POLAND: Top Priority: Security & more – 12th Dec 2024

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 12th of December twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

Let’s kick off this edition with security matters. On Thursday, the 5th, Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister, announced the EU’s agenda for the first half of twenty twenty-five since Poland will take over the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first half of the year.

Under Poland’s presidency, Tusk said the EU’s number one priority will be security. He wants the EU to increase its military spending because he is concerned that Russia alone spends more than all of the EU countries combined. He will also try to convince European leaders to rely less on the US for military equipment and build a more independent position.

Moreover, he will work to empower the EU’s external borders so that fewer illegal immigrants will enter the EU.

On Tuesday, the 10th, Tusk, as the head of the Council of the EU for twenty twenty-five, announced that he would conduct several meetings with various countries to discuss how to bring peace to Ukraine. He said that he would speak with Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, and other European leaders such as the German chancellor and the Norwegian prime minister, as they are key figures in the EU and NATO.

Tusk also added that Emmanuel Macron, the French President, would inform him about his recent meeting on Wednesday the 4th in Paris with US President-elect Donald Trump and Ukraine's Zelensky, where they discussed how to end the war between Ukraine and Russia. However, no details of this meeting have been revealed.

After Donald Trump takes the presidency of the US in February, Tusk expects the talks about peace in Ukraine to speed up and result in a ceasefire in the first half of twenty twenty-five.

But Ukraine is not the only country Russia has a beef with. On Thursday, the 5th, Russia closed the Polish embassy in St. Petersburg, in the northwest, in response to Poland shutting down the Russian consulate in Poznań, in western Poland. Moreover, Russia will also expel three Polish diplomats from their country.

Radosław Sikorski, the Polish Foreign Minister, said Russia had no right to do that because Poland's closure of the Russian consulate was a response to Moscow's acts of sabotage in Poland and other countries.

In late October, Polish authorities found Russia responsible for arson incidents this year.

Days later, Sikorski walked out of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe meeting in Malta during the speech of Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, protesting Russia's decision to close the Polish embassy.

In more news from the Polish Foreign Ministry, on Tuesday, the 10th, it announced that this week, Russia had destroyed three burial sites of Polish soldiers who died in Soviet labor camps during WWII. Recall that Soviet Russia had sent many individuals from various nationalities to labor camps in northwestern Russia during and after World War II, and at least 600 Poles died in those camps. Modern Russia had good relations with Poland when the Soviet Union collapsed, and decided to build memorial sites.

Meanwhile, on Friday, the 6th, Andrzej Szejna, the Deputy Foreign Minister, announced that Poland would detain Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, if he entered Poland because the International Criminal Court, or ICC, found him guilty of his country’s killings in Gaza.

Poland, like other 124 countries, is part of the Rome Statute, which initially formed the ICC, and therefore is obliged to obey the court's decision to detain the PM. Szejna added that the immunity and inviolability of a state leader, typically recognized in bilateral relations, do not apply due to the ICC’s decision to detain Netanyahu and charge him.

Similarly, the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, for invading Ukraine. Moreover, Poland also urged other countries to abide by the ICC's decision and detain Putin if he visits them.

On another note, on Monday, the 9th, the Polish police union decided to prolong the demonstrations that they had started over low wages and encourage more police officers to participate. Last month, 10,000 police officers took sick leave at the same time to demand higher wages and better working conditions. However, at that time, the police union said that the government did not want to negotiate or take immediate action on these issues.

Currently, more police officers around the country are joining the protests. Tomasz Siemoniak, the interior minister, said that the government was working on securing funds to cover housing-related costs for the police, but this wasn’t what the police were asking for.

Next up, new laws. On Tuesday, the 10th, the government announced it would abolish the controversial institution Central Anti-Corruption Bureau, or CBA. The CBA is a specialized government agency responsible for combating corruption and financial crimes. The executive said the Bureau has always been the toy of past governments, especially of the previous Law and Justice administration, to undermine opposition parties. For example, Law and Justice faced accusations of using advanced spyware like Pegasus against political opponents, judges, and activists through the CBA.

The Police, the Internal Security Agency, and the National Revenue Administration would take over the tasks of the CBA. However, abolishing the CBA will require President Andrzej Duda’s approval, and he may not sign the bill if he thinks it’s politically motivated.

On Friday, the 6th, the parliament lifted the immunity of Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the main opposition, the Law and Justice party, over assault accusations. The majority of the ruling coalition supported the lifting of the immunity of Kaczyński.

Recall that on the 8th of October, Kaczyński physically attacked Zbigniew Komosa, an activist, during a meeting because Komosa used a loudspeaker and criticized his policies and actions as the main opposition leader. Kaczyński will now face trial.

Next up, internal affairs. On Thursday, the 5th, Tusk announced that the government would fight against climate activists who were blocking roads. A group called the Last Generation has been blocking Polish highways and spreading paint on historic monuments this year, saying that they were raising awareness about upcoming climate change and demanding the government take action. This made people angry because they faced long traffic in rush hours. Tomasz Siemoniak, the interior minister, said that the climate activists' move was illegal and that authorities would detain them.

Speaking of the environment, on Tuesday, the 10th, thousands of fish died in the Dunajec River in the southern part of the country due to a malfunction at a hydropower plant. The malfunction decreased the oxygen level in the water, suffocating the fish. Locals said that they saw what happened while the workers of the hydropower plant were trying to collect dead fish to hide the incident.

Soon after, Polish Water Authorities reported the case to the prosecutor's office, mentioning the potential violations of water management regulations. Environmentalists have been criticizing the power plant since it opened at the beginning of this year for its potential negative impact on nature.

On sad news, on Thursday, the 5th, Izabela Leszczyna, the health minister, announced a new plan to switch the funding model for mental health institutions from the government paying for individual services to fixed yearly payments to each mental health center. The first tenders to divide funds will take place in early twenty twenty-five. While the new system promises to simplify administrative operations, it has a lot of downsides. For instance, small centers might get less funding than they need. Moreover, if the centers get fixed funds regardless of the services they provide, it might reduce the quality of services.

On the same day, mental health workers and patients gathered in the capital, Warsaw ,to protest the decision. However, Leszczyna said that the new model would be beneficial for everyone and that she didn’t understand the concerns around it.

Ending this edition on a more positive note, on Tuesday, the 10th, The Ministry of Infrastructure announced that the country was preparing to host autonomous vehicles that use artificial intelligence to drive on public roads without requiring human assistance. The government will send a proposal to the parliament to allow autonomous vehicle testing by electric car producers, and after tests on roads, car producers will be able to sell autonomous vehicles in Poland.

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

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