News / US Investor seeks 700 million dollars in damages from Poland [45]


yes, the FT is reporting the same figure today: ft.com/content/a26dda50-af3b-11e7-aab9-abaa44b1e130

but also in this piece, it says: "Michael Polsky, the founder and chief executive of Invenergy, said the dispute had now been raging "for three-plus years".", meaning that they "have exhausted [their] commercial and legal remedies in the country" and are now sueing the current goverment for actions that were undertaken during the previous government. Since the termination of the SPVs had something to do with falling energy prices, 2014 sounds like a reasonable timeframe because mid of 2014 we had the big oil price drop and with it came also a downturn in wholesale electricity prices.


for this reason, the BITs usually open the door for independent courts, also in the PL-USA BIT:


investmentpolicyhub.unctad.org/Download/TreatyFile/5339

In general, nothing can be inferred just from the plaintiff complaining. It is currently just that: a "media offensive". It is up to the courts to decide whether the case has any merits.

News / US Investor seeks 700 million dollars in damages from Poland [45]



wasn't PO in power back then?

Study / I'm thinking to study in the Wrocław University of Science and Technology [55]


by chance, hence the name "lottery". The minimum requirement is a high school education, that's all.


you also need living expenses covered


I get it, you don't like your government. I can relate to that, I don't like mine either. While mine isn't throwing people in jail by the thousands, I can still easily lose my job, get a fine, or even a short jail sentence for "speaking my mind". I also want to move away. But there is no rush. They will not come for me tomorrow if I shut up. So I will do that. I keep a low profile, continue to collect a good pay check and use the time wisely to acquire the skills necessary to move in a couple of years.

I would suggest to you to do the same. A B.Sc. in Computer Science is basically the same everywhere. I am very sure you will learn programming at e.g. Atatürk University similarly well as at any other uni. And even if it is not up to par, you can always put in extra work on your own. But you can get that diploma for almost free at home at a state run uni. So I would save my money, maybe earn some extra, and wait to move until I have the skills to start to work - anywhere in the world.


same as in some US schools. But the good thing about computer science is that they cannot meddle with the technology, because here, there is no wiggle room: either your code is doing what it's supposed to do - or not.

Work / Poland - Expat Careers [26]

I would try monsterpolska.pl/en?intcid=swoop_TopNav_English and linkedin.com/jobs

btw., also with my employer, we use "expat" for a specific purpose: employees from foreign subsidaries working here for up to 5 years. Expats continue to be paid by their home company + some extra allowance. All others are "local hires" - regardless of nationality.

Language / Instrumental case "To Jest " and "Jest" Need help with correcting my examples in Polish [17]


thanks, it's really the same as in German


is there ever a correct way to say brakuję (mi)? I see that a lot - if you enter that phrase in Google, you will get >50.000 hits, but according to 301 Polish Words, this form does not even exist.

Travel / Białowieża National Park in Poland [461]


are they talking about leśniczy (forester) or a robotnik leśny (forest worker)? foresters earn on average 6,600zł: wynagrodzenia.pl/moja-placa/ile-zarabia-lesniczy, but forest workers only 1,500zł:

moja-pensja.pl/zarobki/666,ile-zarabia-Robotnik-le%C5%9Bny

the forester should be the guy responsible for an area of forest, so for him to earn more is comprehensible. The average robotnik earning 6,6k or even 7,7k - very probably not. Others I found:


one article from this year claims the average Firefighter salary to be 4125 zł brutto:
superbiz.se.pl/wiadomosci-biz/zobacz-ile-zarabiaja-strazacy-infografika_949262.html


the officer on the street seems to take home only 2,500zł:
superbiz.se.pl/wiadomosci-biz/zarobki-policjantow-w-polsce-ile-dostaje-drogowka-i-komendant_939496.html


a bit lower: wynagrodzenia.pl/moja-placa/ile-zarabia-sanitariusz

with all the public sector wages, tiny base salaries can be deceiving though since usually a lot of dodatki - supplements - are added. But you will not - like anywhere else - get rich by working in a public sector job.

Language / Instrumental case "To Jest " and "Jest" Need help with correcting my examples in Polish [17]


yet if być is preceded by a demonstrative pronoun (ten,to,ta,ci,te), the instrumental is not used, even when put together with an adjective:


wprost.pl/10038166
I still fail at this regularly. btw., why to and not ta?

about the negation requiring the genitive: this seems only to modify the accusative:
oglądam telewizię / nie oglądam telewizji
ma mleko / nie ma mleka
będzie czas / nie będzie czasu
znamy adres / nie znamy adresu

być requires either the nominative or the instrumental, for this reason a negated być is not modified with the genitive.

