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


That's not what the Constitution states. Article 195, paragraph 1 is very clear that the Tribunal is subject only to the Constitution. There is no mention of the Constitutional Tribunal having to obey lesser law. Legal theory in Poland is very clear on this point : the Constitution is higher than law passed by the National Assembly.

The courts also recognise the supremacy of the Constitutional Tribunal.

At the end of the day, any law can be passed. But you need to enforce that law, and it seems that judges have made it crystal clear that they will recognise rulings by the TK regardless of what the government says or claims.

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

You mean you also are struggling to understand that the Constitutional Tribunal is only subject to the Constitution and not to any lesser law?

Fortunately, the courts in Poland understand the Constitution and have chosen to interpret the TK's ruling as being binding.

Real Estate / Changes to mortgages for EU citizens in Poland with foreign income. [34]


Which actually makes a lot of sense, and puts a stop to the practices seen before.

Having said that, would anyone have predicted 1CHF = 4PLN in early 2008?

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


The Constitution is crystal clear that they are subject only to the Constitution, hence why the courts are now deciding that they will enforce the TK's ruling.


Indeed. It didn't escape my attention that the two recently appointed PiS judges also signed the recent ruling.

Either way, it's all pretty much irrelevant. The courts will treat the ruling as being in force, hence if it's published or not is really quite irrelevant.

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


You haven't read the Constitution, have you?


The Constitution is higher than law passed by the Sejm. It's a basic, fundamental part of law.

Then again, what can one expect from a party where the leader signed up to become a public prosecutor in the PZPR?

But it's a moot point. The courts regard the TK ruling as being effective, hence the TK continues to operate under the rules that they recognise.

Real Estate / Changes to mortgages for EU citizens in Poland with foreign income. [34]

The vast majority of EU nationals wishing to buy property in Poland will either be resident here with a clear source of income from Poland, or they will be financing the purchase themselves - or they will be investing in commercial property, in which case, different rules apply.

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


More lies from Polonius.

The average from the last month -

PiS - 32.6%
Nowoczesna - 19.3%
PO -15.6%

PiS are behind the combined opposition.

News / The European Health Card. Why don't the Poles know about it? Free Medical care. [26]


More or less - yes. The only thing you might find is that you might be offered something 'better' at a price - but everything from the ambulance to the treatment will be free. The Polish NFZ works pretty much like the UK NHS in this respect. But for instance - I know someone that broke their leg. They were offered the standard treatment (which was pretty much exactly as you get in the UK), but the hospital also offered them an MRI scan at an extra price.

That website is rather misleading, because it doesn't give country-specific advice, so don't take it too seriously.

The only thing I would do in your case is try and at least get medical repatriation cover, because the EHIC won't cover you for that.

Study / American Studying abroad in Wroclaw [3]

Okay, first things first - look on Facebook for ESN Wrocław - and choose the one for the university you'll be studying at. That's your social life sorted.

Yes, most young people will speak English, so you don't have to worry there. Some better than others, but you won't have any problem with that.

Money - what about your accommodation?

Law / What is the procedure of immigrating to Poland as a spouse of a Polish citizen? Citizenship through marriage. [11]


So you have no idea what you'll do here and no idea how to do it, but you think it's a good idea?

Here's a clue : it's not.

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

Do we really have to explain how Rzepliński was thrown out of the PZPR for siding with Solidarność, while Kaczyński's henchman Piotorwicz was awarded a special prize by the Party for his work as a public prosecutor during martial law?

Either way, if PiS don't back down now, we're going to see the situation where the government will find their laws to be unenforceable.

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

Well, well, well.

The news coming through now is that the courts are interpreting the TK's decision as being legally binding, even without the formal publication of the ruling by the Constitutional Tribunal. In this case, it means that the PiS law on the Constitutional Tribunal has been thrown out - which means that the TK will continue to rule according to the old rules.

To explain it in plain English - this means that any laws declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Tribunal will not be recognised by the courts in Poland. The government can attempt to bring prosecutions, but these prosecutions will fail if they are under measures declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Tribunal.

Either way, it now means that the courts are opposed to the government. Works for me, and shows how badly thought out this plan of PiS was.

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


You're making things up.

The TK is bound only to the Constitution, as you should be well aware. Article 195, paragraph 1 -


They are not subject to lesser laws - which the law on the TK is.

Furthermore, paragraph 41 of the Venice Commission's decision makes it crystal clear that if the TK is prohibited from ruling on the constitutionality of laws, then it opens the door for any government to simply abandon democracy and the Constitution without any legal consequences. Is that what you really want in Poland?

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


I've said it many times, but the worker faction in Solidarność would have settled for no democracy and the benefits of the nomeklatura. They had little to no interest in democracy. That group became the PiS electorate, and so their anti-democratic ideals are visible.

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


It's crystal clear that if the TK operated to the unconstitutional law that they passed, then nothing would get done. The Venice Commission noted it, almost the entire legal community noted it - the whole thing was designed to paralyse the TK.

I see there are five American senators meeting Duda - it seems that the US is now making it crystal clear that they expect him to stop smirking and behave in accordance with the law.


But who needs to worry about breaking the law when Ziobro decides who gets prosecuted and Duda will pardon any Party members that break the law anyway?

