News / Does democratic Poland guarantee it's LGBT citizens respect for human and civil rights? [1169]

Not even his fellow Americans think like that. There's this mega-church in Texas called Lakewood Church, and the guy that runs the church there is quite open about the fact that he believes that everyone is going to heaven regardless of their sexual preferences.

In this case, Johnny is pretending to be religious as an excuse for being abusive towards those that he doesn't like.

News / Does democratic Poland guarantee it's LGBT citizens respect for human and civil rights? [1169]

They are in the minority in many places. Deal with it.

News / Does democratic Poland guarantee it's LGBT citizens respect for human and civil rights? [1169]


Who is "we"? You're certainly not the majority.

News / Have PO (Platforma) operatives in Poland fallen into a panic? [332]


A man of honour indeed, unlike the people in PiS who regard honour as being very much secondary to the central goal of lining their pockets.

News / The only three normal cities with any respect for humanity in Poland [99]


I wouldn't stop them. Genuine refugees will settle (I know of one Syrian guy that works as a cleaner while learning Polish by night), but all those economic migrants will be gone within seconds.

I still don't understand why Poland hasn't sent people to go and pluck the best people out of Turkey and Greece. There's bound to be some decent workers among them, right?

Law / Ways of getting Permanent residency in Poland [101]

Each year resident as a student counts for 0.5 years towards permanent residency.

News / Jurisprudence III RP style -- triumph of lawlessness in Poland [33]


Of course he won't, in the brave new world of PiS, Ziobro simply refuses to put anyone to prison if he doesn't personally agree with the verdict. You don't have to be a genius to see how this one ends, except I can't wait to see people like Greggy turning into PiS haters when they personally suffer because of it.

Work / In Warsaw moving to Lodz...thinking about part time jobs.. [10]

Not really, unless you have local contacts. You might want to try phoning landscape construction companies, who will be busy at this time of the year and might be willing to take on a labourer for such a short term.

Study / Vistula University in Poland. Any experience? Any student? [57]


Are they the same Turks that own that strange school...what's the name, Meridian or something?

Travel / Warsaw - Exchanging Large Sum GBP > PLN in Poland [48]


Nope, doesn't work like that. You actually have to choose the blue lane when arriving from the EU, and your luggage has a special green stripe to show that you're eligible to use the lane. It depends on the airport as to how it's implemented - for instance, Stockholm Skavsta in Sweden requires you to also pass through the blue lane due to the layout of the terminal when arriving from any Schengen destination.

It's true that many airports mix the blue and green channels, but people arriving from EU destinations aren't required to make any declarations. Where it gets complicated is that someone arriving from New York will clear passport control in the first Schengen area airport they land at, but they are required to make the declaration at their final destination, hence why many airports with large amounts of transit traffic still require people to pass through the Customs area even if they're eligible to use the blue channel.

For what it's worth, the blue channel effectively is a bypass channel of the Customs controls and not a declaration in its own right.

As for "cash sniffing dogs", that's definitely up there with attack dogs stationed at a certain square in Warsaw.

Feedback / Sad news today of the passing of a member of our site (Avalon) [16]


I enjoyed some good debates with him too. I'm not going to pretend that I was on great terms with him or anything, but he did give a very real perspective of what it was like to do business here. To his credit, even in the debates about the EU and so on, he was never personal, unlike most posters on here.


Likewise Ironside. He was proud of his daughter, wasn't he?

Law / EU nationals with a child and in cohabitation - long term Poland registration questions, job offer [13]


Just had a thought : actually, it might not be. I've just remembered that Poland doesn't really recognise cohabiting relationships. The child is a non-issue (she's your dependent) - but they might be irritating about the partner's legal status.

Best bet is to ask Migrant Info Point for the latest information - migrant.poznan.pl/en - they are very very nice and helpful.

Law / EU nationals with a child and in cohabitation - long term Poland registration questions, job offer [13]

Are you Finnish? I've been to Helsinki and loved it, and it's always been my dream to go and live in Finland.

Anyway, yeah, in this case, it's pretty much straightforward. You're living together, she has a source of income (you) and there's a child involved.

Law / EU nationals with a child and in cohabitation - long term Poland registration questions, job offer [13]

It's all pretty straightforward and works pretty much like in any other EU country (except the UK/Ireland).

