Poland Update – New Law & more – 30th May 2023

th of May: 2023

Let’s start with the domestic debates,

The tension between the ruling party and opposition peaked this week in parliament,

On Friday, the 26th, the Sejm, the Polish parliament, accepted a proposal to establish a committee to monitor Russian influence on politicians. The committee will have the right to deprive someone from taking a position.. It will be able to cancel the administrative decisions taken under Russian influence, and it can ban a person from taking a position involving the management of public funds for ten years. The president approved the proposal on Monday the 29th.

fice as prime minister before: 2015

More on the same news, on Monday, the 29th, President Andrzej Duda asked Mateusz Morawiecki, the prime minister, to present this law to the European Union as well. After approving the proposal, the president wanted the EU to set up a similar commission to monitor Russian influence at the European level. He said that Russia is very successful at manipulation, especially in electoral processes.

Not only was there a nation-wide reaction, but also an international one...

On Tuesday, the 30th, the European Commission and the US Department of State expressed their concern over the accepted proposal. The US Department of State said that the new law may be an impediment to free elections and the opposition in the country. Also, the European Commission reacted more harshly to the new law. The commission said it was impossible to accept it.

Speaking of the opposition,

lections. So far, only Poland: 2050

More on the opposition,

On the same day, reporters stated that the opposition parties are pressuring Mariusz Błaszczak, the minister of defense, to resign. Błaszczak did not attend the meeting of the parliamentary national defense committee, in which the representatives of the opposition parties also attend, as the opposition parties wanted to propose his resignation to the parliament.

issile hitting Poland in late: 2022

On the same news, Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the ruling party, said that the pressure from the opposition on Błaszczak serves the interests of Russia. He said that most of the opposition knows they are helping Russia. He said the defense minister contributed drastically to the defense capacity of Poland through his recent efforts.

On Wednesday, the 24th, Poles assessed which election promises they found best for themselves. United Surveys conducted a poll in which it appeared that promises that politicians are discussing heatedly are not interesting to voters. Participants found the introduction of a pension for widows, which the opposition proposed, the most relevant. In the second place, there was the introduction of free medicine for children, which the ruling party proposed.

On Thursday, the 25th, reporters stated that the tension between the government and truck drivers in the country is increasing. The Ministry of Infrastructure announced a new regulation on highways in which it prohibited trucks overtaking each other. According to truck drivers, the regulation means that they won’t even be allowed to overtake a truck that is moving very slowly because of a breakdown. They expect this will lead to traffic jams on highways. Previously, truck drivers protested against the government for not regulating Russian and Belarusian transportation firms.

Let’s also look at what is new in foreign affairs…

On Friday, the 26th, Poland announced that it would intensify sanctions against Belarus amid the sentencing of Andrzej Poczobut, an activist in Belarus detained politically, to eight years in prison. Previously, Poland had already reacted harshly against Belarus over the case. Yet, Poland will impose more sanctions on Belarus.

Another topic of tension came up on the agenda between Poland and Belarus…

On the same day, Stanisław Żaryn, a senior Polish security official, stated that in recent days illegal migrants have been increasingly trying to enter Poland via the Belarusian border. He stated that groups of illegal migrants attacked Polish border security on several occasions. He said that these groups act under the surveillance of Belarusian and Russian services. He said that the aim is to weaken NATO's security. Poland detained over 300 individuals this year that were helping people from intelligence services to cross the Polish border.

Speaking of the Polish border,

are negotiating to renew the: 1999

More about Ukraine,

On the same day, in Brussels, Polish farmers protested against the influx of Ukrainian grain into Poland. The farmers wanted to present their demand to the EU to take effective measures in the capital of Belgium, where the European Union’s Commissioner for Agriculture is located. One protester carried a banner on which she wrote "Ukrainian grain belongs to Africa". Although the EU and Poland promised to support Polish farmers amid the influx of cheap Ukrainian grain, problems continue to exist in the Polish market for agricultural products.

When we come to our last update on foreign affairs,

On Monday, the 29th, Andrej Duda congratulated the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his victory in the elections. Duda underlined the importance of Polish-Turkish relations, especially for NATO and the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Friendship between Poland and Turkey.

In unrelated news,

th, the authorities evacuated: 2500

Aaaaaand that's it for this week! You may not know it but we do updates for some other countries too. If you know anybody who might be interested, let them know. Ready? Here they are, West to East: Argentina, Venezuela, Spain, Nigeria, Serbia, Turkey, Malawi, Ethiopia, Georgia, Japan. Think of anybody?

Do zobaczenia!