News / US Investor seeks 700 million dollars in damages from Poland [45]


yes, the FT is reporting the same figure today: ft.com/content/a26dda50-af3b-11e7-aab9-abaa44b1e130

but also in this piece, it says: "Michael Polsky, the founder and chief executive of Invenergy, said the dispute had now been raging "for three-plus years".", meaning that they "have exhausted [their] commercial and legal remedies in the country" and are now sueing the current goverment for actions that were undertaken during the previous government. Since the termination of the SPVs had something to do with falling energy prices, 2014 sounds like a reasonable timeframe because mid of 2014 we had the big oil price drop and with it came also a downturn in wholesale electricity prices.


for this reason, the BITs usually open the door for independent courts, also in the PL-USA BIT:


investmentpolicyhub.unctad.org/Download/TreatyFile/5339

In general, nothing can be inferred just from the plaintiff complaining. It is currently just that: a "media offensive". It is up to the courts to decide whether the case has any merits.

Language / What's the difference between może and chyba? [4]


this. You might expect this meaning since może is (also) the 3rd p. sg. of móc - which both means potrafić, mieć możliwość - someone is able to do something - and mieć pozwolenie - someone is allowed to do something - but also wyrażenie przypuszczenia - expression of presumption - and the latter meaning overlaps with chyba. Examples from Swan in increasing degree of certainy:

Może Janek będzie chciał ci towarzyszyć. Maybe Janek will want to accompany you.
Chyba Janek będzie chciał ci towarzyszyć. I suppose Janek will want to accompany you.
Prawdopodobnie Janek będzie chciał ci towarzyszyć. Probably Janek will want to accompany you.

chyba has additionally a meaning of unless:
Przyjadę, chyba żebym zachorował. I'll come unless I get sick. This cannot be expressed with może. On the other side, może can be used for expressions that carry no doubt at all:

Może pływać w głębokiej wodzie, a bateria wytrzymuje 10 dni. It can swim in deep water and the battery lasts 10 days.
innpoland.pl/137317,moze-plywac-w-glebokiej-wodzie-a-bateria-wytrzymuje-10-dni-polska-firma-wypuscila-supertelefon-za-250-zl
Here, może has a totally distinct meaning from chyba, because there is no uncertainy.

(the usual cavaet applies: non-native speaker here too, take everything with a grain of salt).

News / President Duda rules out homo marriage in Poland as banned by the constitution [172]

[moved from]

The actual wording of law is mostly only important in criminal law, but in constitutional law, the law is what (in the case of Poland) the TK says it is. The TK weighed in on this matter in 2011 and opined that a law legalizing same-sex partnerships with (almost) the same benefits as a marriage would co stanowi naruszenie obowiązku szczególnej ochrony małżeństwa, jako trwałego związku heteroseksualnego, meaning that the court attributes a marriage to be a heterosexual union.

ordoiuris.pl/rodzina-i-malzenstwo/opinia-sadu-najwyzszego-w-sprawie-projektu-ustawy-o-zwiazkach-partnerskich

Marriage being defined as a union between a man and a woman is also the prevailing interpretation from legal scholars, e.g. : określa małżeństwo jako związek kobiety i mężczyzny., i.e. it requires it without ambiguity.

Konstytucja Rzeczypospolitej wypracowania24.pl/wos/2904/konstytucja-rp-art-18

Another legal scholar comes to the same conclusion by analyzing the supporting material that was released before the 1997 referendum. The text was chosen with the: intencja wykluczenia prawnej instytucjonalizacji związków osób tej samej płci, so with specific intention to exclude same-sex couples from this institution.

ordoiuris.pl/rodzina-i-malzenstwo/malzenstwo-jako-zwiazek-kobiety-i-mezczyzny-o-niektorych-implikacjach-art-18

To summarize: it is not only defined that a marriage is a union between a man and a woman, it is even - in the opinion of the supreme court - a violation of the constitution to create a law granting the privileges of marriage to other form of cohabitation, even when using another name.

