Real Estate / Foreigner buying house with 'Rolna'/Rural land in Poland - ever possible? Advice/help. [38]


That's not likely at all. You can't just 'pay' to convert land within weeks, otherwise every single piece of farmland would be converted overnight and the value increased considerably. You can read the real situation here - mojbiznesnieruchomosci.pl/koszty-przeksztalcenia-dzialki-rolnej-w-budowlana - as you can see, it can be cheap, but only if the conditions are met. Otherwise the zoning plan needs to be changed, and that's a bureaucratic nightmare.

By the way, the new restrictions on farmland means that you can't purchase it anyway.

PS: Are you aware of what you're getting yourself into by trying to build from scratch? There are plenty of excellent offers available from developers right now for houses, and unless you have a background in construction/architecture, I wouldn't try and build it yourself. There's a lack of quality construction workers in Poland, and the good ones are booked months in advance. The other thing - banks are not very happy to lend money for house construction.

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


I don't think she would have been up for the job. She's a career politician with no real world experience, but her own political career up until 2015 was absolutely average and notable for nothing. She's only in the job because she does what she's told.

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


Neither is Szydło, based on that ridiculous performance at the European Council.

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


It would be nice if the current generation of Polish kids were brought up that way.

I've read one figure that suggests the "range" of Polish children went from 6km to 1km within a generation. Frightening.

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


I wouldn't place much faith in that. If you look at previous elections, they've proven to be a remarkably unreliable voting bloc, unlike the consistent vote for socialist parties by uneducated older people. Everyone was talking in 2011 about how young people represented new, liberal Poland. When they tire (as they will) of the government's line, they'll move to a new cause.

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


Yes, the "hole" in VAT has been shown to be a complete myth. Instead, all he's done is delay repayments along with some other schemes such as changing the rules for returns in the construction industry,

Interestingly, he also returned to the previous state of affairs, whereby certain professionals such as doctors are allowed to operate without a kasa fiskalna. If they're so serious about combatting fraud, why allow it?

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


Then you'll be against crooked businesses such as PKO Bank BP, which massively increased fees and cut interest payments to clients after the bank tax was introduced, right? And you'll also be against crooked businesses such as PZU, which is granting Party members huge salaries for nothing more than turning up occasionally to meetings, right?


So he could accurately be described as a "bankster", right?

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


Does anyone else wonder why Mateusz was completely silent on the matter while working for BZWBK?

Could it be that he's simply repeating what Jarek has told him to say? The hatred of private business is a hallmark of Kaczyński, who has never worked a day in his life for a real business.

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


It doesn't have to end. PiS are already talking about 5-6:1 against the Euro, meaning they can simply devalue the currency until it's worthless in real terms.

Law / Can a student go in any other Schengen country with a Polish National Visa (D) [46]


There are *some* visas issued for one country only, but it's not common, and when it does happen, they tend to be only short-term visas.


Yes, that's how it worked originally, long term visas were (and still are) a national issue, but they quickly gave up on the idea when they realised that it was unenforceable to restrict people to one country when there were no physical borders in place.

The problem we have now with long term visas is that there's no consistency whatsoever in the application process. Some countries make it very tough to get visas, others (like Poland) couldn't care less and just issue endless amounts of them.


Actually, it is perfectly possible. Germany allows some nationalities to do exactly that - it's listed here. gesetze-im-internet.de/aufenthv/__41.html

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

I still wouldn't be surprised to see it happen, especially if PiS try and rig the results of the local elections. We're already seeing that PO and others are proposing single unity candidates against PiS candidates in the local elections, and I'm almost certain Jarek won't be able to stand the thought of 2006 repeating itself.

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


I came to the conclusion a long time ago that Jarek knows how to play the domestic game very well (by simply repeating what the Communists did, but dress it up in "patriotic" language instead of "internationalist" language), but he's clueless internationally. It reflects the complete inability of Waszczykowski to build a foreign policy, and also reflects the inability to understand that the EU will find a way to pressure PiS in ways that he hasn't contemplated.

The biggest mistake people are making are assuming that he's a reckless idiot. He's anything but - a stupid person wouldn't be able to build a party like PiS that attracts almost fanatical support. He's spent 27 years building this cult, not just 7.

I agree that he wants Tusk in prison, but I think he's also realised that it's going to be nearly impossible to do so without a Polish Majdan taking place.

Feedback / A draft of your message - now automatically saved in your local web browser [5]

Working now, thank you very much for your help Admin!

Feedback / A draft of your message - now automatically saved in your local web browser [5]

Admin, is there any chance you can introduce an option to turn this off?

edit: It isn't working too well - for instance, after I edit this message, I'll see the message saved in the message box even though I've posted it.

second edit: OK, it doesn't save the edit, but if I post a reply, it then saves the reply in the message box as well as posting the reply.

Travel / Traveling to Stuttgart from Poznan and back [7]

I can't link directly I'm afraid, but go on bahn.de, put in Poznan and Stuttgart as the stations, put the date as Saturday and they should come up.

Travel / Traveling to Stuttgart from Poznan and back [7]

I just checked bahn.de - there's a train available, leaving at 10:33, arriving 20:08 - for 49 Euro. EC to Berlin, then ICE to Stuttgart with a change in Mannheim.

