News / Polish government reconstruction after shady lobbying scandal [8]


He seems to have been pretty decisive - not only getting rid of those involved, but also seeking to put an end to the partisan politics played by the CBA.

The problem is that if you can't trust the CBA to be impartial, just who can you trust?

News / The Lisbon Treaty and land reperations [74]


Because Norway has the money to make the system work.

Poland doesn't. Many of the people running things were trained in the Communist era and quite honestly don't have the thinking processes of someone brought up in the modern age. Look at the system for swimming pools - it's impossible to get a monthly pass for a swimming pool!

But you should listen to what people are telling you. It's simply not that easy to go to court and get your money back - the Polish legal system is horrifically inefficient, and if investigations show that your grandfather(s) had less than a perfect Polish history, you're going to struggle to get sympathy for your cause.

Incidentally, what nationality was the lawyer that you contacted?

Work / Questions about Volunteering in Poland [12]

If you want to volunteer, my recommendation is not to go through any established companies (which may make financial demands upon you to volunteer, a very lucrative industry I believe!) - but rather to come to Poland and seek something out in the field in which you wish to volunteer in. Looking at the 'Volunteers for Peace' site - they demand $300US just to register for some volunteer work - I can assure you that this money is much better spent elsewhere.

Certainly, someone wishing to volunteer in schools assisting with English would be very much in demand - you really don't need someone to organise it for you. How long are you looking at volunteering for?

News / The Lisbon Treaty and land reperations [74]


And yet you expect the current Polish state (which, as you say, you have no ties whatsoever with) to compensate you? I don't think much people are going to have sympathy with the descendant of a traitor.


He was a traitor, through and through. A true patriot would die for their country - and in such times, choosing to sign the list rather than die for their country was nothing but cowardice.


I'm not angry, I just think that the Polonia in many cases have absolutely no social responsibility towards their homeland. The fact that these people (including you) would rather see a poorer Polish state provided they kept their wealth symbolises everything that was wrong with the 'Noble Democracy' and onwards.

Life / Supermarkets in Poland not accepting card payments [12]


Lidl and Aldi only recently started taking cards in the UK too, I've never understood it...you'd think they would just stick an extra few pence/grosz/whatever to pay for it, but obviously not...

History / Did Ukraine really "steal" Polish land? [302]


And you think that an independent Western Ukraine wouldn't have money? Poland would be very eager to invest in such an area, as would Slovakia and Hungary. We can also assume that any independent Ukrainian state would make it very easy for the West to do business with - without a Russian minority agitating and demanding links with Moscow, it would be much easier to do such things.

In fact, without the very poor and run down industrial East (and possibly without Kyiv) - it's likely that a Western Ukraine state wouldn't be much poorer than Eastern Poland.


It's no worse off than Ireland, Latvia or Iceland. In fact, the Ukrainian situation isn't anywhere near 'crisis' point yet. If you'd actually been to Ukraine recently, you'd know that there's still plenty of cash going about.


A Western Ukraine out of political and economic needs would open their door to the EU rather than Poland individually - after all the history and animosity, why would Ukraine give up to Poland? It's just not realistic - and I bet 99% of Ukranians would rather be in poverty and independent than be part of a Polish state.


Russia's going nowhere. Moscow is gaining in strength day by day, and even the current crisis has done nothing to dampen the popularity of Putin - as history shows, Russians like being told what to do. The fact that Russia is steadily incorporating areas such as South Ossetia shows that they're going nowhere fast - and in fact, it seems that they've learnt from the lessons of the USSR and are only trying to annex areas which are undisputably Russian.


Ukraine may swing either way. Belarus - no chance, they're too linked up with Russia and the political elite there will always support Union with Russia over anything else.

Ukraine today is probably best compared to Poland in the early 90's - poor, but free.

History / Did Ukraine really "steal" Polish land? [302]


Actually, it's more likely that the Ukrainian state will split in half (if you look at the Russian-Ukrainian split, it's almost straight down the middle - even the last Presidential election showed this!) and Lwów will become the capital of a Western Ukraine state. The Russian side may very well just become another Russian puppet state. Certainly though, no independent Western Ukraine state will be rushing to join Poland.