Work / Cost of living in Gdańsk, average salary for experienced software engineer in Poland [64]


you can work this out here: calculla.com/salary_in_poland with 12k before taxes, you will get a tad more than 8k net.


no


impossible to answer. In general, Poland is not a country to move to for the savings potential of one's salary. You earn a comparably (to Western Europe) low salary, but besides services and housing, for imported stuff you pay the same price as everywhere else.

News / EU confirms it will take action against Poland over court reforms [554]


the resolution has the #B8-0595 "The situation of the rule of law and democracy in Poland".
the summary results: europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-%2f%2fEP%2f%2fNONSGML%2bPV%2b20171115%2bRES-VOT%2bDOC%2bPDF%2bV0%2f%2fEN&language=EN starts from the bottom of page 12

the roll call tally: europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-%2f%2fEP%2f%2fNONSGML%2bPV%2b20171115%2bRES-RCV%2bDOC%2bPDF%2bV0%2f%2fEN&language=EN the votes on the final text are on pp84/85

there have been various amendments proposed and every single of them is voted on, hence the huge number of voting rounds.

kudos from my side go to the MEPs
Ryszard Legutko, Anna Fotyga, Tomasz Poręba, Ryszard Czarnecki, Karol Karski, Edward Czesak, Beata Gosiewska, Czesław Hoc, Marek Jurek, Sławomir Kłosowski, Zdzisław Krasnodębski, Urszula Krupa, Zbigniew Kuźmiuk, Stanisław Ożóg, Bolesław Piecha, Jadwiga Wiśniewska, and Kosma Złotowski for proposing this resolution: europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+MOTION+B8-2017-0594+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN

"Points out, therefore, that new legislative proposals, such as the proposals for laws on the National Judicial Council and Supreme Court, should not be subject to interference from the EU institutions, as their objectives will be best achieved by the Polish authorities on the basis of the subsidiarity principle"

News / Goodbye Sunday Shopping in Poland - Hello Electoral Reform [246]

Every journalists and his grandmother should be on the lookout about CVC Capital Partners having made any contributions to the PiS party this year. CVC owns the Żabka brand and its franchising network. Żabki will continue to be exempt from the sunday trading ban if they are owner operated (which it seems that almost all of them are because they all are open on days where trading is already banned today, e.g. on 11.11.).

In Hungary, they tried the same thing. Ban trading on sunday but leave the door open for owner operated stores. It is said that the owners of the CBA franchise chain, that operates like Żabka, paid a good amount into the coffers of Orbán's Fidesz to convince him. It did not work out well though because due to public pressure, the ban was cancelled in 2016. It still might work in Poland because according to recent CBOS polling, 58% favor the sunday closure.

News / Eggs in Poland paying for the 550+ [8]

The government will only have minuscule additional profits from higher egg prices since VAT for eggs is just 5% and producers are private companies. And there is no central price fixing in the first place. Which would be impossible to pull off inside the common EU market anyway.

What is actually happening is that prices across Europe are rising fast- here a chart from Germany:
welt.de/wirtschaft/article170168740/Europa-gehen-die-Eier-aus.html#cs-DWO-WI-Eierpreis-pd-jpg.jpg
It is said that some 6 million chicken were killed in 2017 and that now some 20 million are missing from the market.

With butter, it seems to be a combination of a change in local consumer habits (increased demand), a drop in production in the EU, and an increased demand for Milk overseas, in particular in China:

money.cnn.com/2017/08/09/news/economy/butter-shortage-europe/index.html
While eggs cannot be shipped that easily over long distances, dried milk powder can.

The article also talks about unintended consequences from the 2014 russian sanctions. The immediate effect was an oversupply of dairy products in Europa, which was followed by a voluntary cut in production capacities by a lot of farms going of of business in 2015 and 2016. For this reason, butter production in 2017 is down some 5% in the EU.

News / Goodbye Sunday Shopping in Poland - Hello Electoral Reform [246]


sure. The law is modeled after those in place in some other parts of Europe. First of all, it is only applicable to retail - bars and restaurants are not retail stores. Then there are numerous exceptions - shops at railway stations, airports, gas stations - all may be open 24h/d.

And somebody seems to have heard your concerns and specifically introduced exemptions for "piekarnie, cukiernie i lodziarnie" even when there are employees present which led to some speculation that even big supermarkets may open their doors on sundays if they have a bakery inside.