Incredible deal, given that it's only a few days in advance. There's even a slightly insane connection with 4 changes that leaves Poznań at 16:32 and arrives into Stuttgart at 03:20, also for 49 Euro, also on ICE all the way (except S-Bahn between Ostbahnhof and Hauptbahnhof in Berlin).

OP, you won't get anything better than this, but you need to book it today to make sure that you get it for 49 Euro.

Travel / Traveling to Stuttgart from Poznan and back [7]


rome2rio.com/s/Pozna%C5%84/Stuttgart

Should be possible to do it for about 100 Euro by bus, though I'd recommend paying a bit more and going by train.

Study / Wroclaw or Krakow or Bialystok to study in Poland? [36]


It's not so much about being expensive as simply not being as good a town for students.

In your case, Wrocław is by far and foremost the best option. There's a lot of international students here, it's not terribly expensive (shared rooms in dormitories are about 500PLN/month in a good location), and there are plenty of cheap places to socialise in, as well as plenty of cheap/free activities in English.

Don't even bother considering anywhere else.

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


If (unlikely, given the latest revelations about him) Kukiz is still around, it's not inconceivable to see them squeaking over the line.


To have 60% of the public want your resignation is huge, and we might finally see Jarek taking the job after all. The end of the PiSlamic State is near!

Perhaps one of their chief propagandists can explain to us why 60% of the electorate want her gone.

Life / Best area to live in Lower Silesia, Poland? Property in a countryside. [33]


Can't imagine it'll be possible to get such a thing in a desirable area where tourists will actually want to rent the place.

There's plenty of houses on the market for those specifications, but as you can see, most of them need pretty major renovations even if the structure is sound.

otodom.pl/sprzedaz/dom/dolnoslaskie/?search%5Bfilter_float_price%3Afrom%5D=100000&search%5Bfilter_float_price%3Ato%5D=200000&search%5Bfilter_float_m%3Afrom%5D=100&search%5Bfilter_float_terrain_area%3Afrom%5D=2000&search%5Bdescription%5D=1

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


I think so too. It's pretty clear that other countries have had enough of Poland now, and I'm almost certain a carrot-and-stick approach will be used. Countries that want to integrate properly will be offered significant financial benefits for doing so, while those remaining in a UK-type position will receive much less. Countries like Poland and Hungary will have to decide whether they want to adopt EU norms along with the cash, or if they think their electorate will be satisfied with far less money.

Still, the actions of PiS was a very clear sign that Poland wasn't ready for EU membership. I've seen plenty of educated commentators saying that the last 26 years may have been just a blip in Polish history, and the country is condemned to return to a miserable existence.

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


It's part of a deliberate plan. Support for the EU in Poland lies at between 70-80%, but as we know from Brexit, a concentrated campaign filled with lies can be effective. A Polexit is very much in their favour - after that, there'll be very little to stop them from manipulating elections and turning Poland into a one party state.

News / FEMI-FASCISTS MARCH AGAIN IN POLAND [126]


That's because they didn't have to. One of the few good things about the PRL was a far more enlightened policy towards women's bodies, although it was just as patriarchal as PiS today.

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


We know what happened. They were simply trying to cause trouble so that they could show that Tusk wasn't supported by everyone. Problem was, no-one in PiS planned for the possibility that all 27 countries would vote for Tusk.


I can see that the concept of "diplomacy" is lost on you.

News / FEMI-FASCISTS MARCH AGAIN IN POLAND [126]

Jon, remember the "defenders of the cross"? They were well known for aggression, hatred, vulgar words and calls for blood, weren't they?

By the way Polly, there were plenty of women on strike who did exactly that in 1980/1. Łódź ring any bells to you?

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

They were attacked because of the way they went about it. If they had proposed a candidate several months ago and spent time promoting them - fine. But they didn't - they pulled a guy out of the hat at the last second (seemingly with a vague promise to him that he would get Waszczykowski's job) and tried to insult the intelligence of other countries in doing so.

Don't look at what Western Europe said, look at what Fico from Slovakia said - that they needed to appoint Tusk ASAP so that Poland couldn't find a way to block it. They not only annoyed Germany and others, but they also annoyed the V4. Plenty of parties that are at least sympathetic towards PiS (such as the HDZ in Croatia) were very clearly against PiS on this.

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


Let me see. Could it be the ignored rulings from the Constitutional Tribunal, perhaps?

There's nothing to see here. Tusk enjoyed huge support from Europe and PiS are now resorting to childish threats.

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


It's a matter of prestige. SGH has tradition and it is public, whereas Kozminski is much more focused on something practical.

Kozminski is better in terms of actual programme, but SGH has the name and traditions. However, in your case, it's unlikely that SGH actually offers anything worthwhile, whereas that course in Kozminski is one of the few good English courses out there.

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


Have you forgotten that the European Council is controlled by the Member States?

Stop reading the PiS propaganda and use your brain. 27 countries were happy to support Tusk, including Hungary. Only 1 wasn't.

News / FEMI-FASCISTS MARCH AGAIN IN POLAND [126]

^^ Play the facts, not the man.


Most psychologists consider being able to vocally express your dissatisfaction with something as a positive trait.

Still, nice to see that you regard all those women that turn up on pro-PiS demonstrations as "troubled individuals who require professional care".