notesfrompoland

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

Poland’s Senate has cancelled a planned visit by the head of the German Bundesrat, Manuela Schwesig, after it caused controversy due to her previous links with Russia and support for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/18/polish-senate-withdraws-invitation-to-head-of-german-bundesrat-after-controversy-over-russia-ties/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

Poland’s parliament has provided childcare for MPs’ children for the first time under an initiative launched by speaker
@szymon_holownia

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/17/polish-parliament-offers-childcare-for-mps-children-for-first-time/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

Justice minister Adam Bodnar claims the constitutional court's order to suspend the government's removal of a top prosecutor is "defective".

He says the judge who issued the order - a former PiS MP - should not have been allowed to rule on the case

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/16/justice-minister-declares-constitutional-court-order-to-suspend-removal-of-top-prosecutor-defective/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

Polish truckers who have been blocking the Ukraine border since November have suspended their protest after signing an agreement with the government.

The blockade has been halted until 1 March while the government seeks to implement the terms of the deal

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/16/truckers-suspend-blockade-of-ukraine-border-after-agreement-with-polish-government/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

Poland’s climate minister has distanced herself from remarks in Brussels by her deputy about more ambitious plans to cut emissions, which were widely reported in international media

They were "not an official position of the government", says the minister

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/16/polish-climate-minister-distances-government-from-deputys-comments-on-more-ambitious-emissions-plans/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

The government has ordered a college founded by Tadeusz Rydzyk, a priest close to the former ruling PiS party, to return an EU-funded state grant.

It did so because admission to the college requires students to provide a letter from their parish priest

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/15/new-polish-government-orders-pis-linked-priests-college-to-return-state-funds/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

"Please stop trying to violate the law," President Andrzej Duda asked PM Donald Tusk at a meeting today amid growing tensions.

Tusk said that his government would continue its efforts to "restore the legal order, whether someone likes it or not"

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/15/please-stop-trying-to-violate-the-law-president-duda-tells-pm-tusk/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

Senior prosecutors appointed under the former government are protesting against the new administration's move to replace the national prosecutor, which they say was done illegally.

One of them has announced a blockade of the national prosecutor's office

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/15/prosecutors-appointed-under-polands-former-government-protest-actions-of-new-administration/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

Poland's former ruling party has held a large anti-government protest in Warsaw.

"We are defending Poland against the return of German imperialism" and a "European plan to liquidate our homeland as a state", declared PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczyński

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/11/former-ruling-pis-party-holds-anti-government-protest-in-warsaw/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

The total value of mortgage applications in Poland rose 421% year-on-year in December to a record high of over 10bn zloty as people rushed to banks ahead of the end of a popular subsidy programme for first-time buyers launched by the previous government

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/11/mortgage-applications-in-poland-hit-record-high-in-december-as-subsidy-system-comes-to-an-end/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

A group of 101 NGOs and 550 public figures have called on new PM Donald Tusk to end the previous government’s practice of sending back migrants who irregularly cross the border from Belarus.

They call such “pushbacks” a “gross violation of human rights”

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/11/hundreds-of-ngos-and-public-figures-call-on-tusk-to-stop-migrant-pushbacks-at-belarus-border/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

One of the convicted former PiS government ministers detained yesterday at the presidential palace and taken to jail has announced a hunger strike, declaring himself to be a “political prisoner”

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/10/jailed-former-polish-government-minister-announces-hunger-strike/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

A chamber of the Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a convicted MP against the loss of his parliamentary mandate.

Another chamber of the same court last week made the opposite ruling on the same case, but today's ruling declared that chamber unlawful

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/10/supreme-court-chamber-confirms-expiry-of-convicted-mps-mandate-contradicting-other-chamber/

notesfrompoland, 4 months ago to random

A court has rejected last month’s decision by the new Polish government to change the management of state broadcaster TVP.

It did not accept the legal basis used by the culture minister to justify the move

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/10/court-rejects-polish-governments-changes-to-state-tv-management/

notesfrompoland, 5 months ago to random

Poland's new government has announced the suspension of planned logging in some of the country's "most valuable forests"

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/09/new-polish-government-announces-halt-to-logging-in-most-valuable-forests/

notesfrompoland, 5 months ago to random

A court has issued warrants to police ordering the detention of two MPs who served as ministers in the former PiS government so that they can begin the prison sentences they were given last month

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/09/warrants-issued-for-convicted-former-pis-ministers-to-begin-serving-prison-sentences/

notesfrompoland, 5 months ago to random

The Supreme Court chief justice – who was appointed under the former PiS government – has accused the speaker of parliament – who is part of the new ruling coalition – of “illegal actions” regarding two former PiS ministers recently given prison sentences

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/08/polish-supreme-court-head-condemns-parliamentary-speakers-illegal-actions-against-convicted-pis-mps/

notesfrompoland, 5 months ago to random

Activists have raised concern about development plans for a historic estate of wooden so-called "Finnish cottages" in Warsaw.

They say the proposals would mean residents can no longer live there and would result in the "destruction of cultural heritage"

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/08/activists-raise-concern-over-development-plans-for-warsaws-postwar-finnish-cottages/

notesfrompoland, 5 months ago to random

Leading Polish newspaper
Gazeta Wyborcza has suspended a prominent investigative journalist after he published an article outlining his past abusive behaviour and one of his victims, who says he abused her when she was a student, spoke out publicly

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/07/leading-polish-newspaper-suspends-journalist-after-abuse-victim-speaks-up/

notesfrompoland, 5 months ago to random

A historic car factory in the Polish city of Bielsko-Biała - which has operated since 1948 and produced the iconic Fiat 126p "Maluch" - will close with the loss of over 450 jobs

A trade union says that EU car emissions regulations are behind the decision

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/05/historic-fiat-engine-plant-in-poland-to-close-after-75-years/

notesfrompoland, 5 months ago to random

The Supreme Court has overturned a decision to end the parliamentary mandate of a former PiS minister sentenced to jail for abuse of power.

But the decision was made by a chamber of the court created by PiS and found to be illegitimate in previous rulings

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/04/polish-supreme-court-overturns-decision-to-end-parliamentary-mandate-of-convicted-pis-mp/

notesfrompoland, 5 months ago to random

Poland ranks second in Europe in terms of the openness of public data, according to an EU Commission report, which names the country as a "trendsetter"

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/04/poland-ranks-second-in-europe-in-public-data-openness/

notesfrompoland, 5 months ago to random

Opposition leader Jarosław Kaczyński has called on Poles to join a protest next week "in defence of democracy, free speech and free media".

"We have a real problem with democracy today" under the new government, he says

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/04/polish-opposition-leader-kaczynski-calls-for-demonstration-in-defence-of-democracy/

notesfrompoland, 5 months ago to random

"Poland will not accept illegal migrants" under the EU's proposed migration pact, which includes a relocation mechanism, says PM Donald Tusk.

"We will not accept a single migrant. Poland will never be part of such a mechanism"

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/04/poland-will-not-accept-a-single-migrant-under-eu-relocation-scheme-says-tusk/

notesfrompoland, 5 months ago to random

Through its controversial takeover of public media, the new government has left itself open to accusations that it is guilty of the same undermining of democracy and rule of law of which it accused its predecessor, writes Aleks Szczerbiak

https://notesfrompoland.com/2024/01/03/what-is-at-stake-in-the-dispute-over-polish-state-owned-media/