Belarus may cease to exist as an independent country, but will certainly be part of Mother Russia.

Law / Withhodling tax on payments to non-polish firms for services [8]


Jesus, I just read it and my head hurts.

From what you're saying, it sounds as if you do indeed have to withhold 20% if the country doesn't have a taxation treaty with Poland. Germany should do, so you wouldn't have to withhold the money. As for copywriting - this is tangible, so it isn't under the scope of this.

An accountant is probably the best bet here, it may very well be an obscure tax that no-one bothers to collect.

News / The Lisbon Treaty and land reperations [74]

The government of the PRL has absolutely nothing to do with the modern day government - although you might want to see it that way, I think it's well established that the Mazowiecki government was a clean break from the governments of the past. You simply cannot compare a government in a puppet regime to a democratically elected government!

The fact that you want 'today's rate' for the property says it all - you're simply interested in the money. A fair rate would be to pay you the value of the land in the day that it was seized. Anyone who was interested in seeing a wrong righted would accept that quite happily - but unfortunately, it seems to be a huge problem among the 'Polonia' that they want to come back and take what they believe to be theirs without a damn for the social consequences - of which they don't care because they don't live in Poland anyway.

As for 'now they have to give it back' - with an attitude like that, you'll struggle to get far in modern day Poland. I can't imagine many people resident in Poland will have much sympathy for someone who lives in a much wealthier country trying to force the Polish government into giving them even more money - especially when the Polish government can't even afford to deal with the problem of child poverty in Poland!


Again, what has the current government got to do with the puppet government of the PRL? Absolutely nothing. Perhaps there might be some social responsibility to compensate people with the amount of money that the land was worth when it was seized - but beyond that?

The fact that you're talking about it being 'your duty' is betraying the fact that you simply want to get even more money. I could understand the sentimental reasons for wanting the land back - but the fact that you're just attempting to grasp money means you're getting no sympathy from me.


Referring back to the Polonia - it's quite clearly obvious that many of them don't give a damn about Poland today and that they're just interested in the money. This is just yet another example - and it's sad that they have absolutely no social responsibility towards the Polish state, yet they expect the State to have social responsibility towards them.


Obviously, you don't understand the issues whatsoever. It certainly isn't yours at the moment, although you can launch a possible claim. There's no guarantee of success - and personally, I find it sickening that you're happy to take money from a poor Polish state struggling massively with the budget just to fund your undoubtably-luxurious lifestyle in a very wealthy country.


Have you considered the fact that perhaps your late father attempted to claim the land and was unsuccessful?


Doesn't mean they didn't. Perhaps instead of seeing Zloty everywhere, you might want to spend more time investigating what's actually happened on the ground.


I think giving back property in the first place was a massively bad move to make - sure, it appeased the already-wealthy Polonia - but at what cost? Of course, you end up with already wealthy individuals simply getting richer at the expense of many people who did absolutely nothing wrong.


The problem isn't so much the claims being legitimate, but rather the instability caused by valid claims. Can you imagine the bill for the Sudetenland alone? It would bankrupt the Czech state - and likewise, I can't imagine Poland has the money to pay for all the potential claims that Germans might have at the moment.

This thread just goes to show what the Polonia in particular are doing - does anyone actually believe that the individual will spend any of the money (if he gets it) in Poland? I doubt it.

As I understand it, many Poles would like their property back in and around Lwów too. But they have no chance - so they're doing the logical thing and simply buying up Lwów. The same thing happened with Wroclaw and Germans - and I think this is the best solution.

Anyway - does the Polish state really want to pay money to a thinly-disgused God-hating racist?

https://polishforums.com/news/poland-mass-immigration-article-response-38990/

Hmm.

News / The Lisbon Treaty and land reperations [74]

Now that Poland has signed the treaty, does anybody here have any knowledge about the opening for reperations for lost land? [/quote]

It's not going to happen in Poland. There may be individual cases which succeed - but as you're not actually located in Poland, it's going to be a long and hard fight to claim anything, and there's absolutely no guarantee of success.

