History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]


What is there to compare? The Allies (well, except Russia) supported Poland because it weakened Germany and helped to tear up Austria - just like they supported Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

Still, having visited Lwów several times, the nicest thing there is that people are genuinely nice towards Polish speakers. People will help on the streets, people will help with Cyrillic in shops - can't say a bad word about them.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Irrelevant.


They've got nothing to lose. Poland is the little brother in this relationship and no amount of delusional thoughts will change that. As for where NATO bases are - America will follow the advice of Germany, France and the UK when it comes to these things, all of whom will be against NATO expansion to Poland.


They don't want to end it, they want to control it.


You're still making the elementary mistake of assuming that KOD = PO?


I don't 'side' with anyone, I only think that Poland is harming herself by being so obnoxious and prickly. The Slovaks are irritated, the Germans think that the Poles are untrustworthy... II RP all over again, anyone?

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


It's very telling that you're talking about "the blame". The right wing always needs to blame someone, because it's just not possible that people are genuinely angry.


I'm in it because I'm angry at the actions of PiS, nothing more, nothing less. I'm particularly disgusted at the way that they went on and on and on about being anti-communist, then actually put a load of ex-PZPR men into top positions.

But why do you think this is about outside forces? Do you really not believe that Poles are capable of organising themselves? I mean, history shows that they're perfectly able to do it by themselves - from what I remember, the CIA (among others) took forever to actually help Solidarność.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


I'm involved with KOD, what motive do I have? I don't have any connections to financial industries and don't stand to benefit from anything other than Poland getting richer as a whole. Unless of course, you add "general dislike of PiS appointing endless ex-PZPR cronies to run vital industries, departments, committees and ministries"


The Germans have already made it quietly clear through their media that they regard Poland as being untrustworthy now. Goodbye, NATO base.


All PiS have to do is to leave the TK alone. Or at least, that's all they had to do. Problem is, every night brings new "actions", and with it, the protests grow.


Yes, the general observation is that Poland is shouting and screaming about wanting to be a regional king and demanding to be called so while actually doing everything against such a possibility.

News / "We will not hesitate to shoot Kaczyński dead" - KOD Facebook page [164]


I wonder the same. PKN Orlen has been doing very very well in recent years - the company was well on the way to becoming a powerhouse in the oil industry. I believe that Orlen was even expanding in Germany! That will all go out of the window with such a leader, just like the cousin of Kaczyński will destroy the State Forests through mismanagement and greed.

PiS clearly stand for the worst sort of nepotism.

News / Poland to end state funding for IVF treatment [102]


She is the perfect example. She does what she's told, she has no independent thought and it's clear that the men in her government (especially Macierewicz) do what they want.


This "banksters" thing is becoming so incredibly tedious. The banks aren't losing out at all, it's the customers. I'm just about to switch my bank account because ING have started charging for withdrawals at different cash machines - so it's obvious that the customer, not the bank is paying.


Really? That would be why Polish computer science graduates have cash thrown at them?

News / Poland to end state funding for IVF treatment [102]


Oh yes. It's pretty obvious that it won't be a universal benefit at all - everyone would be furious if stories come out about rich people using the cash to pay for green fees at the local golf course, for instance. Even members of PiS were suggesting that it doesn't make any sense to provide hard cash to so-called "pathology", as the money will be spent on vodka rather than the children.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]


You mean like how the victors of WWI supported the Polish national awakening to hurt Germany and Austria? ;)

News / "We will not hesitate to shoot Kaczyński dead" - KOD Facebook page [164]

The people themselves decide the law. It's a basic principle that politicians should respect the law.

News / Poland to end state funding for IVF treatment [102]


It's very very expensive. In fact, it's so expensive that they've completely backtracked on the idea of introducing it as soon as possible.


PiS don't want happiness.They couldn't care less if the population is happy or not, just so long as they have the power.


Exactly. 500zł per child keeps the woman at home, whereas the real problem - the lack of easily-accessible kindergartens and especially creches (the situation in some towns is diabolical) - would mean that she would gain some independence. And we can't have that, can we?


Couldn't agree more. I've spent time in Finland observing their education system, and teachers are treated on a comparable level to doctors. They have to work very, very hard for it - but the rewards and working conditions are excellent. However, PiS don't particularly want good education for the masses, especially given the fact that better educated voters don't support PiS.

