Contents tagged with Poland

  • Polish prosecutors question President of the European Council in connection with Smolensk air disaster

    Polish investigators questioned the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, regarding the investigation into the plane crash near Smolensk in 2010, Deutsche Welle reports.

    The questioning was held on Thursday, August 3rd. Tusk, who was the Prime Minister of Poland during the Smolensk disaster, has been accused of violating the autopsy process of those that the crash victims.

    Prior to the questioning, Tusk stated that he had "no doubt" about reasons behind him being summoned to the …

  • Poland intends to demand reparations from Germany for World War II

    Polish Defense Minister Antoni Macierewicz said that Germany should pay Poland reparations for material damage and crimes against Poles committed in 1939-1945, reported Radio Poland, citing an interview by Macierewicz on TVPInfo.

    As noted by Macierewicz, Poland de facto never renounced its claim toward the Germany, which began on September 1, 1939 with military aggression against Poland, and which continued with the occupation of Polish territory for almost five years.

    "It's not true that the …

  • Polish Minister of Defense: Soviet Union was in collusion with Nazi Germany

    Minister of National Defence for Poland Antoni Macierewicz believes that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was guilty of collusion with Nazi Germany. According to him, the goal of this "deal" was the extermination of the Poles.

    In his speech on the occasion of the 73rd anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, he stated that "independent Poland was crushed because of the criminal German and Soviet regimes."

    According to local media, Macierewicz also said that the desire to restore the " …

  • Polish President refuses to sign judicial reform laws

    Polish President Andrzej Duda sent the two laws on judicial reform which he had vetoed to the Sejm (the lower house of parliament) to be modified, as reported by the Polish president’s press service. The laws had caused massive protests in Poland.

    “The President… refused to sign the law from 12 July 2017 to introduce changes to the law on the National Judicial Council, as well as several other laws, and sent it to the Sejm for reconsideration,” the report states.

    In another report, the press …

  • Media: Russia prepares to respond to demolition of Soviet monuments in Poland

    Russia is preparing an “asymmetric” response in answer to the adoption by Polish authorities of a law on de-communization, which provides for the taking down of monuments to Soviet soldiers in the country, reports the newspaper Izvestia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia said that the “unfriendly actions of Warsaw will, in any case, not remain without consequences.”

    Several options are considered, including personal sanctions against Polish politicians involved in drafting of the law, …

  • Poland accuses Russia of rewriting history of World War II

    The Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) believes that documents on the Red Army's liberation of the Polish territory, which have been made publicly available by the Russian Defense Ministry, falsify history.

    According to Polish researchers, information from the archive was given as proof that the Poles considered the Soviet soldiers to exclusively be liberators. An exemplary phrase is quoted: "In the summer of 1944, the troops of the First Byelorussian Front in the Brest area came …

  • Warsaw: EU's refugee resettlement procedure threatens Poland's security

    The European Commission scheme for the distribution of refugees among the countries of the European Union is erroneous and threatens the national security of Poland.

    This was nnoted in the Minister of the Interior of Poland's response to a statement by the European Commission on the transition to the next stage of prosecution against Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary over their refusal to accept refugees in agreement with European Union quotas.

    As follows from the statement of the Polish …

  • Russia сonsiders imposing sanctions against Poland in response to decision to demolish Soviet monuments

    The Federation Council of Russia appealed to President Vladimir Putin with a request to instruct the relevant Russian departments to develop sanctions “in response to Poland’s decision to demolish monuments to Soviet soldiers.”This was reported by Interfax, citing the appeal of the Russian senators.

    “We ask you to instruct the relevant federal executive bodies to submit comprehensive proposals on the possible introduction of restrictive measures in the areas of bilateral cooperation with the …

  • President of Poland vetoes controversial Supreme Court bill

    The President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, vetoed a controversial bill concerning the Supreme Court and the National Judiciary Council, reports Polskie Radio.

    Duda stressed that changes in the judicial system of Poland are needed, but he is against the idea of strengthening the power of the Prosecutor General over the Supreme Court. He also called upon the protesters, who were opposed to the new laws, to keep the peace.

    Duda noted that he had held numerous consultations with lawyers and …

  • Hungary promised to block any sanctions that the EU may introduce against Poland

    On Saturday, July 22, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban expressed his country’s solidarity with the Polish government, reported Deutsche Welle. He stated that Hungary stood to support Poland “in the fight against the European Union,” which plans to introduce sanctions against Warsaw for judicial reform.

    "The inquisition against Poland will not succeed. Hungary will use all legitimate opportunities against the European Union to demonstrate its solidarity with Poland," the head of the …