News / Mieszkania Plus programme - PiS fulfills yet another campaign promise [50]


That number that you're quoting seems to change according to the source. It was claimed at nearly 50 billion, now you're saying 80 billon - the real number expected by the Ministry of Finance when they 'seal' the VAT system (which was planned by PO and is merely only being finished off by PiS) is about 15 billion.

VAT is a very badly implemented tax on the European level - all because stupid Europeans couldn't agree on a single pan-European rate. A lot of complexity and nonsense would be solved if there was a single VAT rate (say 20%) and a single EU tax office to collect it. Every single country has huge problems with VAT because the implemention of it is absolutely idiotic.

News / Mieszkania Plus programme - PiS fulfills yet another campaign promise [50]


They've already reported that social services here have encountered situations where the people got their 500zł and immediately spent it on some booze up - the kids got nothing. Entirely predictable, and it was completely irresponsible to let people spend the money freely.


It's even worse than you first think. If the woman is getting (in theory) 1000zł a month in wages and 300zł a month child maintenance, she gets nothing - even if the father isn't actually paying up.

News / Mieszkania Plus programme - PiS fulfills yet another campaign promise [50]


Exactly, or worse still, the government will guarantee the debts. Part of the plan apparently allows people to simply stop paying rent, with payments simply coming from the money that they've already paid.

News / Mieszkania Plus programme - PiS fulfills yet another campaign promise [50]

Unlikely, because they won't build if there's no money to build them. They've made it clear that the programme is budget-neutral, meaning that the plan is to mortgage the future rent payments to pay for the building of the apartments.

Of course, what people's expectations are (nice flats in nice locations) vs reality (PRL-esque blocks) is also interesting.

News / Mieszkania Plus programme - PiS fulfills yet another campaign promise [50]


But of course. Like in the PRL, Party membership will come with the ability to be mysteriously placed at the top of the list.


Except there's one slight problem : the plan relies on investments from private sources. We'll see what happens.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

PiS really are the gift that keeps giving. Another day, another scandal.

superstacja.tv/wiadomosc/2016-06-01/kompromitacja-msz-byly-esbek-przyjmie-delegacje-panstw-nato

This time, it concerns the well known SB man, Jarosław Spyra. He's now working for the MSW, helping to organise the NATO summit in Warsaw. Time and time again, we see that PiS = PZPRbis.

Life / Stereotypes about Polish people being stupid? [281]


It's probably seen best in the pathetic attitude towards volunteering - Poland's rates are the lowest (or second lowest) in the EU, and it's nearly impossible to engage anyone over the age of 25 or under 18 in social causes.

Any idea why this is?

Law / Starting a private kindergarten in Poland [44]


I can highly recommend someone if you give me your e-mail address.

Law / Statistics of crime rates in Poland [42]


Ewa Kopacz came up with a clever solution to this - instead of banning them, the sellers get prosecuted under food safety laws. It's a very effective way of shutting down the sellers, as they can't prove that the 'food' is safe to consume.


No, people in Poland are pretty much against such laws. PiS were always dead against it, and PO never saw any political gain in it. There are always some pro-weed groups in the Sejm, but they don't have popular support.


What I've seen suggested is quite clever. You give someone a fine like a parking ticket, but you train the officers to try and elicit where it came from. If they can do it, you can bust the big guys while the small time guy gets a fine and nothing more. Makes sense to me.


This is the somewhat insane system used in much of Europe. The judge in this case also investigates - so what happens is that the judge calls the parties to court to ask some questions, then adjourns the trial for weeks while he continues the investigation. It's complete nonsense - the American-style adversarial system makes so much more sense. The other issue is that the judge is required under the investigative system to be familiar with everything in the case, whereas in the adversarial system, he/she is only required to establish whether the defendant is guilty or not based on the evidence presented by the prosecutor.


Yep, it's very common on long weekends to be stopped. One cool thing that the police started doing was quick checks - they approach you at the traffic lights, get you to quickly blow into the machine and if you're clear, off you go. Much better than stopping people at checkpoints.


Yep, .02 it is. Must say, it's a good law - Poles are idiots on the roads, and letting them have any more than 0.2 in the system is asking for trouble.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


... Ugh, thank you Polonius, you're right. Writing in Polish is not my strong point :/


Well, you have to remember that the election was won in places like that - PiS limited the damage done there, whereas in 2007/2011, they were losing by a landside in those provinces. PiS won only 17% of the vote in 2011 in the town - from what I can see, PiS went from 3 to 5 MP's in 2015 in the electoral district.