No need for so many questions. If you're working here, you should be paying health insurance in some way or form, which will cover your family.

News / Gazeta Wyborcza of Poland losing readers [301]


One of the oldest cities in Poland. I thought you'd know better than that, Polonius.

News / Russia says: WE'LL NUKE POLAND [150]


Why? Are we as bad as the Soviets?

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


If you want Poland to succeed, shouldn't you want Poland to win at everything?


But why not? Why try and compete with everyone else when Poland could do very well by selling high quality products? Poland already is absolutely fantastic at producing yachts - why not try and replicate that success in high-end products in other sectors?

Producing cars, lorries, etc etc is just a huge moneysink. Most countries simply don't have their own car brands anymore. But pouring a lot of money into producing decent, low-cost electric cars could be a winner and push their adoption into the mainstream. Europe is lagging behind badly in this respect - and there's no reason why Poland couldn't lead the way.

But it all goes back to PiS - they have no interest in modern engineering like this. Kaczyński's economic views are straight from the PRL, which means that the top jobs go to people that he chose personally. What does a shop assistant know about running a special economic zone?

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


PO did plenty of that.


Except the evidence from PiS is that they've managed to destroy *the* luxury Polish brand - the Polish Arabian horse. Judges aren't coming to Poland, buyers are boycotting the auctions - it's a complete disaster, all caused by pure greed.

If they can't even manage a couple of studs successfully, what makes you think they're going to be able to do anything else?

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


Morawiecki is no idiot, and if you were to get him for a quiet word, he would no doubt probably agree completely with Petru's views on the economy. Kaczyński is economically illiterate however, and ill-advised social welfare measures to win votes at the expense of the economy is all he knows.

My hope is that Morawiecki will lead a coup against Kaczyński sooner rather than later. He's certainly building up a power base, and the old man perhaps has the credentials to win over the type of old people that are thoroughly brainwashed by Kaczyński. The last piece of the puzzle is that cat Duda, but with his marriage in trouble and his daughter being mocked constantly at university for her daddy's inability to understand the law while being quite clearly insulted in public by Kaczyński, it might not be so difficult for him to jump ship.

The problem is Polonius - if you want strong Polish companies, then you have to give them strong management that isn't relying on their political connections. If PiS had actually strengthened the SC law and required all top management to be reappointed to their positions with world class experts being appointed to sit on the interview boards, Poland would be far stronger. Instead, Party membership and patronage from the Party elite becomes all you need for a job running Poland's biggest companies.

But you know, Kaczyński doesn't want strong, independent Polish companies. They would represent a threat to his power, and thus they must be neutralised.

News / Foreign investors fear Poland's instability [26]


I hope they don't go near producing a single bus.

Producing stuff for the military is fine and well, the site in Sanok is pretty much ideal for that sort of thing - but please, no buses.

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


Except the fraudulent vote in this case wasn't disqualified and the fraudsters haven't faced the consequences.

Really, Polonius, can't you see the absurdity of allowing members of parliament to get away with blatant fraud?

Even if the vote was re-run, PiS would still have the quorum, so it's just another example of PiS not having any ethics in the slightest.

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


Why does it need overturned? The situation was clear - there was a case of voting fraud. The two guilty members should have been asked to leave, and the vote re-run to make sure that there was no abuse of the democratic process. Job done.

I wonder what you would say if the opposition wins the next election and immediately runs a fraudulent vote in which PiS members are prevented from entering the chamber while the government votes on a law banning PiS members from public life, including holding office. Fraudulent - yes. But as a supporter of fraud...


It doesn't need to be reformed. It needs to be obeyed.


Reminds one of the nonsense that came out of the PZPR after 1968 and especially after December 1981. They were all about decent, patriotic Poles too.

News / Foreign investors fear Poland's instability [26]


You're not going to do that by nationalising them and filling them with Party loyalists, like PiS have done.

If you have ambitions of domestic companies expanding internationally, you help them to locate in the best locations (i.e., not Sanok) and you provide them with as much soft support as you can. For the money wasted on Autosan, they could easily have supported successful Polish transport companies such as Solaris and PESA instead.

Instead, PiS are going to force Polish towns and cities to buy from Autosan, meaning that the company will have no motivation to compete abroad or even to try. Meanwhile, Solaris will be shut out of their home market because of this.