News / "We will not hesitate to shoot Kaczyński dead" - KOD Facebook page [164]


Indeed. It shows that the "bankster" insult that PiS are trying desperately to stick on anyone and everyone is just yet another friend of Jarosław's.


One would argue that backing PiS is a good sign of lacking integrity, given the huge amount of ex-PZPR appointments made by PiS.


You mean "for the exploitation of the nation by ex-PZPR elites".

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]


According to who? While the Austrians were by far the least oppressive of the partitioning powers, they still took part in many oppressive activities, such as destroying the Wolne Miasto Kraków.


Meaningless, because there are plenty of places in Poland where you can find Lenin's picture among others. Communist themed pubs and restaurants are commonplace.


Of course not, because they were oppressed. Both Poles and Austrians had vested interests in denying Ukrainian self-identity.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]


I think we can safely add "history of Austria" to "topics to which Legal Eagle knows nothing about".

Lemberg was an Austrian city regardless of how you try and spin it. Remember, many of us living in Poland have been there, and the Austrian influence is astonishing. Worth pointing out that the Poles of Lemberg were often considered to be traitors for the way that they advocated working with the Austrians.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Of course, but Ironside will claim that it was just verbal instructions and not written ones ;)

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]


Not sure how to break it to you, but Lwów was very much Austrian at the time.

By your logic, the Saarinen terminal at JFK is Finnish and not American.

Law / British living in Poland - tax treaty with the UK? [30]

Minefield ;)

Probably UK tax resident in this case, especially if it could be proven that the time spent elsewhere wasn't a huge amount of time. But in this case, it would be best to get a ruling from the Polish tax office that the person is indeed tax resident in the UK and not here. The car registration is the tricky part - it's hard to argue that you don't live here if you've got a car on Polish plates.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]


You can add Lwów to the list of things that you know nothing about. Anyone that's been to Lwów knows that the place was built by the Austrians, not the Poles. Let's not forget that the city itself was like Sarajevo - a mix of Jews, Poles and Ukrainians.

The most iconic building in L'viv - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lviv_Theatre_of_Opera_and_Ballet - is Austrian.


That's pretty disgusting racism, and it could only come from someone that has never been to Poland or L'viv.


No, they just made them announce their religion and mother tongue and forbade them to discuss their nationality.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]


What great opportunity? :D

More to the point, who exactly was going to pay to integrate a large and very poor region into Poland? Average wage in Ukraine is around 750zł, and that's including the wealthier Eastern cities such as Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkiv. Western Ukraine is horrifically poor - have you ever been there? I've spent some time there exploring the former Polish towns (even went to several Polish churches there...) and looking at what Poland left behind - essentially, the infrastructure is exactly how it was in many places when Poland left.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Ironside, don't you realise that these smears are doing nothing but annoying people? No banks are forcing anyone to do anything - the banks couldn't care less if they've got to pay tax because they'll just charge their customers more so they make the same profits.

It was PiS that were and are notorious for forcing their staff to sign letters of support for PiS, for instance.

In fact, the hallmark of the KOD demonstrations is that no-one should be made to take part. There was a message from Warsaw a while ago that people shouldn't be invited into the KOD facebook groups, but rather people should join through free will. I agree with this philosophy.

Law / British living in Poland - tax treaty with the UK? [30]

I don't claim to know anything about pensions, but I know of someone that was caught out through the vital interests rule. He works in Switzerland Monday-Friday and stays in a company apartment or hotel, and the tax office questioned why he had significant amount of Swiss Francs in a Polish bank account. He used the 185 day rule, but they got him on the fact that his wife/children were here, he returned every weekend and he owned a car registered here - so his "vital interests" were here.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Well, the police are under the control of the Ministry of the Interior, which in turn is controlled by PiS. It's not a good situation that we don't have any independent numbers - as much as I don't believe the police numbers, it's understandable that you wouldn't believe the numbers given by the Warsaw city administration. So - maybe it's best to not mention any numbers at all and instead rely on photos and video to tell the real story.


Quite the opposite - the crowds are visibly swelling in provincial cities.

We'll see where it goes now. PiS seem to have finally realised that the confrontational approach of Kaczyński isn't working, so Szydło is obviously trying to repair the damage done by him and Macierewicz. But why they just can't respect the decision of the TK is beyond me... it would be *much* harder for KOD if the law was respected, even if PiS didn't agree with it.