Should be a warning call to PiS. The latest opinion polls are also very interesting from TNS:

Government : 34% good, 55% bad
Szydło : 40% good, 49% bad
Duda: 43% good, 47% bad

I dare say the days of Szydło are coming to an end. The electoral promises will be forgotten about as "Szydło's promises" and Morawiecki will get a shot at being PM.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Yep. It's now coming out that the 500+ programme is unfunded - the mayor of Wadowice (where JPII was from) came out on Monday and said that they simply don't have the funds to pay for all of it because central government hasn't transferred the cash - so they won't pay it because the alternative is taking money from the budget of the council (which means slashing municipal spending, including salaries).

Other administrations are saying the same thing about not having the money to support the administration of 500+
rmf24.pl/fakty/polska/news-powazne-problemy-z-obsluga-programu-rodzina-500-brakuje-pien,nId,2207616


The article goes on to say...


There's also a lot of gossip that within PiS, there is "strong opposition" to the programme. Those following Polish politics know that it's likely to be the Morawiecki camp that's against it, particularly as it's sucking up a lot of money that could be used to invest in Polish businesses.

Law / Statistics of crime rates in Poland [42]

The problem is that any attempt to overhaul the legal system is going to met with a lot of suspicion from the opposition, and it also undermines the independent judiciary.

PO tried to speed things up by establishing the adversarial system in courts, which relieved judges from the duty of investigating the case themselves. PiS (of course) changed it back.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


"Hey, Orban... remember that giant project you planned? That one that could provide plenty of high paid jobs for Fidesz? You need a few billion Euro, right? So...what do you say - vote against Poland and we'll transfer Poland's cash to you instead? Deal? Excellent."

Don't be so naive. Orban couldn't care less about Poland, he only cares about his own power. Screwing Poland over in exchange for a huge bribe would be nothing unusual for him.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


What are you going on about? The land law has already totally screwed up many Polish landowners.Far from being pro-Polish, it's actually ruined a lot of farmers livelihoods. A lot of farmers were looking forward to selling fields in undesirable places to pay for their retirement, only to have it snatched from under their nose.

Furthermore, the law has actually caused significant problems for farmers. It was quite normal for farmers to take loans mortgaged against their landholdings to pay for farm improvements - now they can't do it. They also cannot sell their land freely, which is complete madness - and very communist.


You really don't seem to understand what happened today, do you? The point is that it's clear that Poland has a final chance to sort it out. Now we wait and see what PiS come up with - though the only acceptable solution is for the three legally appointed judges to be sworn in.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


What pro-Polish government? They're increasing all sorts of taxes, the złoty is the worst performing currency in Europe, there's a complete mess in the legal system - this is pro-Polish? In which fantasy world?


You really are in dreamland if you think it's a "free hand". A Polish solution means that Poland has to find a solution. That means following the law.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Notice how "NocyMrok" is such a patriot that he lives...in the UK :D

back to the topic please

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


You do realise that what he meant is that Poland has to fix it, right? The EU can merely 'encourage' - which is what's happening at the minute. It's not the EU's job to make laws for Poland, it's Poland's job.

The gossip going around now is that Szydło has agreed that the three legally appointed judges will be sworn in, but I'll believe it when I see it.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


If Poland wants the cash, Poland will behave.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Sure. But don't forget that the EU can also order comprehensive audits into how their cash is being spent, and when it becomes obvious that there's widespread corruption, simply stop funding Poland until the EU is certain that it's above board. The money doesn't flow, PiS start struggling to find cash to finish roads/railways/etc and the government falls. Job done.

Don't forget that many countries such as France, the Netherlands and the UK wouldn't be that bothered if Poland left.