PiS economics were already tried and failed miserably in the past.

Here's a clue : if PiS can't even run a horse stud properly and instead destroyed it within weeks, what hope do they have of running large companies capable of competing abroad? They haven't got a chance.

News / Poland -- Europe's only counterweight to Russia [271]


If they were stupid enough to base their entire livelihood on exporting to Russia of all places, then they deserve all they get. Anyone dealing with Putin knows that the border could close overnight, unlike if you're dealing with Germans or Brits.

They also won't face financial ruin, because the EU is providing financial support for those affected by the sanctions.

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


You mean exactly what PiS have done frequently in the Sejm?


What are you talking about? There's no sabotage involved. The rules are clear - the election required a quorum of MP's, and PiS for some reason didn't have it by themselves. The opposition agreed to simply not be present for the vote, and for some reason, two members of Kukiz'15 chose to openly break the law. The real scandal is that the Speaker accepted the vote as valid even when it was clear that there was a clear case of fraud.


Less power to him, actually. Kukiz'15 voters will be furious that he used Kukiz in such a way. Kukiz is already angry, and it pretty much guarantees that PiS and Kukiz will not cooperate on any plan to change the Constitution. That means any attempt by PiS to pull off a "good change" by altering the Constitution in the middle of the night is doomed to fail.


It's not about the result, it's about the fact that there was a blatant case of fraud and PiS are condoning it. All they had to do was re-run the vote while immediately suspending Morawiecki and that other clown from the chamber. Not difficult, really.


The thing that makes me slightly relieved is that there appears to be no chance of PiS changing the constitution now, therefore ensuring that charges can be easily brought in future.

News / Poland -- Europe's only counterweight to Russia [271]


It would need a fundamental change in Polish attitudes though. I've said it a few times on here - Poland would be wise to let go of history and minor grudges and focus heavily on establishing cooperation with neighbouring states. Poland providing air policing for the Baltic countries was a good start, but there needs to be much, much more. A good idea (for instance) would be to create a joint Polish-Lithuanian border guard under rotating command with responsibility for patrolling the border with Russia and Belarus.

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


I notice how you failed to mention that the Speaker of the Sejm was informed of a fraudulent vote before announcing the result, yet declared the result valid. Yet more blatant abuse of the democractic process.

As for Morawiecki, he was obviously engineering a pretext to join PiS, the clown.


Pretty obvious that Kukiz has no control over his grouping in this case. I wouldn't be surprised if the ones that abstained (rather than simply not being present) join PiS in the next few days in exchange for a large financial donation to an offshore bank account.

News / Poland -- Europe's only counterweight to Russia [271]


...except a blatant lack of democracy.

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

Democracy clearly died in Poland today.

How anyone can defend the actions of the Speaker of the Sejm accepting a vote in which he clearly knew to be fraudulent is entirely beyond me.

thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/248773,Rumpus-in-Polish-parliament-after-voting-irregularity

Law / Buying work visa for Poland [16]

Levi, frankly - you're talking nonsense. It's actually very easy to establish a nursery, and any nursery that follows the programme approved by the Ministry of Education can obtain a monthly grant (up to 75% of the money that a public nursery receives, or 100% if it follows certain additional requirements).

It doesn't take "an incredible high amount of time" - and in fact, the director of the nursery isn't even required to be qualified. Normally, anyone opening a nursery will obtain the building in/around February, recruit for new children until the end of April (in many towns and cities, public nursery places will fill very very quickly) and have all the paperwork completed by the end of May. That leaves June-August for equipping the nursery and completing the recruitment process for new staff.


Absolutely. She won't need so much - it could be done on roughly $50k or even less.


Doesn't have to be an expensive private nursrey, to be fair. Creches are in incredible demand in Poland and yet very difficult to find places - if she opened one in a big city, places would go within days.


In this case, the best thing is to find a good, capable director. There's a lot of nursery staff stuck on 2k net maximum that speak decent enough English that would bite the hand off someone offering 3k net to be the director.

It really depends on what she wants to offer. I'd say the marketplace is saturated with ridiculous "Eko-sportowo" type private nurseries, but there's still huge demand for public nurseries if you can make the finances work.