastructure program, which nearly doubles from twenty-two million zloty, more than six million dollars, to forty million zloty, about ten million dollars, and includes a new priority called Świetlik, a new program turning rural community spaces into multimedia rooms with virtual reality headsets, 3D printers, and tech to give young people modern skills.

Maciej Wróbel, the Deputy Minister, said that under Świetlik, cultural centers, libraries, and local authorities can apply for funds to renovate rural spaces.

Closing this edition with more cultural news, on Sunday, the 9th, famous American actor, producer, and director Robert De Niro visited Poland to check out the Nobu Cultural District in Kraków, his new project that combines a luxury hotel and restaurant with a cultural and educational center.

The new place will have a theatre, concert hall, cinema, jazz club, student innovation hub, recording studios, coworking spaces, a library, and reading rooms, plus cafes, shops, bakeries, and restaurants.

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

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