Law / British living in Poland - tax treaty with the UK? [30]


Doesn't work like that here. There are two rules - 1) Are you resident in Poland for more than 185 days? and 2) Is your centre of vital interests in PL? If yes to either question, then you're tax resident in PL and not the UK. The crucial thing regarding vital interests is that they look at the whole picture - it's not just about where you work, but also about where your family and social life is.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Anyway, to sum up the last 48 hours :

1) Demonstrations have been very successful, despite them being organised at the last minute. My own feeling is that we need to be much more organised - we could've easily got a bigger number in places such as Kielce and Zielona Góra had they been announced earlier. However, the sheer success of Poznań, Warsaw, Gdansk, Wrocław, Katowice and Kraków shows that the message is getting through. Next time, we need to get Rzeszów, Opole and other places onboard. The belief is there, so we can do it.

2) The attacks from right wingers are increasing. It's obvious that they regard KOD as a huge threat - if they didn't, they would be ignoring KOD. Dirty tricks are being played left/right/centre, and we need to be increasingly on our guard. This thread shows perfectly the games played - taking the thread off-topic, attacking the people attending the march and downright lies about the numbers in an attempt to discredit KOD.

3) More and more people are joining and showing interest. There's a long, long way to go, but monumentum is on our side.

4) PiS are attempting to equate our demonstrations with support for corruption. Fortunately, Poles aren't so stupid, and they can see that PiS have been appointing ex-PZPR members left/right/centre along with filling endless jobs with PiS supporters. Every attempt to smear KOD will put an extra person on the streets.

Until next time.

News / Germans: Geh raus of Poland's business! [61]

When you actually live in Europe, child, you might learn why this idea is incredibly silly.

Anyway, nice of you to put forward Nazi theories of "population relocation".

News / Germans: Geh raus of Poland's business! [61]


More than Ironside will, that's for sure.


Sorry, I have a killer deal in PLN on my place ;) My margin is very very low, unlike most of the poor Poles that will have a terrible time trying to get a mortgage because of the new PiS-tax on banks.


What on earth are you babbling about now?

TheOther is bang on the money. Chase away German companies, and Poland is finished.

News / Poland to end state funding for IVF treatment [102]


It wasn't being given for that reason. It was nothing but "electoral sausage" - which is why they're now struggling to enact the policy as the opposition is constantly ridiculing them for their failure to pass the legislation required.

If they genuinely wanted to address the problem, they would sort out the lack of creches and nurseries in Poland. In some cities, it's not a problem, but Wrocław for instance has massive problems with it.


It is, although the opinion polls consistently show around 70% of Poles being for in vitro.


Desperately unfair, especially given the fat earnings that most PiS decision makers get.


Indeed. And they want to cut the retirement age. Mathematics is clearly not the strong point for PiS.

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]


Quite irrelevant, given that the vast majority of us have no need to hold any sort of security clearance. My interests are in education and IT, neither of which requires a security clearance or will ever require one.


Obviously your knowledge about the Polish electoral system is missing along with everything else. Poland has a system of territorial self government, which is responsible for a wide range of tasks from tax collection to administration of education. PO control 8 provinces, and with it, control a significant amount of tax revenue as the PiS provinces are poorer and rely on fiscal transfers from the wealthier provinces.


Sorry, but they were organised by Poles, just like the demonstrations in the UK, USA, Canada, Japan and elsewhere.

History / Chance of Lwów once again became coming part of Poland [344]


What does Donald Trump have to do with Ukraine?

News / Demonstrations in Poland in defence of democracy. [2554]

Anyway, didn't get a chance to post this - so thank you to everyone that attended yesterday. Numbers are growing nicely - and I'm still stunned by the pictures from Kraków. It's clear that people are angry, and the demonstrations are widely reported to have featured a large cross-section of society, which is excellent.

We got a decent turnout in Kielce despite it being organised with 36 hours notice - but next time, we need to be more organised and get demonstrations organised earlier. Still, it's a learning process. Looks like I might organise one of the next demonstrations, too.

On a side note, the fear of PiS supporters is becoming more and more obvious. The dirty attacks are coming fast and furious, and the political narrative in Poland now is dominated by PiS vs KOD. PiS is widely observed in the international media to have massively screwed up, and yet they're showing no sign of actually complying with the law. I expect many, many more demonstrations and for them to grow in number.

News / Germans: Geh raus of Poland's business! [61]

Remind us how much tax you intend to pay to the Polish government next year.