POLAND: Ziobro Requests Political Asylum & more – 15th Jan 2026

Witam from BA! This is the Rorshok Poland Update from the 15th of January twenty twenty-six. A quick summary of what's going down in Poland.

On Monday, the 12th, Hungary granted political asylum to Zbigniew Ziobro, the former Polish Justice Minister, who’s facing twenty-six criminal charges in Poland over the misuse of the Justice Fund.

Péter Szijjártó, the Hungarian Foreign Minister, said the move protects people facing political persecution and criticized the state of democracy and the rule of law in Poland. Ziobro has also asked for international protection for his wife.

Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister, mocked Ziobro, saying it made sense for him to seek asylum considering his involvement in government corruption.

Hungary has a track record of giving asylum to high-ranking officials facing criminal probes, sparking concerns about abuse of the system.

Also on Monday, Russian officials summoned Krzysztof Krajewski, Poland’s ambassador to Russia, to protest the arrest of a Russian archaeologist by Polish authorities.

In December twenty twenty-five, police detained Aleksander Butyagin at Ukraine’s request, accusing him of taking part in illegal digs in occupied Crimea.

Russia called the allegations politically motivated and baseless and demanded his immediate release.

Polish officials say they are handling the case under existing legal procedures.

A court in Warsaw decided to keep Butyagin in custody until the 4th of March, and judges will rule on his possible extradition to Ukraine on the 15th of January.

Speaking of Ukraine, on Monday, the 12th, Marcin Bosacki, Poland’s deputy foreign minister, visited Kyiv and met Ukrainian officials to discuss the security situation, cooperation with allies, and closer defence and industrial collaboration. They also discussed Ukraine’s possible entry into the SAFE program to boost defence cooperation with the EU and partner countries, and plans for a Ukraine reconstruction conference in Poland this June.

Bosacki brought representatives of Polish state-owned companies and development institutions, who met Ukrainian ministers to discuss the role of Polish businesses in post-war rebuilding and ways to turn defence industry cooperation into concrete projects.

The visit concluded with Bosacki and Oleksandr Mishchenko, the Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister, laying flowers at the Wall of Remembrance to honor the people who died defending Ukraine’s independence.

In more foreign affairs, on Tuesday, the 13th, President Nawrocki met Keir Starmer, the UK Prime Minister, in London. They discussed security, the economy, defense projects, the British troops stationed in Poland, and London’s support after last year’s drone attacks on the border.

They also talked about Poland’s role in the G-20, a group of major world economies, trade rules to help Polish small businesses in the UK, and issues important to the Polish community, including Polish-language classes in schools.

On the domestic front on Friday, the 9th, the Sejm wrapped up work on the twenty twenty-six budget and sent it to President Karol Nawrocki, who has seven days to either sign it or send it to the Constitutional Tribunal for a legal check.

The budget plans about 900 billion złoty, around 250 billion dollars in spending, focusing on defense, health care, and infrastructure, and also shifts some money to libraries, cybersecurity, among other projects.

Switching gears to healthcare, on Thursday, the 8th, the Health Ministry said that more maternity wards are closing due to fewer births. In twenty twenty-four, hospitals removed around 580 maternity beds and around 360 neonatal beds. Birth rates are falling steadily, with just 115,500 babies born in the first half of twenty twenty-five. Leżajsk hospital in southeastern Poland closed its ward at the end of twenty twenty-five, sending women to nearby hospitals.

The ministry plans to create emergency birth points in hospitals that only have an ER or intake units, with a midwife on hand for urgent cases. Women’s organizations have criticized the plan, warning that hospitals without full maternity wards may not offer enough medical support for complicated deliveries.

Bernadeta Skóbel from the Polish Association of Counties said most closures are due to low birth rates, not funding, and hospitals will keep maternity wards open if there’s a genuine need.

Over to the latest on environment, on Thursday, the 8th, Urszula Zielińska, the Deputy Climate Minister, announced that the EU has set aside over eleven billion złoty, about three billion dollars, for climate programs, and Poland is launching a new 210 million złoty, more than fifty million dollars, grant round to help cities in Eastern Poland adapt to climate change.

The funding supports infrastructure projects that help cities withstand climate risks like extreme weather, which hit a quarter of Europe in twenty twenty-five and caused major economic losses.

Zielińska added that 209 small and medium-sized cities should create modern climate adaptation plans, and that a special ministry team will help them implement them on the ground.

The grants don’t need to be repaid and can cover up to eighty-five percent of project costs. Local governments in Eastern Poland can apply until mid-March.

Since we’re talking about climate, on Wednesday the 14th, the Provincial Administrative Court invalidated some parts of the Clean Transport Zone rules that decide which cars can drive in the city, which have to pay, and which get in for free to keep the air cleaner in Kraków, southern Poland.

The court canceled the rule that considered people residents only if they were officially registered in Kraków, as well as the rule giving fee exemptions only to patients of public medical facilities, calling both unfair.

Currently, only Kraków and Warsaw have these clean transport zones, with Katowice, in southern Poland, starting to work on one.

Environmental scientists say that the Clean Transport Zone could cut nitrogen dioxide emissions in Kraków by about a third, giving residents much cleaner air in the years ahead.

Meanwhile, on Monday, the 12th, Barbara Nowacka, the Education Minister, spoke about a controversy at Kielno’s primary school, where a teacher removed from the wall what she said was not a cross used as a Christian religious symbol but a Halloween costume accessory that students had hung above a hamster cage.

The incident happened in mid-December during an English lesson and quickly sparked protests, political attacks, and media coverage. Parents, politicians, and activists gathered outside the school, while the local prosecutor opened an investigation into possible offense to religious feelings. The teacher, now suspended, said that she respects religious symbols and that the removed item wasn’t one.

Nowacka criticized politicians and the Church for turning the situation into a public attack instead of letting the school explain what actually happened.

Still on education, Przemysław Batorski, a literary scholar and editor, wrote an essay in Polish for Klub Jagielloński, an online platform for debates on Poland’s political and social issues, about how students are becoming way too dependent on digital devices at school.

He criticized giving out laptops and tablets everywhere, saying it might look impressive but mostly benefits big technological companies, not the students or teachers who actually use them.

Batorski warned that too much screen time can hurt learning, mental health, and social skills. He suggested schools focus on smarter solutions like limiting phones in class, getting kids to read real books, and doing more interactive exercises.

On cultural update, on Sunday, the 11th, Poland held the thirty-third Polityka Passport Awards, back on public TV after a ten-year break when the Law and Justice government had limited its broadcast because the progressive Polityka magazine often criticized it. The event celebrated the country’s top talent in literature, music, film, and the arts.

Marta Cienkowska, the Culture Minister, handed out the awards. Tomasz Lipiński, a famous Polish rock musician, received the special Culture Creator prize, while Stanisław Łubieński, a Polish writer, cultural expert and journalist, won in the literature category.

Wrapping up, on Wednesday, the 14th, a film about the extraordinary life of Czesław Bojarski, a Polish engineer who became France’s most famous banknote forger, hit cinemas across France, with a Polish release on streaming platforms in mid-May. Bojarski was born in Łańcut, a small town in southeastern Poland, and moved to France after WWII.

In the sixties he worked entirely alone and produced counterfeit banknotes so precise they were nearly impossible to detect. Over twelve years, he forged around 300 million old French francs, earning the nickname the Cézanne of Counterfeiters.

Polish distributors will release the film under the title The Forger of the Century.

Check out the trailer of the movie with the link in the show notes.

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

Quick question, is there a specific monopoly in Poland you think is a big problem? Let us know at info@rorshok.com

Do zobaczenia!