Other exceptions: "apteki, kwiaciarnie, sklepy z pamiątkami i dewocjonaliami, kioski, stoiska przy cmentarzach". The courts will have a field day in deciding which shops fall into which of that numerous exempt categories.

Law / Question on international law - a person from Poland caught and extorted in the USA [2]

There is an extradition treaty between Poland and the US: internationalextraditionblog.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/poland.pdf

If the action committed is punishable only in one of the two states or has a maximum sentence of lower than one year imprisonment, extradition is not possible. So if the Polish national is residing in Poland and did something that is a crime in the US but not in Poland, he will not be extradited. And he will not be tried in Poland either. He has to be careful though to never leave Poland before checking the relevant extradition treaties of the states he is going to travel to.

If the action is punishable in both countries, usually the perpetrator is tried in his home state (if he is physically located there) und the rule of local laws since nations rarely extradite their own citizens. These provisions are normally used for extraditing foreign nationals.

If the person on the other side is physically present in the state where the alleged offence took place, the question of extradition is moot. A polish national who committed a crime in the US will be tried there under their laws regardless of Polish law and there is no way that Poland could get him back home under any provisions. That would be only possible via the diplomatic route and that is reserved for very high profile cases in extraordinary circumstances.

News / EU triggers Article 7, could strip Poland of voting rights [91]

for what it's worth, I learned a bunch of new words today:

darmozjad parasite
komisarz ludowy some kind of PRL officer
moczymorda alcoholic, człowiek nadużywający alkoholu (although I think that would be better attributabe to Jean-Claude "resident creep" Juncker)
folksdojczka Volksdeutscher, Volksdeutsche (not sure if that refers to male or female)
kołchoźnik member of a collective farm

Only komuch I already knew. And these are probably the more nicer attributes for that Timmerthingy guy, since they were printed in the comments section of various news articles. A guy that btw freakishly reminds me of Erich Mielke. Both claimed that they always only wanted "the best" for the people.

News / Israel opposing potential new Polish law to criminalise term 'Polish death camps' [1538]

the text of the new art. 55a Ustawa o Instytucie Pamięci Narodowej the Senate voted is here on page 5:
senat.gov.pl/download/gfx/senat/pl/senatekspertyzy/4547/plik/722m.pdf

naród polski and państwo polski seems clear to me that this does not concern individual targets. You can still claim that the nation or the government did perpetrate these crimes, you just have to be an artist or a scientist doing your profession (art. 55a/3).

Law / Maintenance Claim From Mother - Poland [19]


the same law exists in Germany and Austria. Most often it is not the parent directly who sues the children but the social security agency who has to front the bill.

The son- or daughter-in-law is not liable for payment though, but since both incomes are thrown together it could be that the child has to pay more than she actually earns and his/her married partner has to cough up the difference.

Language / Why 'walczy' and not 'walczą' - Polish language question [20]

piggypacking on this numerals thread: is there ever a way to correctly use the form "cztery drzwi"? Since drzwi is plural only, it should be "czworo drzwi", but the usage of "cztery drzwi" by far trumps the supposedly correct one. Am I missing something?

(interestingly, with 3, troje drzwi is used a bit more often then trzy drzwi).

Travel / I'm Spanish, next week I'm going to be at Warsaw and Kielce, help! [21]

Kantor. For whatever reason, they have the best exchange rates, even though they employ humans. 2nd best option are ATMs from banks, like from PKO. I would avoid independent ATMs like from Euronet. They are a tourist trap.

Love / Polish girl/Mexican guy Dating [5]


then tell him that in order to at least have a chance to be accepted by your family, he has to learn the Polish language. I am pretty sure that your parents will appreciate his efforts.

Real Estate / Real Estate Lawyer costs in Poland [18]


thankfully that can be done for free on the Internet: przegladarka-ekw.ms.gov.pl/eukw_prz/KsiegiWieczyste/wyszukiwanieKW?komunikaty=true&kontakt=true&okienkoSerwisowe=false - you would need the land register number (numer księgi wieczystej) in the new format. If they have only the old number, you can generate the new format here: zylla.wipos.p.lodz.pl/ut/kw-serial-gen.php - after you found the court district code (kod sądu) from the address here: ksiegiwieczyste.pl/PoAdresie.html (really useful for w-wa, because this city is divided into several court districts). I use the last site only for giving me the 4-digit kod sądu, don't need to pay for the full service.

