POLAND: Russian Influence Commission & more – 22nd Aug 2024

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 22nd of August twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

Let’s start off with political updates. On Friday, the 16th, President Andrzej Duda vetoed a parliament decision to suspend the previous government’s Russian influence commission. Recall that the Law and Justice party established it in April, last year, to find out which Polish politicians supported Russia.

At the end of twenty twenty-three, the commission concluded that Donald Tusk, the current prime minister and opposition leader at that time, was under Russian influence between twenty ten and twenty fourteen. Tusk and other opposition members heavily criticized the commission, saying that Law and Justice established it to eliminate opposition before the twenty twenty-three parliamentary election. When Tusk and his allies won the twenty twenty-three election, the new parliament dismissed all the members of the commission.

Last week, the parliament decided to abolish the commission altogether, although it was not operating anyway since its members were dismissed. However, Duda vetoed this decision. Now it is up to the parliament whether to appoint new members.

Still, the new parliament established another Russian influence commission after it abolished the existing one right after the twenty twenty-three election. President Duda criticized this new commission and said it does not conduct its investigations based on the objective truth.

In another conflict between the president and the prime minister, Poland wants to nominate a candidate for the NATO Deputy Secretary General position. However, the two top Polish leaders were not able to agree on one candidate. Donald Tusk supports Adam Bugajski, a security director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the president wants Tomasz Szatkowski, Poland’s former NATO representative. Still, these two different politicians can individually apply to run in NATO’s election.

However, sometimes the PM and the President agree on certain matters. Tursk nominated Piotr Serafin, the current representative of Poland in the EU, as the candidate for the EU Commissioner position, and Duda approved the decision. Serafin will represent Poland in the European Commission, the executive branch of the EU. Tusk said that the Commission will likely offer Serafin the budget commissioner position.

More about Duda since he signed another bill to allow soldiers and police to freely use their weapons in cases of threats to the state and individuals without higher authorities investigating those cases afterward. People found the new law similar to that of the USA, where the police are free to use their weapons regardless of the crime they are dealing with.

Let’s move on to education. On Saturday, the 17th, The Association of Secular Catechists asked President Duda to appeal to the Constitutional Tribunal about the government's latest decision on religious classes. This week, the Ministry of Education decided that religious classes will have students of different ages. Currently, there is less demand from students to attend religious classes. So when schools organize religious classes for same-year students, there are very few in one class. With the latest decision, the schools will organize fewer religious classes with more students in them.

The Association of Secular Catechists said that according to the law, the government had to talk about this plan with the Church before making a decision. Religious people were also concerned that the government would make further decisions without consulting with the Church, with new measures that could harm religion. Religious teachers also expressed their concerns because now schools will need fewer religious teachers as they will organize fewer classes.

Speaking of education, on Thursday, the 15th, Władysław Kosiniak, the leader of the coalition partner the Polish People's Party, or PSL, said that Poland should implement patriotic education by including, for instance, more Polish history and historical figures in the curriculum so that Polish youth will be proud of their ancestors and work harder for a greater Poland. He said that he would hold meetings with other coalition partners to convince them.

On environmental updates, on Monday, the 19th, the Environment Ministry announced that they kicked off a battle to prevent an environmental disaster in the Oder River due to the spread of golden algae. The saline water from mining activities increases the amount of golden algae, which pollutes water. In the summer of twenty twenty-two, the amount of golden algae in the river killed tons of fish, causing more pollution and a bad smell. The issue arose again this year; however, this time the Environment Ministry decided to take precautions and released hydrogen peroxide into the water, which reduces the algae population by up to ninety percent. Still, this is only a temporary solution. The government should build desalination plants to address the problem more sustainably but that costs 400 million dollars, and it makes the executive think twice before making such a decision.

While the Environment Ministry was taking precautions for the Oder river, another incident happened in Lake Dzierzgoń near Gdansk, a city on the Baltic coast of Poland. On Wednesday, the 21st, people reported pounds of dead fish floating in the lake. Authorities found out that over 1,000 pounds of fish died in total due to low oxygen in the lake. Experts continue working to find out the reason for the low oxygen levels.

On Monday, the 19th, and Tuesday, the 20th, Warsaw and the eastern part of the country faced heavy storms and rains. Only in Warsaw, people called firefighters and other rescuers 2,900 times for help. Firefighters were pumping water out of streets, buildings, and basements. Authorities also warned people not to drive in heavy storms.

Let’s get back to political life for a minute. On Wednesday, the 21st, Bartlomiej Ciazynski, the deputy justice minister, resigned after social media users found out that he spent public money on his holiday trip to Slovenia. Ciazynski used a state car from the Polish Center for Technology Development, a state institution where Ciazynski worked before becoming a deputy minister. He also filled up the tank with the institution’s credit card. After learning about the incident, Prime Minister Tusk tweeted that mistakes happen, but they have to be paid for, and that Ciazynski had to resign. After Tusk’s tweets, the deputy justice minister announced his resignation on social media.

In unrelated news. on Wednesday, the 21st, authorities warned about cybercriminals who use deep-fake videos of celebrities to fraud people. Earlier this year, cybercriminals started to use deep-fake videos of politicians such as the president and the prime minister on social media. Now they also use celebrities. The fake videos generally encourage people to invest in some imaginary companies, with the money sent going to scammers. Authorities said that people who fall victim to these scams should report it to the nearest police station. Also, anyone who sees these scam videos can report them to the Computer Emergency Response Team, or CERT, an authorized team that monitors the security of Polish networks. To visit CERT’s website, follow the link in the show notes!

And to wrap up this edition, on Wednesday, the 21st, a report by Polityka journal revealed that beer consumption among Poles is decreasing. This year, Poles drank 35 million hectoliters of beer and 62 million hectoliters of non-alcoholic beers, which is 2.2 million hectoliters less compared to twenty twenty-three. Dr. Paweł Wójcik from the University of Warsaw stated that the decline is due to Polish people having more knowledge about the harms of alcohol. Moreover, young people are much more conscious of alcohol consumption, and they more actively choose to exercise and lead a healthy lifestyle. However, the decrease in beer consumption has not influenced the overall market value of alcohol because the cost and price of alcoholic beverages have been rising every year.

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

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