Real Estate / What do you think of my house in Poland? Pictures and description. [66]


google.com/maps/@49.4172761,20.5114932,3a,75y,72.1h,87.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1slnJ8qrxoJGm_Z6i2yXewdw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

Christ. Look at this.

I see exactly what you mean :/ It's no different to that absolute horror of a hotel in Karpacz.

WB : Maybe a daft question, but how did you come across the place?

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


They do. They rule in accordance with the Constitution, which is higher than any law passed by the Sejm.

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


Why can't PiS simply respect the law?

I still don't understand what's so difficult about this.

Real Estate / What do you think of my house in Poland? Pictures and description. [66]

Do you know the history of the place? I mean, who lived there? Anyone interesting?

Real Estate / Changes to mortgages for EU citizens in Poland with foreign income. [34]


Probably best to declare it regardless, just in case. From what I know, the UK-Poland double taxation agreement mentions that pensions are only taxed in the state where you're resident - so if you've got a UK pension in Poland, then it's taxed in Poland.

Real Estate / Changes to mortgages for EU citizens in Poland with foreign income. [34]

Unfortunately, that's not permanent residency, that's temporary residency. Permanent residency can only be obtained after several years living in Poland, though it depends on the individual bank's interpretation.

About your situation - unfortunately, Poland is not a country that hands out money easily. The sticking point is probably the fact that it's a foreign pension and so the bank can't get their hands on it easily if you fail to pay - I know some other people with foreign income that are in a similar boat as the banks simply won't touch them. One guy I know is earning easily over half a million PLN a year netto, yet when he tried to get a mortgage for a buy-to-let property in Sopot, they simply wouldn't touch him unless the money was earnt in Poland.

(by the way - if you're receiving money into a Polish bank account in złoty, remember that you have a tax liability on the pension)

Real Estate / What do you think of my house in Poland? Pictures and description. [66]


No use, it's not at the top of a mountain ;)

I've got some practical questions -

- How did you carry out the work? With your own hands, or did you contract out everything?
- Can you trust Polish contractors?

Work / Salary of a Native Speaker Proofreader in a company in Poland [11]

Something is up here. Why would they look abroad for such a person when there's countless English teachers in Poland that would kill for the chance to get such a deal and who are more likely to understand the thought processes of the translator?

Real Estate / What do you think of my house in Poland? Pictures and description. [66]

Do it WB, it would be nice to have a place to ask some questions about the practicalities of renovation work in Poland.

News / Crash of Tu-154 at Smolensk-North--could it have been a bomb in the Polish plane? [233]


Saying a bit more about this - the TU-154 was designed to land in difficult conditions throughout the Soviet Union, and as far as I remember, it was upgraded to Western avionics so there was no issue with the plane. One thing that was well documented was that the plane needed around 30m in the landing configuration to start pulling away - so they actually and simply begin the go-around way too late.

Mistakes happen, tragically.

News / Crash of Tu-154 at Smolensk-North--could it have been a bomb in the Polish plane? [233]


No-one is saying it publicly, but it's clear that Błasik was putting a huge amount of pressure on the crew.


Not only the Russians, but also the pilots of the Yak-44 made it clear that conditions were dreadful. I'm surprised the rules for VIP flights didn't prohibit landing at airports without an ILS.


Actually, a lot of people said the same thing - that the TU-154M was and is a decent, sturdy plane. The plane wasn't to blame, but rather a combination of factors leading to a hugely stressful situation in the cockpit and just another sad, textbook example of CFIT.

Instead of trying to find blame, we should be asking ourselves why Poles can't seem to look after their leaders properly. Then again, when you've got Duda accepting that speed limits should be broken when he's being transported, is it a surprise that they all end up having accidents?

Work / Salary of a Native Speaker Proofreader in a company in Poland [11]


I'd run a mile. These jobs don't go to people off the street, it's all word of mouth stuff, and any professional proofreader would bite someone's hand off for a full time contract.

Mafketis will know better, but I'm pretty sure that any full time jobs doing this will go to people already in the know.

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]

There's a lot of it, I remember going to one agent and telling her that I had a maximum budget of x and not to even bother showing me anything else. What happens? She takes me to see three properties, all of which were above x.

Mind you, private sellers aren't much better. I went to see one place, and the woman had absolutely no idea what she wanted for it, then she came up with a ridiculous price that was easily 30% more than the value. The place is still empty years on...

That's why I wonder if this agent hasn't done some dodgy deal.

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]


No, not from that perspective, but the aerial perspective. I get what he means now - the photographs on that website don't do it justice.


It's true, but the S5 is getting built now from Poznań and the section Wrocław-Rawicz will be open at the end of next year. So - even as commercial land, it's worth something.

Krzyki is where everything is happening these days I think, but the roads there are just completely choked.

Nadodrze is apparently gentrifying incredibly quickly too.

Law / File complaint against Poland's police [97]


I don't want to share it without Adrian's permission, but when you compare those photos to what was there before, I'm not surprised that he's heartbroken. I even feel upset looking at it :/

Adrian, I've sent you a PM with a link to the property next door. It's also for sale, and it's been zoned for building - so I think there's a very good chance that your plot has also been zoned in the same way. The location is so fantastic that it seems impossible for it to have been left as agricultural land.