News / How will BREXIT affect the immigrants in UK and Poland. [1114]

Do you think that even if they are forced to leave then these hard working people, now skilled and experienced, with savings and ambitions and a second language are just going to go and sit outside the nearest Zabka with a few tins of Mocne and complain about life ?

No - don't worry about the impact of them returning - there are in any case 26 other countries where they can work but more likely they want to start building better lives for themselves in Poland. In that respect I can see why PiS probably don't want many of them to come back - easier to pull the wool over the eyes of the geriatric and the gullible than deal with people that want to improve the country.

News / Poland may take the EU to court if they step up pressure -- Kaczyński [89]

Poland should be involved in the Normandy formula.

But on private meetings of the big countries then it is up to the hosts who to invite. You have to earn respect and Poland's government is doing the opposite.

Szydlo will never be invited as she has no credibility - see how May refused to meet her and said she would only talk to the boss.

And Kaczynski will not be invited to any informal meetings unless really necessary. This is because he is someone who causes problems rather than solves them - that is a great shame for Poland, as with the UK leaving then it is a good chance for Poland to step up into a larger role.

Love / My Polish girlfriend and her change of behavior [5]

You are posting too much personal info about someone over the internet. If she sees that then she would be very unhappy that you have shared your issues with strangers rather than with her.

You need to talk to her and ask her what has changed but given that you are only together a few months then probably she is just not sure about you and maybe you are a bit too intense - she is young and travelling the world so will have lots of different ideas in her head. Take it a bit more slowly :).

And I am not sure what you mean by aggressive behaviour - if it's shouting then OK, if it's something worse then her change in behaviour is probably because you are being abusive.

Food / What Scottish Whisky do they sell in Poland? [24]

I like both and also agree that the choice of brandy is often too small - one difference seems to be that there is an active whisky community - a few decent shops, tastings and mailings, some active forums. Brandy does not seem to have many champions !

The cigar bar on Nowy Swiat - Casa de Habano- has a very good list of cognac and a few calvados too. But that is the only place I consciously go to have a brandy.

News / Re-polonisation surges ahead - after babking, media and telecoms... [20]

It is not Germany that owns these, rather it is Germans. I know it's a difficult concept for propagandists to understand, but the German state does not control Axel Springer or Bauer. Furthermore, there is nothing to stop Polish owners establishing their own popular newspapers websites or television stations.

Of course I'm not so naive to think that sometimes the owners of these companies don't drop by and have dinner with some German ministers, but that is no different from senoir Polish businessmen meeting Morawiecki in Krynica.
I also think that the biggest sources of news nowadays I'll probably Facebook and LinkedIn, both of which are under Private American ownership.

News / 60% of Poles say Szydło's government should resign [238]

I applaud Morawiecki's efforts for more transparent tax - this will stop abuse by both international investors and local companies. Of course he was in the g20 meeting I think at the invitation of Germany - I hope he had the good grace during a coffee break to apologise for his colleagues recent hysterical attacks on his hosts.

For all the ex Commie countries then a key step towards eliminating the use of other countries for corporate structures, is to make it easier and quicker to do business locally. Things that take hours in Netherlands or Cyprus take days and sometimes weeks in Poland and all of that time you are often in limbo and unable to move on to next stages.

A perfect example is VAT returns (for which Morawiecki is personally responsible given the current mess) - what would you do ? Wait 3-6 months for a response from a Polish biurwa or spend a few thousand euro to fly to Amsterdam and bypass the whole hassle ?

Work / Salary for a senior software engineer in Poland [195]

I don't know if it changed but ZUS did not used to cover allergy shots. I also have a strong pollen allergy and when I first came to Poland it was set off by a special kind of lime tree that generates very high amounts of pollen in May and June - it is in most urban areas in Poland and can be extremely uncomfortable until you get used to it after a few years.

News / 60% of Poles say Szydło's government should resign [238]

Well that would be wise but every year they will lose about 3 percent of their base to natural causes. So they do need to ensure those young families who benefit from 500+ also vote for them. But those same families benefit most from the EU - new jobs, higher wages, better infrastructure and more opportunities, and they are mostly literate enough to understand the EU is a good thing.

News / 60% of Poles say Szydło's government should resign [238]

He cares about her a lot - met her at the airport with a big bunch of flowers

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

Well the results of the EU screwing Poland is to double its wealth in 10 years and raise all aspects of lving standa do for all sections of Polish society.

Meanwhile Belgrade life resembles something like a 1995 version of Warsaw - rickety trams, rude officials, awful shopping and the waft of cheap cigarettes everywhere including during meetings.

Work / Finance Work in Poland - is it hard for a non-Polish speaking person? [35]

Kozminski was not established when many of those people were studying. In any case as discussed abov SGH is more prestigious for undergrad especially for straight academic things.