Latest poll, and a very interesting one.

wyborcza.pl/1,75398,20131818,sondaz-dla-faktow-tvn-pis-umacnia-sie-na-pozycji-lidera.html?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=SM&utm_campaign=FB_Gazeta_Wyborcza

PiS - 37%
Nowoczesna - 20%
PO - 17%
Kukiz'15 - 5%
SLD - 5%

If you put Kukiz in the PiS camp and the SLD into the PO/Nowoczesna camp - it's a 50/50 split between pro-government and the opposition.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Good link. This headline sums it up perfectly :


It goes on to say :


Exactly what we've been saying on here. It's nothing but PZPRbis tactics - while the PZPR used internationalism, friendship and "peace" as slogans, PiS use nationalism. Nothing really different at all.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Seeing as Polonius will never report the news...

polskieradio.pl/5/3/Artykul/1622779,Kandydat-PO-wygrywa-przedterminowe-wybory-samorzadowe-w-Trzebiatowie


Newsworthy is the fact that the PiS candidate obtained a mere 19.09% of the vote. In comparison, PiS in the same area won 27% of the vote in the election to the Sejm, meaning that they've lost 8% of the electorate in 6 months.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]

Just needs to be pointed out here : the złoty is again in the toilet.

1EUR = 4.44PLN
1CHF = 4.00PLN
1USD = 3.96PLN

It's lost 4% this quarter so far, and markets are now starting to believe that PiS could attempt a referendum on Poland leaving the EU. All in all, a total disaster.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


They don't need to send tanks in. It's enough to suspend the CAP payments to Polish farmers.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


You're reporting this word for word from TVPiS.

The reality is that the European Commission gave the deadline of Monday - not as an ultimatum, but a simple warning that things would process if Poland didn't comply by Monday. From what I gather, Poland has two weeks from the date of the public warning or recommendations will be issued to Poland. These recommendations will almost certainly include solving the TK issue and fixing the mess with TVPiS. If Poland fails to comply, then we see Poland being recommended for sanctions.

You might think Hungary will save Poland from sanctions, but a simple agreement to provide Hungary with a couple of extra billion Euro will soon see that veto becoming a non-issue.

I suspect that the European Commission may also have been waiting to see what happened in Austria.

Off-Topic / Eurovision - Today I will be ashamed to be Polish [481]


Who produces Eurovision? Ah, the EBU.

The only joke here is you for not understanding how the European Brodcasting Union works, pal.


Cry me a river, Ktos.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


Say no more, say no more.

Anyway, today's events in the Sejm should be brought up. Szydło gave a wreck of a speech - she was shouting and raving in the Sejm, and then was comprehensively torn apart by the opposition. It's hard to see her surviving for much longer as PM - opinion polls are consistently showing that her government isn't popular (the latest one showed more people supporting KOD than Szydło).

Petru, leader of Nowoczesna, had this to say :


Couldn't have said it better myself. Szydło is in a world of trouble - she knows that her government is increasingly unpopular (some areas of Poland are expressing over 50% dissatisfaction with her governmet) - and her emotional speech today is not going to help any.

Law / How do I verify a Polish company's existence? [240]

I would check them out here - en.krd.pl/Home - an entry in the KRD is usually a sign to run to the hills.

Travel / Best place to exchange money in Poland? [98]


Banks aren't terrible, but worse than kantors. For serious amounts of cash (regular transactions of 20k Euro or above, or one-off transactions of over 100k Euro), the banks can beat kantors.

A friend has a deal with his bank where he calls them to agree a rate, then he has access to a special online facility that allows him to make the exchange. The converted money is back in his account within 15 minutes - and the rates offered are staggeringly good - he'll never pay more than 0.75gr over/under the interbank rate, and his all-time record was to get within 0.23gr. I was there at the time, and if he had exchanged 150,000EUR instead of 120,000EUR, they would have been able to offer him 0.18gr.


Heck, negotiate regardless. Any decent kantor will always offer something.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


How nice of you to regurgitate PZPR propaganda. That's exactly what they wanted to do as well.


Don't you believe in freedom of expression? Well no, of course you don't, seeing as you grew up in a Communist family that happily socialised with SB agents.

News / Poland's post-election political scene [4080]


What a surprise to see you promote the same views as your PZPR family promoted. The PZPR were also virulently anti-semitic after 1968, which you would have drank along with your mother's milk.

Anyway, what a surprise that Polonius hasn't posted the latest news.


thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/253378,European-Commission-gives-Poland-deadline-over-Tribunal

PiS have until Monday to resolve the situation, or the European Commission will escalate the matter further. Clearly the EU has had enough with Poland, and now the pressure is building further on PiS to obey the law.

No doubt our patriots will proclaim that Poland should just leave the EU, yet none of them has a satisfactory answer for what will replace EU cash in Poland.