Category Archives: Poland

Poland criticises EU’s ‘unacceptable’ proposed charge for refusing migrants

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Warsaw says it would not pay €22,000 ‘fine’ for each person it declines to host as ministers hold crunch talks in Luxembourg

Poland has entered crunch talks aimed at making radical changes to the EU’s migration and asylum laws with the claim that the proposals could result in a “step back” to 2015, when more than a million people flowed into the bloc.

The Polish deputy state secretary of the interior, Bartosz Grodecki, opened the summit of home affairs ministers in Luxembourg by declaring that Warsaw would refuse to pay proposed “fines” for not taking people.

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Nato members may send troops to Ukraine, warns former alliance chief

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Security guarantees and membership path needed at Nato summit to avoid escalation, says Anders Rasmussen

A group of Nato countries may be willing to put troops on the ground in Ukraine if member states including the US do not provide tangible security guarantees to Kyiv at the alliances’s summit in Vilnius, the former Nato secretary general Anders Rasmussen has said.

Rasmussen, who has been acting as official adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Ukraine’s place in a future European security architecture, has been touring Europe and Washington to gauge the shifting mood before the critical summit starts on 11 July.

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Kremlin calls Poland’s decision to rename Kaliningrad a ‘hostile act’

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Russian city will now be known as Królewiec in official documents, its name in the 15th and 16th centuries

The Kremlin has described Poland’s decision to rename the Russian city of Kaliningrad in its official documents as a “hostile act”, as ties continue to fray over the Ukraine war.

Kaliningrad, which sits in an exclave sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland on the Baltic coast, was known by the German name of Königsberg until after the second world war, when it was annexed by the Soviet Union and renamed to honour politician Mikhail Kalinin.

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EU parliament report calls for tighter regulation of spyware

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Non-binding vote bans surveillance software after concluding Hungary and Poland used it to track journalists and opponents

The EU needs tighter regulation of the spyware industry, a European parliament special committee has said, after concluding that Hungary and Poland had used surveillance software to illegally monitor journalists, politicians and activists.

A special European parliament committee voted on Monday for a temporary ban on the sale, acquisition and use of spyware while the bloc draws up common EU standards based on international law. The moratorium would be lifted only on strict conditions, including independent investigations into the abuse of spyware in the EU.

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German president asks for forgiveness on Warsaw Ghetto Uprising anniversary

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Frank-Walter Steinmeier becomes his country’s first head of state to speak at Warsaw commemorations

Germany’s president has asked for forgiveness for the crimes his country committed in the second world war, on the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the first German president to speak at the commemorations in Poland’s capital, joined his Polish and Israeli counterparts to mark 80 years since Jewish insurgents’ doomed uprising against Nazi occupiers.

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Hungary and Poland provide model for Israel’s assault on judiciary

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Benjamin Netanyahu’s actions remind many of first steps taken by ‘illiberal’ governments in Budapest and Warsaw

At the height of the protests in Israel over Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned judicial changes early last month, a Polish minister gave a revealing radio interview in Warsaw.

“Of course, we are talking with Israel, and to some extent we shared our experiences in this regard,” said the deputy foreign minister, Paweł Jabłoński, when asked for his views on the proposed Israeli laws.

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Zelenskiy welcomed with military honours on visit to Poland

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Trip is first time Ukrainian president and first lady have travelled abroad together since Russia invaded

Military honours, tributes and praise welcomed Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his wife, Olena Zelenska, to Poland in a rare wartime foray out of Ukraine for the country’s president.

While Zelenskiy has also travelled to the US, Britain, France and Belgium, the trip to Poland stood out because it was announced in advance and undertaken without the secrecy of past foreign trips.

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Polish farmers threaten to ‘ruin’ Zelenskiy visit amid grain dispute

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Grain producers say they are being undercut by tariff-free imports from Ukraine

Polish farmers are threatening to derail a visit to Warsaw by Volodymyr Zelenskiy over claims that Ukrainian grain is flooding their market, in a move that would provide Russia with valuable evidence of a crack in western solidarity.

Ukraine’s president is scheduled to visit Poland’s capital on Wednesday to express his gratitude for the country’s solidarity over the war with Russia, but Polish grain producers are warning they could take to the streets to “ruin” the occasion.

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Poland to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine in major escalation of military backing

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Four Soviet-era MiG-29s to be sent as first instalment and could lead to other Nato members providing warplanes

Poland will become the first country to deliver fighter jets to Ukraine in the next few days, marking a significant upward step in military backing for Kyiv ahead of an expected counter-offensive.

The precedent, involving four Soviet-era MiG-29s as a first instalment, could lead to other Nato members providing warplanes, a longstanding Ukrainian request.

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Polish court convicts activist for helping woman get abortion pills

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Justyna Wydrzynska sentenced to community service after telling court she sent pills to victim of domestic violence

A court in Poland has convicted an activist for helping a pregnant woman access abortion pills, sentencing her to eight months of community service in a landmark case over abortion rights in the predominantly Catholic country.

“I do not feel that I am facing the court alone,” said Justyna Wydrzynska at the hearing on Tuesday. “Behind me are my friends and hundreds of women I have not had the luck to meet yet.”

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Poland’s ruling party under fire after suicide of opposition MP’s son

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Mikolaj Filiks, 15, killed himself after state-run radio station helped identify him as victim of paedophile

Poland’s ruling Law & Justice party has come under fire over the death of an opposition MP’s 15-year-old son, who killed himself after a report by a state-run radio station led to his identification as the victim of a paedophile.

