POLAND: New bomb shelters and drills & more – 3rd Oct 2024

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 3rd of October twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

Let’s start off with new security measures in the country. On Monday, the 30th, the government announced that they would build bomb shelters throughout Poland in twenty twenty-five. Tomasz Siemoniak, The Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration, said that this week the parliament started to work on the government's proposal to boost civil defense, which included building new bomb shelters. The parliament should approve the proposal within weeks. The decision will provide more security to Poles during a possible war scenario with Russia.

th of October, at: 11:00

On other new measures, on Tuesday, the 1st, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced they would withdraw most of Poland’s diplomatic staff from Beirut, Lebanon’s capital. The military conflict is getting intense in Lebanon as Israel increased their air attacks and also decided to invade the southern part of the country to get rid of Hezbollah.

Only a small group of diplomats remained in Lebanon to assist Poles living in the country, and the ministry advised Poles to leave Lebanon if they did not have urgent business there. Those who want to leave the country can contact the Polish mission in Beirut, and Poland will help them directly since currently there is no plane connection between Lebanon and Poland.

Next, on Wednesday, the 2nd, the parliament approved an additional relief fund for the victims of the flood that hit Poland on the 15th of September. The new regulations include assistance in covering mortgage payments for twelve months for the flood victims.

Also, flood-affected children can claim a one-time 1,000 Zloty, which is around 250 dollars, along with an additional care allowance for parents who need to stay home because of the closure of childcare facilities.

The new fund also takes care of flood-affected entrepreneurs. Business owners can receive 16,000 Zlotys (or 4,000 dollars) per employee who currently have to cover their flood damage expenses. Citizens should apply to the nearest government offices to receive the aid.

On Wednesday, the 2nd Council of Europe decided to lift the immunity of Polish lawmaker Marcin Romanowski, allowing for his potential detention in an ongoing corruption investigation. Romanowski is facing an investigation over allegations that he got personal gains from a public fund when he was deputy justice minister in the government of Law and Justice between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty-three.

Recall that earlier this year, the Polish parliament had lifted Romanowski’s immunity and authorities had detained him. However, the Council of Europe, which focuses on promoting human rights across Europe, warned Polish authorities that Romanowski also had immunity for being a council MP, therefore authorities had to release him. Now, however, with the last decision of the council, Polish authorities can detain Romanowski to proceed the investigation.

In some economic news, the yearly inflation in the country hit rock bottom in March this year with two percent. However it began rising again after that and on Wednesday, the 30th, it hit five percent. The country’s statistics office stated that the rising inflation is the result of the increase in electricity, gas, other fuels, and food prices.

Unfortunately, the inflation and prices will rise more in the upcoming months due to the recent flood that affected crops and the high energy prices on the global market that affect costs of transportation.

In some updates on foreign affairs, on Monday, the 30th, President Andrzej Duda attended former president of the Czech Republic and a communist party member Miloš Zeman’s birthday celebration. Czech journalist Filip Harzer said that communist supporters, pro-Russian politicians, and agents were also present at the birthday party.

Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski criticized the president’s attendance and said he shouldn’t have sat at the same table with those people since he publicly doesn't support Russia. Moreover, Polish radio, the national public radio broadcaster, mentioned that the president did not announce his attendance to Zeman's birthday officially, although he traveled to the celebration by the presidential plane, and the public learned about his trip a couple of days later.

Despite constant support, the relations between Ukraine and Poland have not always been good. The World War II Volhynia Massacre is still a difficult topic between the two countries. During World War II Ukrainian nationalists killed tens of thousands of Polish civilians in the regions of Volhynia, in the western part of Ukraine. The Polish government has been demanding Ukraine reveal the real damage of the massacre and conduct diggings to exhume dead bodies and identify them so that they can have a grave that their families can visit.

After years of demanding it, finally the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance announced that the country will start searching for the victims in twenty twenty-five with the participation of Polish authorities. However, the institution said the effectiveness of the searches may be low, due to Russia's invasion.

On Thursday, the 26th, the Polish media journal Rzeczpospolita said the number of foreign students will decrease in the country, since it has become more difficult for non-EU citizens to apply for visas. In July, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski established that foreign applicants should present an administrative decision from the Polish National Agency for Academic Exchange regarding the recognition of their foreign educational credentials.

Consequently, there has been a considerable amount of visa rejections because the National Agency doesn’t recognise all foreign diplomas. Only in August, the Polish consuls rejected 5,000 of the 13,000 visa applications, and the consuls granted the remaining visas mostly to Ukrainians and Belarusians, leaving other nationals in a more problematic position. The journal said that the most affected nationals for the tightened visa procedures are from Algeria, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Pakistan.

This week, some families and the government criticized the new packaging of alcoholic beverages in shops. Some alcohol brands started selling alcoholic beverages in colorful pouches that resemble organic fruit juice in pouches that are popular among children.

Top leaders such as prime minister Donald Tuskand Parliament speaker Szymon Hołownia, harshly criticized the new products and said that the companies that produce these beverages are trying to increase their profits by attracting children to buy their products.

Tusk promised a swift legal response to remove these products from supermarkets. On Tuesday, the 1st, one of the companies announced that it decided to withdraw their new product from markets, and apologized to parents.

Drugs are also raising concerns, as onn Tuesday, the 1st, authorities from the Central Bureau of Investigation dismantled a methamphetamine lab operating in a backyard garden in Podlasie, eastern Poland, and detained four Mexican nationals. Authorities have determined that they are part of an organized crime group involved in producing and distributing significant amounts of drugs within Poland. The authorities confiscated nearly 120 liters of meth. On the black market, the value of those drugs exceeded two million dollars.

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

But before we sign off, the Rorshok HQ Subscription Monitoring Department has learned that one of you hasn't yet subscribed to this show. FYI, there's been talk of putting this person on podcast probation. Just a heads up.

Do zobaczenia!