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


What has that got to do with preventing terrorism?

Yet again, we see PiS enacting yet more communist law.


There are certainly questions over non-EU citizens in Poland that worked for the PZPR and who obtained property at a knock-down price due to their connections.


Your argument is a minority view and the courts (who interpret the law) don't support your ideas. Furthermore, the view isn't shared by constitutional experts.


The TK is bound only to the Constitution. They are intentionally above the law to prevent governments from using the law to abuse the TK.

If you've got any evidence that the TK is actually bound to lesser law, let's see it.

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


They are part of the judicial branch of power.


Interesting idea. What would PiS do when the Supreme Court also refuses to side with them?


Just think : over 100 members of the commission, all on 25,000zł/month. Most of them know nothing about aviation.

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

The TK rulings are above ordinary law. It's an important part of the division of power that the Constitutional Tribunal is not subject to laws passed by parliament, as it would result in the lesser branch being able to stop the work of the higher branch.



It's absolutely crystal clear that the Constitutional Tribunal is not bound by lesser law. The vast majority of the legal profession agrees with that observation, and the courts have declared that the TK's ruling is binding on them.

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



Sorry that you find such plain language to be difficult.

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


What, for choosing to only release files relating to other parties and covering up their own?

More to the point, the lustration courts already proved that multiple names on the list weren't actually collaborators. Macierewicz simply did it to eliminate perceived enemies, just like he does today.

Life / Opinions about priests in Poland [10]


Usually to be found with expensive clothes, nice cars, nice living quarters, a lover and possibly several children.

The more conservative the priest, the bigger the hypocrite he is likely to be.

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


No, I meant rather in the sense of "all but the SLD, where almost everyone has departed except those from the good old days".


You do need to remember to add that the Centre Agreement just so happened to be the ones releasing the files.

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


You'd probably find similar numbers in almost all parties.

Don't forget that many people were members of allied organisations to the PZPR, such as the way that the majority of teachers were members of the ZNP by default, which in turn allied to the OPZZ which was a member of PRON.

The sooner we get rid of the PZPR-Solidarność duopoly in Polish politics, the better.

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


Why should there be compromise when the Constitution is crystal clear on the matter?

At the end of the day, you're actively supporting the wrecking of Polish democracy for political gain. Family in the PZPR by any chance?

News / What kind of Poland do most Poles want? [101]


My favourite church here (with a head priest who really, to me, is the definition of a Christian) gets it perfectly. Instead of spending cash on nice robes, marble floors and nice cars - he wears old clothes, drives an absolute wreck of a car and spends a ridiculous amount of time organising things for the local community. I need to take a picture of the huge, huge noticeboard that lists all the activities they do - all organised and run by volunteers.

They even have table tennis coaching! It really is a perfect example of how the church is the hub of the community.

Meanwhile, another church about a kilometre away does nothing for the community, the church is freezing in winter and the priests all have nice clothes, nice cars and the church is lavishly decorated. No surprise which one I attend on occasion ;)

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


The interesting thing is that it's becoming more and more obvious that judges will simply refuse to find anyone guilty that is being tried under laws deemed unconstitutional by the TK. Even PiS have admitted that the majority of the legal profession is against them on this, and the TK will keep on ruling regardless of what PiS say.

Food / Possible to find Indian vegetarian food in Poland? [17]

Yeah, there's nothing like making it from scratch, but I'm only able to make good kormas and tikka masalas. I haven't managed to make a decent madras yet, so the sauces come in handy there.

Speaking of curry, I tried a lamb curry a couple of weeks ago...vile :(

Food / Possible to find Indian vegetarian food in Poland? [17]


I just bought an absolute tonne of sauces (with some extra spices) from Lidl for 2.77zł each. I can cook the sauces from scratch, but they do a great job when lazy ;)

They've got regular Asian weeks with all sorts of Indian stuff.

Failing that, littleindia.pl/ is your friend.

News / What kind of Poland do most Poles want? [101]


I'm not surprised. Outside of Prague, they're consistently friendly and open towards people speaking Polish.

I've never had a problem with speaking Polish there, and I don't use English there unless I'm absolutely stuck and they don't understand anything in Polish (which hasn't happened yet).

Likewise, Poles seem to be very open and friendly towards Czechs too.

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

Saw it. The solution is actually very simple - all PiS have to do is to annul the law that they themselves passed. Constitutional deadlock broken and the legal situation restored.

News / What kind of Poland do most Poles want? [101]


Interesting question Polonius - volunteering rates in Poland are the lowest (or nearly the lowest) in the EU. How would you change this?

I've got a project on the go to try and bring high quality classes from experts to poor schools - but it's proving very, very, very difficult to attract experts willing to give up their time. A project to go on litter-picking campaigns worked - but again, it was very hard to attract adults.

Certainly, a Poland where people regard the environment and volunteering as being important is the kind of Poland I'd like to live in. American-style volunteering would be great here.

