Poland

Polish president wants firms to be relieved from social security payments

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said on Thursday he asked Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to exempt all Polish firms from social security payments for three months.

Duda also said during a televised speech that he wanted the exemption to cover all firms that were established and started operations before March 1.

Polish president says postal voting possible for May election: media

WARSAW (Reuters) - Postal voting could allow Poland’s presidential elections to be held in May despite the coronavirus, President Andrzej Duda said in an interview published on Saturday, amid signs the governing coalition could split over the issue.

The nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party wants to hold elections on May 10 despite the pandemic, and has proposed legislation to introduce postal ballots to replace physical voting.

A more liberal junior coalition partner, Accord, said it was unrealistic for the election to proceed and proposed a postponement of two years.

Poland's president will not hold big election rallies due to coronavirus

WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish President Andrzej Duda has said he will not organize large election campaign meetings in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus, which has infected 17 people in the country.

Poles are due to vote in May in a presidential election that will be crucial to the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party’s hopes of implementing its agenda.

Duda is a PiS ally and is ahead in the polls, consistently scoring over 40%.

Poland backs NATO, EU aspirations of North Macedonia: Polish president

WARSAW, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Poland supports the NATO and EU aspirations of North Macedonia, Polish President Andrzej Duda said Tuesday following a meeting with North Macedonia's president here.

Duda said at a joint press conference that the visit of President of North Macedonia Stevo Pendarovski took place at a very important time for the country.

Macron: France neither pro-Russian nor anti-Russian but simply pro-European

WARSAW (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron told Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on Monday that France was neither pro-Russian nor anti-Russian but simply pro-European.

Macron, speaking during his first visit to Poland since he became president, said he hoped the Polish people could trust Europe to protect them if they were attacked, and that European countries needed to be firm with Russia.

“We need to be demanding in our political dialogue with Russia,” Macron said at a news conference in Warsaw.

EU Commissioner says door for dialogue with Poland is open

WARSAW (Reuters) - The door to a dialogue between Poland and the European Union on judicial reform is open and the EU hopes to find a long-term solution to tensions between Warsaw and Brussels, EU Values and Transparency Commissioner Vera Jourova said on Tuesday.

Since coming to power in 2015, Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party introduced a series of judicial reforms which critics and EU officials say may breach the rule of law.

Auschwitz survivors warn of rising anti-Semitism 75 years on

OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) — Survivors of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp prayed and wept as they marked the 75th anniversary of its liberation, returning Monday to the place where they lost entire families and warning about the ominous growth of anti-Semitism and hatred in the world.

“We have with us the last living survivors, the last among those who saw the Holocaust with their own eyes,” Polish President Andrzej Duda told those at the commemoration, which included the German president as well as Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders.

Poland’s regional authorities, local activists fight to save Red Army monuments

WARSAW, January 1: Polish regional authorities continue to fight for the preservation of about 30-35 monuments dedicated to the Red Army, Jerzy Tyts, head of the Kursk memorial organization told TASS.

The Kursk organization works to repair and restore monuments and resting places of Red Army soldiers in Poland.

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