Poland

12 Aug 2021; MEMO: The Polish parliament passed a bill on Wednesday that closed the window of opportunity for Poles, including Holocaust survivors and their descendants, from regaining ownership of property expropriated during the communist era, AP and other news agencies have reported. President Andrzej Duda now has 21 days in which to sign the bill into law. He could, however, veto the proposed legislation.

11 Aug 2021; MEMO: A group of investors from Poland will visit Morocco in September to examine expanding investment opportunities in the Western Sahara region, which is disputed between Rabat and the Polisario Front.

In June, Morocco's Ambassador to Poland Abderrahim Atmoun signed a declaration of intent for new Polish business cooperation in the Western Sahara.

At the time, media reports said the agreement will promote the production of both civil and military transport and logistics equipment for Poland.

WARSAW, Aug 6 (Reuters) - A government minister accused the head of Poland's Supreme Court on Friday of bowing to the demands of "colonial" European Union officials in a row over the independence of the judiciary that could see Warsaw face financial penalties.

Poland's justice minister, the architect of the judicial reforms opposed by the EU, also criticised Brussels separately. He said Warsaw should not bow to "blackmail" and that, while he backed EU membership, it should not come "at any cost".

WARSAW, July 3 (Reuters) - Former European Council President Donald Tusk returned to the fore of Polish politics on Saturday, becoming leader of the main opposition party in a move that many members hope can revive its sagging fortunes.

For many in the liberal Civic Platform (PO) party that Tusk helped to found, the stakes are nothing less than Poland's future in the European Union.

WARSAW, July 1 (Xinhua) -- The Polish government retains the position that the issue of potential war reparations from Germany is still on the table, the country's Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau said Thursday during the visit to Warsaw of his German counterpart Heiko Maas.

Rau said at a joint press conference that the destruction and loss of life caused by German actions during World War II is beyond doubt. "The issue is still not settled," Rau said.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The presidents of Germany and Poland on Thursday are expected to discuss the future of the European Union and of its trans-Atlantic ties as well as the situation in Ukraine and Belarus as they mark 30 years of a treaty on bilateral relations.

Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was on a brief visit to Warsaw for talks with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, and a meeting with Polish and German young people.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The Polish prime minister has called for a closed-door parliamentary session to discuss a number of cyberattacks on Polish government officials, including one against his own chief of staff, a government spokesman said Tuesday.

The spokesman, Piotr Mueller, told the Polsat News channel that the sitting was necessary for the government to present a report on recent cyberattacks in Poland. He added he hoped the secret session could take place this week.

(Reuters) --- A deputy Polish parliamentary speaker faced calls for his dismissal on Saturday after criticising Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya for meeting Warsaw's liberal mayor.

Tsikhanouskaya met Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, a member of Poland's biggest opposition party, during a visit to Warsaw this week which she used to call for increased Western pressure on Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. 

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The trial opened in a Warsaw court on Tuesday of two men accused of spying for China — a Chinese citizen who is a former director of Huawei in Poland and a Polish cybersecurity expert.

The men, Weijing Wang and Piotr Durbajlo, who have both pleaded not guilty, were in court at the start of the trial on Tuesday morning.

Prosecutors requested that the trial be held in secret due to the classified nature of some of the evidence. Though Wang and Durbajlo objected, the court agreed, citing state interests, and journalists were asked to leave.

(Reuters) --- People travelling to Poland from Brazil, India and South Africa will have to quarantine, the Polish health minister said on Tuesday, as he announced cases of a COVID-19 variant first detected in India in the Warsaw and Katowice areas.

The outbreaks poses a fresh risk to Poland just as it starts to emerge from a highly damaging third wave of the pandemic.