Speed Cameras Galore

Hold your Horses

In 2012 the budget gained a mammoth PLN 32 million from fines obtained thanks to speed cameras. As Taduesz Jarmuziewicz, deputy Minister of Transport, said there are 600 speed cameras in Poland, which means that there are 28 per each million vehicles. The lower chamber of the Polish Parliament, the Sejm, has begun work on regulations concerning road traffic and each political party has proposed amendments to current law. According to Law and Justice (PiS), speed cameras should be installed only in high-risk areas where accidents always take place due to speeding. Places considered to be particularly dangerous would include sections of road where accidents have often occurred over the past five years. Additionally, the Road Transport Inspectorate would not be able to record the violation by the use of portable devices, as well as those installed in vehicles. PiS is also demanding that all income obtained from speeding fines go towards a fund for the development, improvement and modernisation of roads. The second proposal, put forward by the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), aims to relocate speed cameras, additionally the distance between them should be standard. According to the proposal, income from speeding fines should go directly to the National Road Fund. SLD also proposes to put an end to the practice of the use of speed cameras by municipalities (pl. gminy) in order to use the money from fines for other purposes. The third proposal by United Poland (SP) aims to reduce the number of speed cameras to 20% leaving only those that actually improve safety, for example near schools and hospitals. The proposal also provides for the creation of a special fund for victims of traffic accidents, which would be financed entirely from speeding fines. The final proposal, put forward by the ruling Civic Platform (PO) aims to re-locate all money obtained from speeding fines from the Road Transport Inspectorate to the National Road Fund in order to improve safety on roads. According to data provided by the police, in 2012 36,500 accidents took place in which 3,500 people were killed and 45,000 injured on Poland’s roads. Although the number of fatalities is at its lowest since 1989, it is still high when compared to other European countries.
Interia.pl

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Politicians Making Millions

Greedy Politicians

In 2012, the ruling Civic Platform (PO) registered a total income of more than PLN 53 million, making it Poland’s richest political party. PO’s financial statements for the last year show that without money from the budget politicians would be penniless. The state budget is the main source of income for all of Poland’s parliamentary parties. If they were to rely on payments and donations from their supporters only, they would have no chance of survival. Curiously, the report also shows that the largest party did not make use of professional advice from experts. Contrary to previous announcements, most parliamentary groups spent negligible sums of money on expert economic, legal or social advice, as they prefer to use the money on election campaigns. Of PO’s PLN 53 million, PLN 48 million came from the state coffers. The party obtained less than PLN 2.4 million from contributions from supporters, while only PLN 1 million from donations. Civic Platform spent less than PLN 800,000 on expert advice with the majority of this amount, about PLN 733,000, spent on publishing materials. Law and Justice (PiS) is similarly wealthy, with an income of almost PLN 50 million last year, out of which PLN 47 million came from the state coffers. It would be also impossible for Jarosław Kaczyński’s party to survive if it was financed exclusively by contributions from its members and supporters. Last year PiS made a meagre PLN 2 million PLN from membership fees and PLN 55,000 came from donations from supporters. According to their accounts, one supporter, a banker from Poznań, contributed a record payment of PLN 20,000 to the party. Additionally, PiS made PLN 670,000 on bank interest and spent PLN 2 million on expert advice in 2012. Other parties registered much less. The Polish People’s Party (PSL) registered an income of PLN 15 million, the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) PLN 14.3 million, while Palikot’s Movement (RP) registered an income of PLN 8.5 million.
Rp.pl

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PiS Fights Rainbow

Rainbow of Contention

Olga Johann, Warsaw City Council deputy chair, has spent the last few months campaigning for the removal of Julita Wójcik’s art installation “Rainbow” from Plac Zbawiciela in Warsaw. The PiS councillor believes the installation, owned by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, should have been removed in September 2012, but the conservator agreed to postpone the removal date to the end of December. The deadline has passed but the “Rainbow” still sands. Olga Johann is outraged by the City Council’s decision to let the “Rainbow” remain until at least the end of 2013. The deputy chair believes that the installation interferes with the city’s historical layout and blocks the view of the Church of the Holiest Saviour. She also mentioned the fact that during the post-war, communist years Plac Konstytucji was built to “block the view of one of the city’s most beautiful churches” and suggests that the “Rainbow” is just a continuation of this trend. The councillor insists that the “Rainbow” be relocated to a more suitable “modern” setting where it will not interfere with the surrounding  beautiful, historical architecture.

