Notes from Poland
Independent and informed news and insight on Polish politics, culture, business and history.
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- From this month, shops in Poland will have to label loose fruit and vegetables with the flag of their country of origin. The government says this will give consumers clearer information. But an industry group warns it will raise financial and environmental costs.
- President Nawrocki has called a meeting of the National Security Council to discuss Poland's proposed EU defence loans, its invitation to join Donald Trump's Board of Peace, and the alleged "eastern contacts" (meaning Russian) of the speaker of parliament.
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced the creation of a special group tasked with looking into the Epstein Files. They will seek to determine whether any of Epstein's victims were Polish, as well as if he had links to Russian intelligence.
- Poland’s defence ministry has confirmed that a “long-serving employee” was today detained on suspicion of working with foreign intelligence. Unofficial reports indicate that he collaborated with Russian and Belarusian intelligence.
- Far-right leader Grzegorz Braun has risen rapidly in the polls on the back of a campaign of anti-Ukrainian and anti-Jewish rhetoric. His surge presents particular questions and challenges for other right-wing opposition parties, writes @aleksszczerbiak.bsky.social.
- Over half (53%) of people aged 25-34 in Poland now live with their parents, which is the fourth-highest level in the EU. Poland's figure rose by eight percentage points between 2018 and 2023, the second-largest increase in the EU.
- The finance ministers of Poland and Germany, who met today in Warsaw, say they will work together to "make Europe more competitive" by ensuring that the EU is "faster, smarter, and more capable of dealing with complexity".
- The speaker of Poland's parliament says he will not support a request from the US House speaker and speaker of Israel's Knesset to support Donald Trump's Nobel Peace Prize nomination He says Trump is "destabilising" the international order and "often violating international law".
- The owner of a Polish hotel group that hosted an event organised by a far-right leader known for his anti-Ukrainian views has pledged to donate all proceeds to support Ukraine. His company claims that it cannot screen clients who are booking events.
- Poland’s justice minister has been fined by police for a traffic offence that was caught on camera while he was being interviewed behind the wheel. The incident came to light just as the minister was launching a crackdown on dangerous drivers.