I think it's all very sad that people are now choosing to dig up wounds from the past - what happened, happened - and having seen the trouble caused by many landlords who came back to claim control of their houses (often quite wealthy people to begin with), it's something that's better left unspoken.

UK, Ireland / Driving to Warsaw from UK [13]


No no no, I don't recommend this at all. The section from Nowy Tomysl to Poznan is always busy with Polish trucks, and if you hit Poznan at any point between 6am and 10pm at night, it's going to be a drag through the city on DK92. The road surface is also absolutely shocking on the Poznan-Wresznia stretch - and is littered with traffic lights and 70/90 speed limits. For the sake of 33zl, it really isn't worth taking the old road - especially as it's got narrow lanes and is mostly single carriageway for the most part.

There's also the fact that (for the time being) the Kutno-Strykow section is free. The tolled part of the Autostrada is also quite empty and police rarely are seen on it - unlike on DK92.

The only bad thing about the A2 is the way that you'll have to stop every 40km or so for toll barriers, but there's never any queues at the toll stations.

Travel / Looking for a typical restaurant in Wroclaw [26]


MARCHE.

marche.com.pl

Don't bother going anywhere else, and it's a gem of a place unknown to tourists :)

Law / Ech... I have a problem concerning paying tax and ZUS [13]


30% for two years :P Or in real terms, about 350zl at the moment.


Basically, 350zl a month to ZUS regardless, plus 18% of profits. Poland is still excellent for 'creative accounting' and so you can get away with a hell of a lot - but you definitely need someone to do the books for you.

At the end of the month, the accountant just tells you 'right, pay ZUS and pay whatever-zl to the taxman'. You can pay quarterly, but it's probably not worth the headache.


Hmm...it's a good question. You've got the freedom to do whatever the hell you want with your own business, but if you aren't working, you're still stuck paying 350zl a month (with the prospect of paying nearly 900zl a month in 2 years!) regardless of what you do. I suppose you could close the company down in the holidays, but I'm not sure if they would allow you to claim the reduced rate again if you re-opened.


Don't quote me on this, Marta is the expert - but there should be nothing stopping you working under 'umowa o dzielo' where they pay you (and deduct tax) - but you have your own obligaton to sort out ZUS. As far as I understand it, if you go down this route - then as long as you have health care, there should be no reason to register your own business. These are effectively freelance contracts - but bear in mind that if you don't pay ZUS, you won't be able to claim anything from the Polish state.


Basically - go to the office we went to, register there. They'll tell you to come back in a few days, so you do that. Once you go back, you go to the Urząd Skarbowy and 'upgrade' your NIP to self employed status. Once you do that, you wait for the REGON to come through the post (Waiting for mine...), then go to ZUS and tell them that you want to start paying for their nice buildings.

Then, once your company starts (that you say on the documents ) - you basically have until the 10th of the following month to pay tax and ZUS due for the month of starting.

Basically - the best calculation you can make is - "Will I be paid 500zl or more a month extra by being self employed?". If not, don't bother - it's really not worth your while. It's definitely much easier just to let them sort it out.

Travel / Looking for a typical restaurant in Wroclaw [26]


Marche is the only choice, especially after 8pm.

UK, Ireland / Driving to Warsaw from UK [13]


From Nottingham? Harwich-Hook would be about the same time, except you won't have to drive on the utterly long drag through Belgium.

Much nicer boats too, and you can take a car and get a cabin on a day crossing for peanuts!

UK, Ireland / Driving to Warsaw from UK [13]

Probably the best way is -

1. Drive down the M1 to the A14/M6 junction.
2. A14 down to Harwich
3. Ferry to Hoek van Holland
4. some small roads near Hoek until you reach the A12 in Den Haag (following the E30)
5. A12, A27, A28, A1 to the Dutch/German border. (again, all E30)
6. BAB (autobahn) 30, 2, 10, 12 in Germany to the German/Polish border. (all E30)
7. DK2/A2 in Poland to Warsaw (all E30).

Don't bother wasting your time going via Dover. The above route is almost all motorway in Holland and Germany, apart from a tiny section near Hoek van Holland.

