Updates From Poland
- PostEagle
- June 7, 2023
- News From Poland
- 0 Comments
Compiled by Robert Strygel
Warsaw Correspondent
Updated – June 7, 2023
Ukraine deserves fast-track NATO membership — Polish Prime Minister
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said recently that Ukraine deserves fast-track NATO membership because it is fighting Russia’s invasion in the interests of the Western military alliance and defending NATO countries against potential aggression by Moscow. “Even if Ukraine is not part of NATO today, it is fighting “on behalf of NATO,” he said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Polish Justice Minister rejects European court’s interference
Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Dobro has rejected a ruling by the EU’s top court, the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice. “Its verdict was not written by judges but politicians because it constitutes a clear violation of European treaties,” Ziobro said. The EU brass and their subservient institutions like the ECJ have repeatedly accused Poland of rule-of-law violations in its judicial reforms, even though the European treaties Poland signed leave judicial matters to member states. Behind the scenes, eurocrats have been secretly expanding their areas of competence and now want to control Poland’s state forests. Poland has been bullied mainly because it subscribes to conservative principles, not to today’s “trendy” woke-style liberal-leftist notions.
Polish opposition vehemently opposes Russian-influence probe
Donald Tusk, the leader of Poland’s liberal-leftist “total opposition,” reacted hysterically when President Andrzej Duda signed into law a commission to investigate Russian influence in Poland. Tusk’s supporters called it “sad day for Polish democracy,” but backers of the measure argue that voters have a right to know who they are governed by.” Its opponents apparently have things on their conscience which they do not want made public, they added. Among the commission’s opponents are some of the same surviving politicians who toppled the government back in 1992 when it planned to expose suspected former paid informers of the communist secret police. They included Tusk and ex-president Lech Wałęsa.
Huge anti-government march rolls through Warsaw
In early June, former Polish prime minister Donald Tusk led a huge anti-government march through Warsaw which he had been vigorously promoting since April. To swell the crowds, his liberal-left Civic Platform (PO) party used 500 buses to bring in marchers from all over Poland. In a sea of Polish and EU flags, participants brandished placards blaming the conservative government for inflation, lies and theft. Tusk is hoping the march will increase PO’s support in autumn’s parliamentary election. Warsaw’s hard-left Jewish mayor Rafał Trzaskowski, a staunch Tusk ally, claimed that half a million people had marched, but the police put the figure at from 100,000 to 150,000.
Civic Platform narrowly edges out ruling Law & Justice — survey
For the first time in recent memory, the liberal-leftist Civic Platform (PO) of Donald Tusk inched ahead of the ruling conservative Law and Justice Party (L&J) in a survey conducted by pollster Kantar Poland. The PO attracted 32% support, as against 31% for the L&J. It was taken two days after Tusk led a massive anti-government march through Warsaw. The campaign strategy of L&J, which had been wooing voters with family benefits, has reportedly been thrown into disarray by the poll. The survey also showed that the Third Road, a coalition of the center-right Poland 2050 party and the conservative Polish People’s Party, can count on 10% of the vote, as can the nationalist Confederation. The Left was teetering on the threshold with 5%. Whether this was a one-off occurrence or a sustainable trend remains to be seen.
Poland defies EU court order to close mine
“Poland will not shut down the Turów lignite (brown coal) mine,” Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller said in response to a verdict by the European Court of Justice. “The mine’s closure would have catastrophic consequences for society and would pose a threat to the country’s energy security,” explained Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin who is in charge of state assets. The move would throw thousands of our work and deprive millions of homes of electricity provided by the mine and adjacent powerplant. The problem arose when the court ruled in favor of Czechia which had sued Poland, alleging that the Turów mine was causing ground water to drop on the Czech side of the border.
Bells looted by Nazi Germany to return to Poland
When the Third Reich needed scrap metal to turn into weaponry in Word War II, the German army was ordered to confiscate all of Poland’s church bells, Sławomir Worek, who heads the Galicja Historical Association, told reporters. Thousands were melted down by the war-time arms industry, but around 60 have survived. They were found by a commission active since 2018 in Germany’s Rottenrbug-Stuttgart Diocese and will be returned to their original Polish home parishes.
Foreign medical students hold ethnic fest in Warsaw
Students from 18 different countries, studying at Warsaw’s Medical University recently held a fest celebrating the heritage of their home countries. Students from the US are among those enrolled. At much below the cost of medical education in America, students can earn medical degrees while doing all their required course work in English. More information at: https://www.wum.edu.pl/en
Song, dance and prayer at Lednica youth meet-up
Unlike outdoor rock festivals, where aggressive music, drugs, alcohol and sex reign supreme, singing, dancing and praying are all rolled into one at Lednica, said to be the world’s largest, regular Catholic youth meet-up. Originated with the Polish Pontiff’s blessing by Dominican Monk Jan Góra in 1997, it attracts tens of thousands of young Catholics each year on the first Saturday of June. This year’s workshops included Pro-Life and evangelizing via the net. Penitents go to confession sitting on the grass next to their confessors. The event concludes with participants passing through a symbolic fish-shaped gate, signifying acceptance of Christ.
