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

Polonius, can you explain why you seem to find the idea of a fair and transparent recruitment process to be a problem?

PiS have done exactly what they accused PO of - they've filled the halls of power with their own men and women.

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

Isn't this a golden chance for PiS to start off in the right way?

Public competitions, judges taken from the best in Europe, objective and transparent decision making and processes and PiS would be flying in the polls instead of dropping like a stone.

News / Mateusz Matyszkowicz, executive director of Fronda will lead TVP Kultura [15]

Kaczyński is all about power at the expense of the nation, and PiS are only "pro-Polish" if by that, you mean "orientated towards Russia", just like Hungary these days.

News / Mateusz Matyszkowicz, executive director of Fronda will lead TVP Kultura [15]


Nice try, but they're just very much on the leash of Jarosław Kaczyński and PiS. Given that the party has very strong links with the PZPR and has just signed a very unfavourable deal with Russia with oil, I think we all can see where this is going.


Any proof of your allegations?


Given that PiS is controlled by the nomeklatura...


A new lease of life in which Party membership is required for any sort of career advancement in public life.

News / Mateusz Matyszkowicz, executive director of Fronda will lead TVP Kultura [15]

I think one has to begin by understanding what PiS are doing in Poland. They are filling up almost every single governmental position and state company position with people that are loyal to them - mostly young people with little/no experience or older people who were prominent members of the Polish Communist Party, the PZPR. These people are not "Solidarity activists", but rather the kind of people that look east to Russia rather than west to Europe.

Matyszkowicz is a perfect example of this. He doesn't have any experience in TV production, doesn't have experience in management (a small fringe publication hardly counts) - but he's a loyal PiS member that can be trusted to produce the Party line.

News / Mateusz Matyszkowicz, executive director of Fronda will lead TVP Kultura [15]

Strange that many ex-PZPR members found their way straight into PiS and now into many governmental positions, isn't it?

News / Mateusz Matyszkowicz, executive director of Fronda will lead TVP Kultura [15]


It's the kind of news that can only help the opposition. TVP Kultura will become an absolute joke, and it confirms what we've all been saying - that PiS will simply turn the public media into PZPR-bisTV.

And again, he has no experience with teleivison, not much experience with the media and is yet another PiS crony.

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


Is that why PiS have appointed nothing but members of their network to prominent positions?


It's funny how you openly accuse PO of doing exactly what PiS are doing. Very communist.


If that was even slightly true, why didn't PiS organise public competitions for all the top jobs?

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


I think Kaczyński is trying to emulate the Orban example of controlling all the institutions so that he can control the next election, but I think he's made the fatal miscalculation that while Hungary was tolerated to a certain extent, Poland won't be. Orban is a minor irritant, but Hungary doesn't play any particular role in EU affairs. Poland is different, and the strong, strong reaction of European institutions towards Kaczyński says it all. I think they will survive 4 years because Kukiz will prop them up, but we can expect to see strong attack after strong attack on the media.

The icing on the cake will be when European companies start announcing that they're withdrawing from investments in Poland because of the political situation - Poles care about money far more than "patriotism", after all.

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


And they're in trouble. Big trouble.

wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/sondaz-ibris-dla-onetu-niespodziewany-lider-pis-na-drugim-miejscu/x3js96

29.6% Nowoczesna
27.3% PiS
16.2% PO
7.0% Kukiz'15
5.4% ZL
4.5% PSL
3.3% Korwin
2.2% Razem
4.2% don't know

Stunning. PiS have lost the entire centrist vote that voted for them, and they're now losing their core support too. PiS are on a clear downwards trend, and it will be very hard for Kukiz to shake off the "pro-government" image that the opposition will paint him with.

It's worth pointing out that these results show that some hardcore PiS voters have gone to Nowoczesna/PO - which means that they're very unhappy with this government. Certainly, the sidelining of Szydło has been massively unpopular with the younger female electorate.

Law / Working in Poland while being self employed in the UK and paying tax and in there [24]


That still leaves the considerable problem of earnings in the UK that can't be repatriated to Poland. How would your proposal help them to avoid Polish taxation/ZUS contributions? Furthermore, if they're using self employment in the UK, then ZUS will simply treat it as that they should be self-employed in Poland and not in the UK, hence they will receive a hefty bill if caught.


Not yet, anyway. But ZUS has been very interested in those theoretically working abroad recently - if he's registered through ZUS for NFZ coverage and yet is found to be working in Germany, he's going to get questioned one day about it. The potential liabilities are eyewatering on German wages... and yes, ZUS have access to EU social insurance databases.

Law / Working in Poland while being self employed in the UK and paying tax and in there [24]

The Polish Embassy won't help you. If you want to clarify the situation, you need to ask the local tax office and Social Institution Institution where you plan to live to give you a written ruling on the matter. However, tax law is pretty clear on the matter.

Law / Working in Poland while being self employed in the UK and paying tax and in there [24]


Unfortunately, it's not so simple. If he's working (even if unpaid) for her business, then they have to pay ZUS contributions for him too. All family members fall under this rule. If he also declares minimum earnings, it's bound to attract the interest of the tax office, especially if they find a UK registered company in his name.


He's asking for a control to take place and for him to be hammered. They're really, really going after such people - ZUS has started querying other EU social security databases and using it to question people's affairs. Someone that spends most of their time in Poland will be liable for Polish taxation, especially if he's extending a house here.

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


Hard to take the man seriously when anyone who knows anything about Kaczyński knows that he simply wasn't there.

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


I don't recall PO ever appointing a completely inexperienced 25 year old to look after the property of the Polish military, simply because he ran a club for 200 students.