News / EU budget revamp set to shift funds to southern states. What can Poland do about this? [13]

this is not a specific Polish problem:

"While precise details of the reforms are still in the making behind the scenes, diplomats and officials expect the outcome to be a redirection of funds from Poland, the Czech Republic and Baltic states towards southern states such as Italy, Spain, Greece and even some regions of France. "

portfolio.hu/en/economy/eu-plans-leaked-hungary-seen-losing-huge-funds.36050.html

allocation of ESI funds is not an arbitrary process where decisions are pulled out of a hat but they are based on economic data and here it is evident that the competitiveness of southern Europe is eroding fast while eastern Europe is gaining. Granted, one of the more extreme examples, but compare Portugal vs. Poland GDP per capita in PPP dollars:

2004: 26,000 - 16,000
2016: 27,000 - 26,000

Greece in 2016 has been even lower - 24,000$ per capita per year. The average Pole's living standard is now on par with Portugal and has surpassed Greece. With Italy and Spain, the gap is a bit higher but also closing fast. For this reasons, it is simple economics dictating that funds will be redirected to the (now) poorer regions of the EU.

Because its based on economic data, cutting will not only affect Poland, but also all other CEE countries and even the Baltics, which are routinely bending over backwards to please the EU overlords. So even if Morawiecki would lick Juncker's feet, it will not change the fact that Poland has become, relatively to the PIGS, too prosperous to be on top of the ESI funds list.

Law / Can I travel to other EU countries with my Polish Karta Pobytu? [19]

yes, nothing has changed, since both Poland and Spain are still within the Schengen area:
europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/entry-exit/non-eu-nationals/index_en.htm

"If your visa is from a "Schengen area" country, it automatically allows you to travel to the other Schengen countries as well. If you have a valid residence permit from one of those Schengen countries, it is equivalent to a visa. "

Law / Can I travel to other EU countries with my Polish Karta Pobytu? [19]

yes, you are right. the residence card is just the visa: "If you are a non-EU national wishing to visit or travel within the EU, you will need a passport and possibly a visa..." but a visa is only valid together with a passport.

Travel / Poland - never again [593]

Just a quick test comparing Google translate and DeepL for I was running just 10 kilometers this morning, but usually I run 15 kilometers.
GT: Biegałem zaledwie 10 kilometrów dziennie, ale zwykle biegnę 15 kilometrów.
DL: Biegłem dziś rano zaledwie 10 kilometrów, ale zazwyczaj biegałem 15 kilometrów.

analysis (please keep in mind that I am just in my 2nd year of Polish studies):
- dziennie: obviously wrong since this is an adjective meaning "of the day"; dziś rano sounds right to me.
- biegnę: like with other Polish verbs for motion, there is a specific form for expressing a motion that happens repeatedly (iterative form), in this case biegać, hence the correct form would be biegam. Both translators got it wrong. btw., biegnę I would use when running right now and why DL uses the past tense I have no idea.

others where I am not sure:
- zaledwie: sounds strange, I would have used tylko; zaledwie I would use for expressing that I barely made the 10k.
- biegałem: I would have used pobiegłem, indicating a finished run for a specific distance without extended effort (otherwise I would have used podbiegłem), but ok, this is really finetuning amongst runners.

and finally, although it got the sex right, this was only by chance because I am male. None of the translaters would have known if I were a female and would have to use biegłam instead of biegłem.

as I said, I am just a student and could be totally wrong but from my experience over the last >1 year, GT is absolutely useless and DL is a bit better for some type of texts like legalese, but still useless if you want to learn because you cannot trust any translation.

btw., English->German is much better, probably because this pair is more similar in grammar, e.g. no aspect.