Law / Freelance taxes in Poland, made simple. [12]


Nothing special - speak to your accountant about how they want you to do it. The easiest way is to issue invoices in two currencies, but if you're using a kasa fiskalna, your accountant will want it done in a certain way.

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


Which means a Constitutional prohibition on the stunt that PiS pulled - only two readings of the law, being enacted immediately, etc etc. PiS would never agree to such a system.


Pointed out by Ziobro, and as all independent commentators have observed, it's a threat to Szydło not to try and go against the will of the Dear Leader Chairman Kaczyński.

After all, it's only a criminal matter if the prosecutors (controlled by PiS) decide to prosecute. But above all else, breaking the Constitution is far more severe than breaking an illegal law anyway.

Work / Living in Wroclaw... Any tips on jobs and salaries (sales/marketing) in Poland? [17]

To be honest, if you can get the job done in sales, you should offer to take the minimum wage with a huge commission. There's a distinct lack of people in Poland that can sell to English speaking markets, and many companies would bite your hand off if you can deliver.

I was talking to some company recently about using their product, and you wouldn't believe how bad they were at sales. I even had to tell their sales rep to start her pitch again from the beginning because it was so unbelievably awful.

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


That priest is pretty much considered to be a renegade and not representative of the RCC anyway. He's the same clown that tried to perform a symbolic exorcism on President Komorowski.

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


I really wonder how you can call others ultra-left when PiS have implemented a very communist programme.

Usual tactic of communists, of course - attack the opposition and accuse them of doing exactly what they themselves are doing.

Work / Living in Wroclaw... Any tips on jobs and salaries (sales/marketing) in Poland? [17]


B2B, in the field of medicine. But yeah, the base is low, but the commission percentage is ridiculously high - he did say that there's absolutely no upper limit and that someone talented could go higher than that. Apparently it's the way things are done in his field - I have no idea about sales, so I can't tell you if this is just the way the company is run or if it's normal for Poland. He also said that it's all open to negotiation - the right sales guy that brings in a tonne of business would easily be able to ask for a very large commission.

Real Estate / New land law legislation in Poland will make life very difficult when it comes to selling. [21]

You've summed it up very nicely. There's some debate over whether or not the European Commission will take an interest, especially as it relates to the seizing of assets by the agricultural property agency.

Either way, no other government since 1989 has attempted to seize the private assets of farmers.

It's based on the Hungarian example, which saw prime farmland turned over to close associates of the ruling party.

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


Indeed. Constitutional law is higher than law passed by the National Assembly. I'm surprised you're having difficulty with this.


Which is meaningless, because the law governing the TK has been struck down as being unconstitutional. The TK is operating under the law that they recognise as being valid, and the courts have backed up this interpretation.

For all the attempts by PiS to clutch at some poor legal theories, the most important is how the courts view the situation. So far, not a single court has announced that they refuse to recognise the TK's ruling. Effectively, it means that the PiS TK law is on the books but cannot be enforced, while any decisions of the Constitutional Tribunal will be recognised by lower courts.

Either way, Duda has been pretty much universally condemned by the legal profession.

Work / Living in Wroclaw... Any tips on jobs and salaries (sales/marketing) in Poland? [17]

Adrian, got some numbers for you. I asked a friend what he would be willing to pay someone with your background, and he said 3,000zł net base with on target earnings of around 18-20,000zł a month gross. That's in sales to an English speaking market, but based in PL.

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


Interesting that you don't want him to obey the law.

Nothing new for supporters of communism, of course.

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


Interesting idea. All Duda has to do is receive the oath from the legally appointed judges and as you say, the problem is solved.

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


The TK isn't subject to lesser law than the Constitution. The Constitution makes that crystal clear.

Remember, even the latest two PiS judges signed the latest judgement. Doesn't that tell you something?

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


What, you're trying to suggest what's clearly written in the Constitution is somehow wrong?


Incorrect. The Constitutional Tribunal is subject only to the Constitution, as clearly written in Article 195, paragraph 1. The Constitution is higher than law passed by the National Assembly, hence why courts are now deciding that they regard the decision of the Constitutional Tribunal as being legally binding.


Okay, so it's clear that the Constitutional Tribunal has the right to rule in this case.


The Constitutional Tribunal is a central constitutional organ of the State, and thus is empowered to rule on any dispute.


The judgement has been made, and the courts are now ruling that they will obey the judgement.


There is no provision here for Szydło or anyone else to refuse the publication of the judgement.


So it's clear : the judges on the Constitutional Tribunal are not bound by any laws passed by the National Assembly, but only the Constitution.

Ironside, couldn't you just be honest and admit that the whole plan is to paralyse the TK? It would be a lot more honest than trying to argue something that isn't supported by the majority of the legal profession in Poland as well as the Venice Commission.

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

Now you're just being silly.

The whole process is explained nicely in the Constitution from article 188 onwards. The role of the Constitutional Tribunal in this case is to adjudicate, and the point of such a process is that it's open to hear the viewpoint of people involved in the case.

Incidentally, the courts are following this.


PiS will continue to harass, but as long as judicial independence is maintained, we're safe from the Party.