Good luck at UBS - hope it works out for you

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

PiS were fully entitled to field another candidate - and he did not need consensus- if Saryusz-Wolski had the required number of votes he would also have won. As it is he got one vote. There are two reasons for this - he is not qualified for the job and the other candidate was known and liked by the voters who saw no reason to change.

Now that the election is finished and PiS must accept the decision but instead they say they will block EU activity, even where that is likely to benefit Poland. It is nuts.

in Poland they think their 40 percent of the vote allows them to what they want. In Europe they think that every minority should have a a veto.

Work / Finance Work in Poland - is it hard for a non-Polish speaking person? [35]

I think that you're doing the right thing by pursuing an interview with BNP. I hope that went OK.

Much of the advice given above is dysfunctional. Being outright rude is being dressed up as being brutally honest. I don't consider you a silly boy - I think you have an admirable commitment to further education and a good path mapped out for your personal life.

With your background and languages, you have far wider horizons than BPO work. What is correct however is that even if you were to start in banking or consulting then you would normally start off via an entry level job or an internship, even if you have a good academic background. As I said before though, French gives you a huge advantage, if you can get your Polish up to speed. This is because it's hard to find French speakers in Warsaw period, let alone those who have a financial background - I have first hand knowledge of this. If the banks do not offer you work then maybe try big French corporations like Orange, Auchan or Axa. They would all have large finance teams and possibly need French language help with e.g. Corporate reporting.

I don't know if the Kozminski has university status or not - that might be more down to politics and bureaucracy than merit. I do know that it has proper accreditation for its MBA, a good list of adjunct and permanent staff and a pretty good alumni network in Warsaw - it generates several hundred hits on my LinkedIn. I suggest you visit and get a feel for the quality and prospects before you commit and I would question the marginal benefit of doing a second masters rather than just finding a really good internship or doing an MBA at some point in the future.

Long term then you say you are not a hedge fund type person - you can build a finance career in Poland but probably to have a real successful time here you would need 2-3 years experience in Western Europe or the US at some point.

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

@gumishu

Erm...... yes. Maybe it would be useful to think through the consequences of that.They might then impose tariffs on Polish goods - that was the situation before 2004 and everyone was worse off.

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

@gregy741

Yes - democracy in action - a qualified majority of countries and population is required. Tusk got 96 percent of countries and 92 percent of population. His recognition in Poland is that he is told he can no longer appear under a Polish flag.

Kaczynski looks ill by the way - not sure if it is stress or lack of sleep but he looks awful at the moment

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

Not sure the EU is crumbling. The world will be a very different place in 12 months time - 2017 will be the year that the normal people get organized and fight back against the petty and simplistic demagogues. Electing a safe pair of hands, respected by 96 percent of the member states is a first step in that.

The populist parties are quickly losing support in Holland and France and especially in Germany. I am no fan of the status quo there but it is a better option than having more morons like Trump in place.

In Britain and the US the undereducated and gullible will soon see that what they have voted for will cost them money and start to look to backpeddle.

End result - the EU and NATO will end the year stronger, the US will decide to stop winding up natural allies like Australia and Canada too. In Polish terms Szydlo may as well not show up for any more meetings - nobody will give her the time of day, they will just sort it out with Kaczynski by phone. I don't expect San Escobar to last past Easter.

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

It will strengthen the EU - an experienced and pragmatic centrist to help steady the ship and a clear signal to all the tinpot 1930's types that there will be no more games - they must accept the responsibilities as well as the benefits of membership.

Saryusz-Wolski case was presented to many member states in bilateral meetings by Szydlo and her pathetic foreign minister - everyone they met probably left scratching their head and wondering why the real boss did not come to visit them.

Food / A request for WHEETABIX to be stocked in Polish Tesco's [39]

Because space on their shelves is valuable and in high demand. There are maybe 10.000 people who would buy that stuff, spread all over Poland and often either English teachers with no cars, expats who fly home at the weekend or long term residents who have forgotten about Shreddies years ago.

You will not make money with this kind of importing - there are already specialist shops online and physical for French, Italian, Spanish and British expats.

A much better idea is to find some niche where you have expertise and you can roughly work out demand - I know people who made money here importing German bathroom fittings, Italian tiles, Japanese pens, scooter parts, expensive flooring etc. Dom's window blinds idea would be good but someone has beaten you to it.

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

The bad losers reaction to this - the consensus of 27 democratically elected leaders - has been hilarious.

Of course Szydlo was put in an intolerable position by the PIS political council - why such a body decides on the mandate of the democratically elected PM is beyond me and clearly the other 27 people in the room are able to make their own decisions without sending an SMS to some eminence grise every time they need the bathroom

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

@Ironside

The effect is the opposite, rather than young people having a road to Damascus moment and seeing that the EU is an evil German superpower, what actually happened last night is that older people see that Kaczynski is truly nuts. I watched the events with my moderate PiS voting in laws who turned off the TV and said they could not believe the nonsense Kaczynski and Szydlo were coming out with.