Language / Polish grammar exercises from hell [130]

Don't look at me, my girlfriend demanded to write it :P

Apparently according to the dictionary, you're both right...

(my head hurts)

Language / Polish grammar exercises from hell [130]


Matka waz z jej dwoma wujami, trzema ciotkami i piętnaściorgiem młodszego rodzeństwa kupiła dwieście pięćdziesiąt trzy pary kombinerek, czterdzieści pięć par nożyczek i osiemdziesiąt dwie pary sani w dziewięćdziesięciu siedmiu różnych sklepach.

Law / Taxation information/Tax calculator online [5]


Not a chance, this is the country where people working normal jobs for normal wages can end up with tax refunds/underpayments at the end of the year, even though all deductions are made according to the relevant laws.

Study / From India, hotel management courses and studying in Poland [29]


Enough to make it worth my while :)

Incidentally, the offer is open to anyone. EU-15 nationals with fluent English are particularly welcome ;)

Study / From India, hotel management courses and studying in Poland [29]


A 'hotel management' degree from a private institution in any EU state is worthless, not just Poland.


5zl an hour, 25zl for every sale. OTE of 1500zl a week on full time hours, not bad is it? :)

Study / From India, hotel management courses and studying in Poland [29]

Hey, don't talk to my potential staff like that!

Study / From India, hotel management courses and studying in Poland [29]


At 5zl an hour plus commission, it's worth the risk ;)

Law / Courier Service between Poland & UK [7]


Can you compete with the established cargo carriers in terms of speed? Probably not.

Can you compete in terms of price? Probably not.

Now, a Russia-UK service on a regular timetable might just be worthwhile. If you could offer something like -

6am Wednesday - London
10am Wednesday- Dover (110km-ish from London, 4 hours to keep to schedule)
8am Thursday- Berlin (1000km-ish from Dover, 22 hours max)
4pm Thursday- Warsaw (600km-ish from Berlin, 8 hours max)
2pm Friday - Minsk (600km-ish from Warsaw, 22 hours max)
9am Saturday - Moscow (700km-ish from Moscow, 19 hours max)
8pm Saturday- Minsk (11 hours)
6am Monday- Warsaw (46 hours)
4pm Monday - Berlin (8 hours)
6am Wednesday- London (38 hours)

This could work, particularly as Russian and Belarussian delivery services aren't particularly reliable. If you teamed up with couriers in each city, you might find that people are quite willing to pay up for a door-to-door service that runs to a schedule as opposed to the whims of couriers.

It would be hard work, but it could be very successful. It won't work just going UK-Poland, the market is saturated and people are willing to work for less than you.

Language / Pan/Pani necessary? [8]


Pan Magister always gets me, I really can't figure out why anyone would bother to use such formality with someone that is hardly well qualified by Polish standards :/

Law / Which business can one start in Poland ? [9]


I've got a story for you.

Would you believe that I went to register a company today and after waiting 20-ish minutes, I was in and out of the office within 3 minutes? They just wanted the form, my registration and passport, that's it :/

Study / Question: about Tuition fee for Non-EU [5]


There's certainly some profit to be made from non-EU students though, to be spent on the Chancellor's office ;)


Are you sure? The rules seem to vary - for instance, the UK treats anyone legally resident in the EU for 3 years as being entitled to EU fees (or lack of). Doesn't matter if they have citizenship or not - in fact, a British citizen outside of the EU for 3 years can be seen as non-EU resident and thus liable for non-EU fees.

Study / Question: about Tuition fee for Non-EU [5]


I don't think it's about discouragement, rather that non-EU places aren't subsidised at all. Many places, even with tuition fees will still be subsidised in some way. And of course, there'll be some profit in there too!

Work / Is 8000zl Brutto per Month a good salary in Wroclaw??? [39]


Which sink estate would that be in?

You can get a nice flat in Poznan in a very nice area for 1800PLN a month. You're not going to get anything but a grimy inner city location for that in the UK.

Life / UK expat recently moved to Warsaw - lots of ongoing questions :) [27]


There's nothing wrong with it, as long as you can stomach the taste. :)