UK, Ireland / 31 year old Polish man causes accident under influence of alcohol and kills 8 [198]


dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4829456/Polish-born-drink-driver-31-court-M1-smash.html#ixzz4rLjwhADQ

Pictures from the crash site:
front: thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/nintchdbpict0003481307282.jpg?strip=all&w=960
above: worcesternews.co.uk/resources/images/6758773/?type=responsive-gallery-fullscreen

So the polish driver actually was not "driving a truck that crashed into an innocent family" but parking his truck in lane 1 of the highway. It is still a criminal offence, esp. in combination with being drunk, but for me his personal guilt is much lower compared to would he actually been driving and hitting somebody. It seems that he realized that he was too drunk to drive and parked his truck in - if the pictures indicate his actual position - the most safest spot on that highway.

It is on the other side rather questionable why the van was there in the first place, since there is an exit ramp right before the place of impact. But even if he were to stand in the slow lane, every motorist shall only drive as fast as for him it is possible to stop when he recognizes an obstacle on the road, even at 3am. Other drivers were obviously able to avoid hitting his truck, considering that he was already standing there for some 12 minutes and the M1 is a busy motorway even at 3am.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


which version of Art. 7 TEU have you been reading? The current law of the land can be found here:
eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:12012M007 and Art. 7 sec. 2-3 are as follows:


While the proposal needs to be made only by 1/3 of the Member States or (in the case of Poland) by the Commission, there is a need for unanimity in the Council to "determine the existence of a serious and persistent breach". Only if this unanimity is reached, paragraph 3 again works with the Lisbon qualified majority rules. But without the preceding unanimous vote, §3 cannot be invoked.

Although I wonder if they even would get a qualified majority.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


maybe in the coming years, but not so in 2016:


ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/2017-european-semester-country-report-poland-en.pdf

but let's say that the full EUR 86.1 billion will be distributed throughout the 2014-2020 timeframe, we are talking about EUR 12,3 billions per year or EUR 320 per polish citizien per year or EUR 27 per citizen per month.

and we are talking gross inflows here. The goverment spends PLN 18 billions (EUR 4 billions) in EU contributions in 2017: mf.gov.pl/documents/764034/5945940/20170630_state_budget_expenditure_V_2017.pdf

so there is only a maximum inflow of EUR 8 billions net targeted to specific projects and we are down to EUR 210 per citizen per year to EUR 17,5 per citizen per month.

And this is the maximum, which is never reached. One year before the end of the 2007-2013 program, only 61% of these funds were actually distributed and in the end, more than 10% was never paid at all: insideurope.eu/node/487

To further compare the numbers, let's look at FDI: com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY_Attractiveness_Survey_Poland_2017/$FILE/EY-Attractiveness-Survey-Poland-2017.pdf]
we had for every year since 2005 an annual investment from foreign entities of more than USD 1,000 billion in Poland and on average USD 830 billion in greenfield investments, meaning building facilities like offices and factories from scratch. Outflow of funds is on the other side comparatively low, some USD 50 billion.

Compared to FDI, EU funds are a drop in the ocean. And I have not even started to analyse how efficient that EU funds are put to work. Not everything is going into obviously useful projects like building roads, bridges, and railways, but there is plenty of stuff devised by EU bureaucrats that has at least questionable value.

Considering Brexit will diminish the source of funds together with lagging countries like Italy also not able or willing to pony up lots of money, starting from 2021, CEE countries will have to live with less EU funds anyway and I project that nobody will really notice.

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

latest polls show PiS gaining ground in the last 3 months again:
oko.press/sondaz-oko-press-pis-najmocniejszy-wyborow-opozycja-najslabsza-sejm-prawicowo-narodowy
interestingly, the strongest party amongst the 18-24 old voters is K15. And: Wolność - Korwin-Mikke's party - polls at 14% amongst this young crowd.
For me it is an encouraging sign that both in the general electorate as well - and maybe even stronger - in the young generation, parties who work against mass immigration have a big majority.

News / Bankruptcies in Poland up by 15% [4]

the comparable figures for Germany and Austria are 10,300 and 2,574
creditreform.de/nc/aktuelles/news-list/details/news-detail/insolvenzen-in-deutschland-1-halbjahr-2017.html
ksv.at/insolvenzstatistiken

for the UK, I have only 1Q2017: 3,967:
gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/611370/Q1_2017_statistics_release_-_commentary.pdf

418 in Poland for half a year? With 1/2 and 5 times the size of Germany and Austria, a number around 5,000ish would be plausible. 418 is not possible, there is something wrong with that number.

Could it be that they are not counting the rejected petitions for grounds that the debtor's assets were insufficient for the payment of the expenses of liquidation? These are usually the bulk of petitions but not counting them (although no formal declaration of insolvency is issued) makes the number useless because a rise in this number could actually indicate an improving situation.

USA, Canada / Sending a phone from USA to Poland [6]

Most care should be put on the LTE bands the phone supports. There is quite a distinction between the frequencies used stateside vs. Poland: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_frequency_bands

LTE bands 1, 3, 7, and 20 are not at all covered by some (most) phones sold stateside because providers there are using different frequencies.