Worst of all is the lack of political skill from someone who is supposed to be a mastermind - he has put both the PM and the Foreign Minister in a position where they will never have any credibility abroad again - there will be a time when Poland needs goodwill, whether it is over funding, Putin, NATO or some other issue.

News / Tusk or Hollande -- a Salomonic dilemma? What will be better for Poland? [180]

Watching this afternoons proceedings is a real face palm moment - poor puppet Szydlo looks almost in tears and of course the guy who started this nonsense is not even in the room for her to consult.

News / Penderecki, Poland's greatest living composer, accused of being SB informer [62]

No - that is not the norm - in most of the democracies of Europe it would be unusual. Not sure if you have ever seen the pictures of David Cameron going on holiday on Ryanair, eating pringles. This sort of entitlement and arrogant posturing would be unthinkable in many countries like Holland or Sweden or even in other ex Commie countries like Croatia or Lithuania. Kaczynski himself described his party as Lords only 2 weeks ago.

I am very sceptical about your claims re Merkel - last year I was at a Berlin hotel when she turned up to meet a delegation I think from Iraq or Jordan - there was security and I had to stay put in the driveway with my car but I doubt there were more than 20 police and certainly no army - but in any case she was on official business, not on holiday. There are also pictures of her doing her shopping with 2 security guards a few days after the Berlin attack.

News / Penderecki, Poland's greatest living composer, accused of being SB informer [62]

And have you seen how the PIS elite behave ? Government cars to take them to a disco, the army stopping traffic for Macierewicz because he can not be bothered to walk 50 metres to a zebra, private planes home every week for the puppet PM and the puppet president. I care more about that than who could buy better ham 30 years ago.

Life / Polish people and racism. [943]

You would have spent your time better if you went to the pub or for a walk in the park in the snow, or watched a movie, rather than cogitating nonsense questions.

Or are you yet another troll ?

Work / Finance Work in Poland - is it hard for a non-Polish speaking person? [35]

Assuming you are not trolling, then yes you should be able to find something. Speaking French and Understanding Polish plus having a financial background is extremely marketable at the moment. I think your best bet would be to try some of the French banks, both BNP and Credit Agricole has quite a big presence in Warsaw.

An alternative would be to use your World Bank or EIB connections, or use the alum network from your alma mater - they will probably have some graduates in Poland. there are a number of private equity and investment funds that have capital sourced from these institutions.

Life / Immigration Free Poland is Not Being Racist [194]

Why is integration the sole means of deciding who can enter ? Did Iran ask how the tens of thousands of Polish refugees it admitted in the Second World War would integrate ? There should also be compassionate grounds for accepting genuine refugees. That to me is an important Christian value.

And that does not make me a leftist.

News / Should Poland's taxpayer money be used to finance illegal theatre productions? [53]

@Ironside

No I do not care if they get a taxi or plane or a gold plated merc so long as they pay for it themselves - these are private trips and why should my taxes fund that ? It is difficult to imagine any mature Western European democracy allowing the same things, and even in somewhere like Czech or Estonia it would be very unusual.

They see themselves as our masters (Kaczynski even admitted that yesterday) and not as our servants. Rabble rousing their geriatric voters about some ill advised avant garde play that nobody is forced to watch is just another tactic.

News / Should Poland's taxpayer money be used to finance illegal theatre productions? [53]

Yes I did wonder that. But he is no longer in charge. Question is about Duda and Szydlo.

News / Should Poland's taxpayer money be used to finance illegal theatre productions? [53]

@Ziemowit

No - they could use the very good rail service - one compartment for them and their security detail would probably cost about 1000 zloty. Or they could drive there. They should neither be having tax funded planes for private trips. I think MPs have an expense allowance and they should work within that.

The wider point is also that they were recently elected for the most senior jobs in Poland. Would it not be the expectation that this would mean living in Warsaw and working at the weekends - even if that would just be reviewing some policy papers or having some working lunches or patronising cultural events. I have no problem with the odd weekend off to stay fresh but they can not down tools every Friday night like a regular office worker.

News / Should Poland's taxpayer money be used to finance illegal theatre productions? [53]

Yes of course I also objected to Tusk doing that - as at that time PiS were vigorously opposing it. I have no special liking for PO.

One of PiS's clear appeals to the population in 2015 was that they would stop that kind of thing - but in fact they now simply see it as their turn to get the trappings of power. Tusk at least was running the country - something neither Szydlo or Duda are.

As to state support of the arts then I think it is a good thing but should not be exploited by needless controversies - difficult to say where that line is but it is somewhere before JP II being fellated.