Rainbow of Julita Wójcik

Magdalena Mich, spokesman for the Adam Mickiewicz Institute disagrees with the deputy chair saying that due to its biblical symbolism, of the covenant between God and Man, the installation highlights the church. What is more, its  location “binds” the two churches situated on Plac Zbawiciela – the Catholic and the Methodist. Furthermore, the parson of the Church of the Holiest Saviour has not only shown no objections towards the “Rainbow” but is actually in favour of it. Unfortunately, not everyone is. The “Rainbow” has been set on fire three times already (two arson attacks, and one stray firework on New Year’s Eve) and is now partially damaged. The owners have announced that it will be restored as soon as an agreement with the city is signed. The “Rainbow” consists of 20,000 artificial flowers attached to a metal construction. It is 9 metres high and 26 metres long and was created with the help of Warsaw residents during the “Culture in the Time of the Presidency” initiative.
Onet.pl

Victory of Polish Patriotism

Smuda to Blame?

Poland’s football players did not live up to the nation’s expectations. However, journalist Dominik Zdort regards Euro 2012 “a splendid time for patriotic emotions.” The Rzeczpospolita journalist said on TOK FM radio that, “I have watched masses of Poles in white-and-red T-shirts with pleasure. It’s a positive awakening.” He added, “Such excitement is necessary for the country to feel a certain togetherness.” It is interesting that Dominik Zdort does not belong to the group of journalists heavily criticising Polish manager Franciszek Smuda. He stated, “I like this young team. I would not dismiss coach Smuda either, even though he made mistakes in  tactics.” Being a political journalist, Zdort could not resist adding a political twist: “This national team is politically pluralistic. There were hints that Robert Lewandowski is a Civic Platform (PO) supporter and Kuba Błaszczykowski is pro Law and Justice (PiS), but they managed to play together very well.” According to the Rzeczpospolita journalist, Franciszek Smuda and PM Donald Tusk are alike with regard to their… reluctance to make changes. Also, Marek Zając from TVP (Polish TV) shares the opinion that Euro 2012 is a chance for Poles to demonstrate their patriotism. However, he has does not agree with Zdort with regards to the team. “We lost mentally. I blame the manager, Franciszek Smuda, who was supposed to motivate his team to fight from the beginning right until the end.” He added, “Remember how Smuda announced before the Greece match that if the game was looking like finishing a draw he would not throw players on to attack. Before the Russia game Smuda said that he would be satisfied with a draw. It now looks like this drawing attitude, and not playing for a win, backfired on Smuda.”

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Migalski: Kaczyński Is Taking PiS Down

Migalski - PiS Liability?

Having been de facto thrown out of Law and Justice (PiS), Marek Migalski, the PiS MEP, has decided to once again hit out at Jarosław Kaczyński, the party leader. Some days ago, Marek Migalski criticised Kaczyński’s leadership and was summarily dismissed from the PiS delegation to the European Parliament. The former political scientist has now decided to speak out again following his punishment. In an interview with the tabloid Fakt Migalski stated ironically that “if Kaczyński plans to win the next elections with the ‘charismatic’ Mariusz Błaszczak, ‘uber-intellectual’ Joachim Brudziński, ‘wordly’ Jarosław Zieliński and ‘electrifying’ Beata Szydło then that’s his decision”. The one thing that we can be certain of is that Jarosław Kaczyński won’t be taking advantage of the ‘traitorous’ Marek Migalski.
Fakt

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Bishop Attacks PiS

Pieronik Defends State

Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek has joined the ranks of high-profile critics of Law and Justice (PiS) following the public mauling of Jarosław Kaczyński by Henryka Krzywonos (more here) at the anniversary celebrations of Solidarity as well as the slating of Kaczyński by the first non-communist post-war Prime Minister in Central Europe and UN emissary Tadeusz Mazowiecki for Kaczyński’s “lies” and manipulation of the truth. It seems Kaczyński is on a dangerous path and important Polish figures are now ready to stand up and fight him. In an interview for Rzeczpospolita Bishop Taduesz Pieronek claims that most of Poland’s Catholic bishops have become enamoured by PiS and are too politically-oriented. He blames Radio Maryja. Furthermore, Bishop Pieronek claims that the cross scandal that has engulfed Poland is nothing more than a political war which has nothing to do with religion. He goes on to claim that PiS is behind the ‘defenders of the cross’. Pieronek draws an interesting analogy saying that Hitler also took advantage of religion for his own political purposes with the use of the motto “Gott mit uns”. The church, he believes, should keep to church matters alone and not get involved with matters that concern the state.
Rzeczpospolita