Law / Working in Poland while being self employed in the UK and paying tax and in there [24]

True, but they would have to open a UK limited company for that and pay corporation tax on the profits.

Law / Working in Poland while being self employed in the UK and paying tax and in there [24]

You'd have to have a branch office here and pay Polish taxation, which would be worse as you wouldn't be able to deduct business expenses while paying the same rate of taxation.

Law / Working in Poland while being self employed in the UK and paying tax and in there [24]

You have to register as a Polish company. If you and your wife work in the same company, you need to pay 2xmandatory social insurance contributions.

Everything is here - prod.ceidg.gov.pl/ceidg.cms.engine/

Law / Working in Poland while being self employed in the UK and paying tax and in there [24]


You can't. If you're resident in Poland, you need to be self employed in Poland.

Don't even bother trying to get out of it. The Polish tax authorities and the Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) have been going after such people quite heavily lately - if you're caught, you're liable not only for the full avoided social insurance contributions (over 1000PLN/month per person) but also fines of 100% of the avoided income tax as well as paying the original tax due. The new government has also made it very clear that they intend to treat tax evasion very seriously.

In theory, you can get away with it. But Poland doesn't have the same concept of bankruptcy as in the UK - they will chase you for every last złoty until the debt is paid, and they can be relentless. It's not worth it.


Not quite so simple. The law says that you're liable for Polish taxation if you are either a) resident for more than 185 days in Poland or b) your centre of vital interests is in Poland. If you have a property in Poland as well as children here, then you will be tax resident under criteria b) and therefore be liable for Polish taxation.


Doesn't make a difference. Your residence is what matters.

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

tomaszlis.natemat.pl/167455,dziekuje-pis-owskim-hejterom

Excellent column by Tomasz Lis. The amount of hatred from the PiS-controlled media and paid online trolls is hilarious - yet they've done nothing but energise him and provide him with motivation.

For one, I encourage all this hatred in the PiS-media. We've already observed how the centrist voters are very reluctant to admit not voting/voting for PiS, and the pressure is growing and growing. Keep it up, haters!

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


In theory, but I think the market knows fine well that this government is unpredictable and liable to slap random taxes on things without much discussion or consultation. Their plan to toll all sorts of roads will certainly hurt domestic demand, for instance.


It's veering uncomfortably close to 4.50. Even the PLN has now fallen considerably against the CZK - which is a terrible sign.

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


I'm glad you've finally admitted that the real agenda behind PiS is TKM. Took you a while, but finally, we have the admission that PiS = PZPRbis.

Just for kicks, this has been floating around today.

wyborcza.pl/1,76842,14562253,Zbigniew_Ziobro___W_kierownictwie_PiS_jest_grupa_bylych.html#ixzz3wOIuYRwv

Zbigniew Ziobro, current Minister for Justice, said in 2013 that...


It's becoming more and more obvious that for all the talk of anti-communisation by PiS, the party has all along been a front for ex-PZPR members that wanted to regain the control they lost in 1989. It's entirely similar to Milosevic's "Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution", which was actually a front by the Yugoslav Army and Communist Party of Serbia to maintain power.

Fun and games with the złoty today...

1USD = 4.04PLN
1EUR = 4.34PLN

Excellent article here explains why the government's actions are causing the currency to have problems.

brecorder.com/markets/fxmm/europe/271123-zloty-hits-three-week-low-on-concern-over-budget-new-laws.html

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

lodz.wyborcza.pl/lodz/1,35153,19431749,brat-witolda-waszczykowskiego-awansowal-na-dyrektora.html]

The sleaze and corruption around PiS continues to grow.

It transpires that the brother of the Foreign Minister, Witold Waszczykowski, has just so coincidentally been promoted to the position of the director of the tax control office in £ódź. The previous director was fired for... well, nothing. But PiS are all about nepotism and corruption, hence someone had to lose their job.

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

Polonius, the difference is - 140zł return isn't going to hurt me. But your "ordinary Polish families" that you love to talk about would have to think very carefully about whether or not they can afford to visit family.

Shows that your concern about "ordinary Polish families" was completely false.

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

Where's Polonius when you need him to talk about how the ordinary Polish family cannot afford huge road taxes?

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

Entirely as predicted, PiS now intend to hurt the road users.

auto.dziennik.pl/drogi/artykuly/509711,rzad-pis-podniesie-ceny-oplat-za-przejazd-autostrada-nowe-stawki-po-podwyzce.html

It seems that not only the tolled GDDKiA motorways will double in price, but that PiS also intend to make expressways (S-class roads) tolled. The discussion is that the roads owned by the country will have tolls as high as 20gr/km - which means that someone driving from Wrocław to Warsaw would have to pay nearly 70zł each way.

Like I said - PiS are all about taxes. Lots of taxes.

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

Polonius, have you forgotten already how PiS tried to get the United States to get involved with the whole Smolensk issue? :)

Anyway, PiS are now in the pressure cooker. Can they survive?

Classifieds / Random Classifieds Ads Poland [261]

Absolutely do not do this. The guy posting this will receive a significant cash bonus for doing so, and you also cannot trust strangers on the internet with personal data.

Best to apply directly to IBM via 05.ibm.com/employment/pl/ibm-wroclaw/

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]


Tesco Finest or M&S again ;)


I found a particularly cruel one infused with chilis a couple of weeks ago in Kaufland.


I made that mistake once.

By "mistake", I mean "my eyes were watering".

Food / British food products in Poland? [334]


Tecso, T&J (in Wrocław) and Marks & Spencer are your friends. You can also try Kuchnie Świata and Alma.