Law / Debt in Poland - inheritance after relative death? [14]

in the past, it was indeed the case that if you did not declare in the first six months of inheriting debt that you do not want it, that you were liable for the debts of the deceased to 100%. But since 2017, the new law limits the liability to what is valuable in the inheritance meaning that the worst case is that you get zero, but they cannot come after you for anything more. Nevertheless, it might we wise to consult an attorney, because there are some caveats in connection with mortgages.

You might want to read: kancelariamadejczyk.biz/dziedziczenie-dlugow-2017-prawo-spadkowe/ in polish.

UK, Ireland / No Poles Allowed! - Latest Polonophobic Outrage Out of Britain [660]


actually no. Thankfully, the Grundgesetz (German Constitution) is available in an - after examination authentic - english translation and it says:


The law was changed back in 1992 when there was a wave of asylum seekers from the former Yugoslavia. They, hypocritical as Germans always are, wanted to keep their beloved asylum right on the surface but at the same time restricted it that much that in reality - since Germany is now surrounded by EU member states - only a handful of wannabe asylees could ever claim this right because they would have to land either via airplane or ship.

The Merkel regime can only pull off this blatant disregard of constitutional law since she and her comrades have been doing to the courts over the last 10+ years what they are accusing PiS of: stuffing the BVerfG and the prosecutor's offices with members of their parties. 14 out of 16 supreme court justices are loyal to Merkel - Kaczyński can only dream about such a TK setup.

Law / Permanent residence permit of the EU/Poland and language tests [10]

a sample can be found here: certyfikatpolski.pl/dla-zdajacych/przykladowe-testy-zbiory-zadan

from somebody who did the exam recently:
partnersontheroad.com/2018/09/19/polish-b1-certificate

Work / Jobs for a foreigner in Poland without a uni degree [10]


such jobs - L1 help desk/customer support - are plentiful everywhere and also in Kraków because a lot of companies in Germany are outsourcing clerical work to CEE and for this particular jobs, real fluency is an asset. Just be aware that nevertheless the pay is very low, after all there is a reason they are recruiting there and not in Germany. You will find them on Linkedin, just use the keyword "german" and location "Krakau und Umgebung" (Linkedin at my PC seems to default to German). This particular job is:

linkedin.com/jobs/search/?currentJobId=859182289&keywords=german&location=Krakau%20und%20Umgebung%2C%20Polen&locationId=pl%3A5756

Work / Jobs for a foreigner in Poland without a uni degree [10]


in what language?

Law / No Minors Allowed To Leave Poland Without Parental Legal Consent? [4]

This is a matter of who has custody of the child. If she has custody, than she can take her whereever she wants, if they have joint custody, than she needs permission. This is determined by family court.

And for sure get a passport, its required even for infants, because how otherwise can be determined that its really your child? (for practical purposes it won't matter very much for Germany because of the borderless Schengen area, but there can always be random checks).

Travel / Using Polish Drivers License abroad [2]

in all EEU states (== European Union plus Norway, Iceland, Lichtenstein) and Switzerland. For others, the locally obtainable międzynarodowe prawo jazdy can be used in selected countries listed here:

obywatel.gov.pl/kierowcy-i-pojazdy/uzyskaj-miedzynarodowe-prawo-jazdy

it might just not be so easy anmore to weasel out of traffic tickets as it was in the past:
telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ireland/4732923/Prawo-Jazdy-Identity-of-Irelands-most-notorious-driver-uncovered.html

Law / Surname Question - ski/ska [6]


bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39417074

amazing. You can really give any surname. I at first thought that any refers to either father's or mother's surname, but it's really any. So nothing stands against the correct -ska ending.

Language / "Pan" or "Ty" - how people address each other in Poland? [55]

just because I clicked randomly into the video: at 49:15, there is no porzyczyć, it's pożyczyć.

Law / Existing Polish bank accounts for clients without PESEL number would be frozen starting August 2019? [23]


no such law/regulation exists. Bank accounts for non-residents are a very common product in at least the bigger commercial banks and it will continue this way, it's just normal business. It might just be that some banks are not willing to deal with foreigners, in particular - in the case of US residents - with FACTA reporting. Or exclude at will like mBank currently states that "mBank does not offer its services to customers in the United Kingdom", for whatever reason, but that is their choice, not a law.