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Girzyński Gay Icon

PiS Woos Gays

Wojciech Olejniczak of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) is no longer number one. The left-wing politician and former SLD leader hit the headlines when he appeared bare chested on the cover of Wprost and became a gay heart throb. However, it seems that the Law and Justice (PiS) right-winger Zbigniew Girzyński may now be the number one hottie in the eyes of Poland’s gay community after he posted a new picture on Facebook. One of the comments under the photograph was “It’ll drive gay guys wild” to which the right-wing politician replied, “Wojtek, please don’t write that kind of thing. I’m about as tolerant as ‘Paweł’ in that Leszek Czajkowski song”. In all probability, MEP Girzyński is referring to the song “Paweł i Gaweł” in which Paweł finds his flatmate Gaweł in bed with a black man. Paweł’s reaction is to swear and beat the hell out of the two lovers. Girzyński plans to publish several more photographs on his Facebook profile. Watch this space!
Wirtualna Polska

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Kaczyński – Pain & Hate

Former PM Criticises Kaczyński

“It’s not the same Jarosław Kaczyński that I once knew. This one seems to be boiling over with emotion, pain and hate,” according to former Law and Justice (PiS) Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz. Another former Prime Minister, Leszek Miller, one-time Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) member, believes Jarosław Kaczyński’s recent comments concerning newly-elected President Komorowski have demostrated his ”cold calculating politicking”. Kaczyński said President Komorowski won the election because of a “mistake” and Komorowski’s victory was a “direct consequence of the death of my brother”.
Wirtualna Polska

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Kaczyński’s Popularity On The Rise

Happy At Last

Bronislaw Komorowski is still in the lead but the margin of his potential victory is steadily declining as Jaroslaw Kaczyński  refuses to let up. If the presidential elections were to be held at the beginning of June, Komorowski would emerge victorious with a fairly comfortable lead of 50% of votes to Kaczyński’s 38% in the first round. If a second round were necessary, Komorowski would also win – 58% to Kaczyński’s 42%. The support for the Civic Platform (PO) candidate has been steady over the past month, at 50%, while Kaczyński’s has gone up 5%, from 30% in May. Second round estimates also show Komorowski as the leader but Kaczyński is clearly gaining on his political adversary.

It is apparent that the majority of Poles have decided that in the race for the presidency only Komorowski and Kaczyński are worthy of their vote: the two main contenders can count on the support of nearly 90% of the population. Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) candidate Napieralski can expect a mere 5% while others, including Olechowski, a maximum of 2% each. In round 2, Komorowski is likely to receive all the votes of Olechowski and Napieralski while Kaczyński can expect to receive the backing of those who favour Marek Jurek, Korwin-Mikke and Ziętek. According to sociologists, the above results show that in spite of the exhausting influence of the Smoleńsk tragedy and the flood the campaign is dynamic and that anything is possible: both Komorowski’s first-round victory and Kaczyński’s continuing upward trend may ultimately result in his surpassing his opponent and pulling off a last-minute upset. Kaczyński’s gaining in the polls is attributed to the fact that he has been very active recently and seems to have a clearly-defined vision for Poland while Komorowski does not. The PO camp is nonetheless confident that their candidate will maintain his lead and prove his mettle when it counts the most – during the election itself.
Gazeta Wyborcza

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Jarosław Kaczyński Has Decided

Twin For President?

“The general feeling in Law and Justice (PiS) is that Jarosław Kaczyński, identical twin brother of the late Lech Kaczyński who died in the tragic air crash over Smolensk should run for President. He is a hard man and only he knows what he will do in the race for the Presidency,” said PiS MEP Jacek Kurski live on air on RMF FM. Kurski added, “the general feeling in the PiS camp and amongst those who survived the tragic Smolensk air crash is that Jarosław Kaczyński should be the PiS candidate for President. He already knows what he’s going to do. But it’s clear that we have to continue with the fight, in honour of those who died”. Kurski also stated that, “the Lech Kaczyński myth will be to Poland’s advantage in the years to come. His brother must decide if his candidacy will augment or erode this myth”.
RMF FM

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