The Polish parliament, the Sejm, stood for a minute’s silence on Tuesday during the funeral of Mikolaj Filiks. His mother, Magdalena Filiks, an MP from Poland’s main opposition party, Civic Platform, said last week that he had died in February.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.e

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Polish Leopard tanks arrive in Ukraine as west piles new sanctions on Russia

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Poland’s PM visits Kyiv as allies demonstrate support on first anniversary of invasion

The first Polish Leopard tanks have arrived in Ukraine, as western allies including the G7 announced a range of further economic, military and financial sanctions against Russia, in a renewed effort to weaken Vladimir Putin’s war machine.

Speaking on the anniversary of the Russian invasion, Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, confirmed that four Leopard tanks had been delivered to Ukraine. “Poland and Europe stand by your side. We will definitely not leave you, we will support Ukraine until complete victory over Russia,” he said, standing alongside the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, during his visit to Kyiv.

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Republicans criticize Biden’s trip to Kyiv as Putin withdraws from nuclear treaty

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Comments from right wing are business as usual – but could signal future political battles to come if US to keep sending aid to Ukraine

For Joe Biden to safely visit Ukraine, the White House spirited him out of the country in the middle of the night and made reporters traveling with him swear a temporary oath of secrecy – none of which could protect the president from attacks by Republicans.

The journey was only complicated further by an unexpected announcement. In a speech marking a year since he sent his armies over Ukraine’s borders in an ill-fated attempt to take Kyiv, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced his country would no longer participate in the last nuclear arms control treaty with the United States still standing, and accused the west of posing an existential threat to his country.

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Biden pledges more Moscow sanctions: ‘Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia’ – as it happened

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Speaking before a crowd of thousands in the gardens of Warsaw’s Royal Castle, Joe Biden hailed the resilience of Ukraine’s people and the benevolence of Poland and other western allies in helping fend off the Russian invasion.

“Autocrats only understand one word: no.” Biden said. “No, you will not take my country. No, you will not take my freedom. No, you will not take my future. I’ll repeat tonight what I said last year at the same place. A dictator bent on rebuilding an empire will never be able to ease the people’s love of liberties. Brutality will never grind down the will of the free. Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia, never.”

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Joe Biden says Russian forces in disarray after year of war in Ukraine

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US president issues rallying cry in Warsaw but warns of ‘very bitter days’ ahead in defence of democracy

Joe Biden has claimed Vladimir Putin’s year of war against Ukraine has left behind “burned-out tanks and Russian forces in disarray” but he also warned of “very bitter days” ahead in the defence of democracy in eastern Europe.

Biden issued a rallying cry in a speech to mark the first anniversary of the full-scale invasion, addressing a crowd of 30,000, mostly Poles and Ukrainians, in front of the arches below Warsaw’s royal castleon Tuesday evening.

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European Commission takes Poland to court over ‘legal Polexit’

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‘Bombshell’ step in response to rulings by Polish judges that breach principle of the supremacy of EU law

The European Commission is taking Poland to court over rulings from Polish judges considered by experts as a “legal Polexit” that fundamentally undermine the EU’s legal order.

The decision to refer Poland to the European court of justice on Wednesday – described by one expert as a bombshell – comes as Poland’s rightwing nationalist government battles to secure €35.4bn (£31.4bn) in EU Covid recovery funds that have been frozen over concerns about government-influenced courts.

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EU urged to use frozen Russian assets to ‘cover costs of aggression’ in Ukraine

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Poland and Baltic states say bloc should seize funds to start rebuilding country, amid questions of legality

Poland and the Baltic states have urged the EU to work on seizing frozen Russian state assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine “as soon as possible”, raising pressure to act on a legally fraught question.

In the run-up to a two-day EU summit that will discuss the Russian invasion, the leaders of Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia said that, “in order to be credible on this matter vis-a-vis Ukraine”, the bloc had to go beyond reiterating previous commitments and “accelerate our work in the council right now”.

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Polish health minister ‘appalled’ girl, 14, struggled to get abortion after rape

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Doctors at several hospitals cited a conscience clause to avoid treating the teenager who has a mental disability

Poland’s health minister has weighed in on a high-profile rape case, saying it was “unacceptable” that a mentally disabled 14-year-old girl struggled to get a legal abortion.

The case, in which doctors at several hospitals used a conscience clause to avoid carrying out the procedure, has sparked renewed calls to ease the Catholic country’s abortion laws, which are among Europe’s most stringent.

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Berlin plans to send German Leopard tanks to Ukraine, according to reports

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Germany will send its 2A6 battle tanks in conjunction with other countries such as Finland, Sweden and Poland, say reports citing government sources

Berlin has reportedly succumbed to huge international and domestic pressure and is set to announce that it will send German-manufactured tanks to Ukraine that Kyiv says it needs to push back Russian forces, according to media reports on Tuesday evening citing government sources.

It is reported to be planning to send a company of Leopard 2A6 battle tanks – usually comprising 14 of the vehicles – in conjunction with other partners, namely Scandinavian countries in possession of the units. Berlin is also understood to have said it would give its permission for export licences for countries such as Finland, Sweden and Poland who have bought the tanks from Germany, allowing them to be sent to Ukraine.

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Poland requests German permission to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine

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German defence minister says he expects quick response, as application increases pressure on chancellor Olaf Scholz

The Polish government has requested Berlin’s permission to send its Leopard tanks to Ukraine after the German government appeared to say it would not block their export.

The submission of the application by Warsaw increases pressure on German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to make a swift decision after he avoided the issue at an international meeting of defence ministers on Friday.

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