Even with the same model, there can be significant differences. The Samsung Galaxy S8 SM-G950P will not work in Poland, the Galaxy S8 SM-G9500 will work fine. Check the model you want to ship here: frequencycheck.com

News / Officials in Poland are hailing an upcoming visit by Donald Trump [720]


not necessarily, considering how inefficient Germany spends money on its military. In 2011, Germany media reportet that "German soldiers mostly don't know how to use their weapons." ( thedailybeast.com/german-soldiers-in-afghanistan-cant-shoot). Since then, it's only gotten worse. The latest failure was with a new transport plane, a lot of money was spent on, but it is not working: dw.com/en/german-air-force-investigates-latest-airbus-a400m-glitch/a-37464284

Currently, there are only 7,000 (!) Soldiers ready to fight (at least they can try). For every actual soldier, 50 personnel is employed in the bureaucracy. Compare this to France: there the ratio is 1:10.

They might well invest a couple of billions more but might end up as helpless as they are now.

News / Trump will hold Poland up as an example for other nations to follow [106]


do you have reliable numbers on that? Polish sources indicate that russian gas is more expensive that that from its competitors:


uk.reuters.com/article/poland-gas-idUKL5N1HE35H

News / Trump will hold Poland up as an example for other nations to follow [106]


Poland first ;) He just had a presser with Duda

Work / SAP Consultant Salaries in Warsaw, Poland. [16]

there is a new version of that HAYS report out:
teraz-srodowisko.pl/media/pdf/aktualnosci/2982-hays.pdf

Life / Settle in Poland, which city is best? [30]


There is a special section for tax liabilites for "Pensions and similar payments or annuities received" and here, the tax is only paid in the country where you are residing.

finanse.mf.gov.pl/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=d0d095d7-3959-420c-bcc4-93173c754c93&groupId=766655

News / Mysterious death of Magdalena Żuk on holiday in Egypt [144]


indeed, that is the law since 2002. They just have to bring a separate photo which the Egyptians will affix onto the visa, that in this case will be issued on the spot as a separate document at the point of entry. French, Belgian, Italian, and Portuguese citizen enjoy the same privileges. All others EU citizens can also obtain a visa at the point of entry (with the exception when coming from Israel), but they need a passport.

source: egyptian-embassy.de/konsulat

Work / I have to decide between two job offers, Berlin vs Wroclaw [44]

As Italian, you will be able to learn German much quicker than Polish and since mastering the local language is key to success, I would recommend Berlin. If you can make like 1500€ net, it would not be a terribly low wage either since the minimum wage in Germany is around 1300€ gross and a lot of Berliners are earning that.

Life / Cost of living in Katowice, Poland [53]


saving more than $1000 per month after taxes and expenses is hard even in the west, considering that he has not only to house and feed himself but also his - most certainly - non working wife. It would be easier in an english speaking country where the wife would have a better chance of also finding work.

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


is this really the most important factor for voters in the Sejm elections? probably not, since all polls asking for that vote show PiS having a continuing commanding lead with a similar margin as in 2015: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_Polish_parliamentary_election frankly, my answer to "kto lepiej reprezentacje Polskę w Europie?" would be "kogo to obchodzi?".

Projections for the 2019 elections today are not only to be taken with a grain, but with a boatload of salt, considering the huge fluctuations in pre-2015 polling. PO then lost the elections in the last couple of weeks(!): niepewnesondaze.blogspot.it/2015/10/w-tygodniu-przed-wyborami-4.html


that would be in line with general polling. 60% don't like her today, and ~62% did not vote for her in 2015.

If you have only 50% election participation, the key to winning the election is high turnout of our own base. It pays better off to energize your own base than to try to win voters from the other side. In this regard, voting against Tusk was a cheap move to keep their own base happy.

Travel / How available is internet/wifi in Poland? [24]

I have a SIM card from play.pl. It is 49zł per month (Internet na kartę == prepaid) for unlimited LTE and the speed is usually fast (Warsaw, Kraków). I use it on an Android smartphone and if occasionally I want other devices to connect, I open a hotspot on the phone, works as usual (I have never found that any provider would block tethering as that would be technically very difficult to implement, as long as one doesn't use anything from Apple).

Language / Help with homework (Polish language learning) (Hurra! Po Polsku - Level 1) [9]

Besides the usual resources on the 'net for looking up conjugations and declensions like pl.wiktionary.org or sjp.pwn.pl, I find the book "301 polish verbs" very helpful, esp. in explaining the use of aspect dokonany vs. niedokonany (in this case: when to use oglądać and when to use obejrzeć).

btw., there is also this "official" słownik: wsjp.pl/ and here I found something I could not decipher: what is the difference between oglądać and oglądnąć? or - unrelated: biegać vs. biegnąć? Those -nąć forms seem to be very rarely used (13.000 hits on oglądnę vs. 13 million for oglądam), but they are used. My friend and part time teacher, a polish native, has no idea. Any takers?