These were all events that took place during yesterday's sitting of the European Parliament. On Tuesday the parliament held a debate on the alleged discrimination against homosexuals in Poland.

The new European Commission, presided over by Ursula von der Leyen, was approved by the European Parliament yesterday. The new head of the Commission said that Europe, after a period of solving current crises, should now look ahead. In Strasbourg, Ursula von der Leyen announced investments in innovation, completing the banking union, creating a legal framework for artificial intelligence, and a plan to battle cancer, among the goals for her presidency.

Yesterday, during a session of the state control committee of the lower house of parliament, the president of the Supreme Audit Office, Marian Banaś, introduced the candidates to be vice presidents, Tadeusz Dziuba and Marek Opioła. Both candidates received a positive recommendation from the deputies on the committee. The Supreme Audit Office president also made a statement concerning certain allegations made against him.

The issue of World War II reparations for Poland is an issue hotly debated in Poland. So far Germany officials claims that the problem was solved long ago and that all Berlin may do now is to condemn the German war crimes and apologize. But any financial commitment is out of question. Two German writers, Karl Heinz Roth and Hartmuth Ruebner, challenge this position and demand that the German government address the problem in a serious way.

Yesterday some 10,000 farmers from across Germany with around 5,000 tractors protested against the government's agriculture policies, bringing traffic to a standstill in central Berlin.

The Polish Central bank has announced that it has transferred to Poland 100 tonnes of Polish gold that had been kept at the Bank of England in London. The secret mission included eight separate flights to Poland, heavily guarded by security forces. The Polish central bank has almost doubled its gold reserves in recent years, purchasing 125,7 tonnes in the years 2018 and 2019. Half of Poland’s gold reserves remain in England. The President of the Polish Central Bank, Adam Glapiński, told the press that he doesn’t rule out the possibility of Poland buying more gold in the coming years.

The Supreme Court has yesterday overruled the appeal filed by the attorneys of Marek Falenta. The Polish businessman is serving a prison sentence following the so-called tape scandal. The scandal broke when investigative journalists published a number of audio tapes of discussions between high ranking politicians secretly recorded in a number of Warsaw restaurants. Falenta is currently serving a 2,5 year sentence.

The Speaker of the Polish Senate, Tomasz Grodzki, announced yesterday that he had summoned the president of the highest auditing body in Poland, namely the Supreme Audit Office, Marian Banaś, to testify in front of a senate investigative commission in relation to his nomination to the position of head of the Supreme Audit Office. The peculiar nature of this case is increased by the fact that the Constitution does not require the President of the Supreme Audit Office to respect such a summons.

Before yesterday, Romania's centrist President, Klaus Iohannis, secured a second term in office after winning the presidential election run-off, easily defeating his opponent, the socialist former Prime Minister, Viorica Dancila. Iohannis has pledged to resume the judicial reforms slowed down by successive Social Democrat governments.

In August next year Poland will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its victory in the Battle of Warsaw, also known as the Miracle on the Vistula. In the summer of 1920, the Polish Army halted the Bolshevik invasion on the outskirts of Warsaw. The battle has been recognized as one of the twenty most important battles in history, stopping as it did the spread of communism to Europe. One hundred years after this historic victory, it is still unknown whether and when a monument will be erected to commemorate what is one of the most important events in Polish history.

Prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki handed acts of nomination to four new provincial governors, or voivodes, yesterday. The new governor of the lubelskie province or voivodship is Lech Sprawka and Tobiasz Bocheński is the new governor of the łódzkie province. Konstanty Radziwiłł was appointed the voivode for the mazowiecki province, and Łukasz Mikołajczyk became the governor of the wielkopolskie voivodeship.

The Chairman of the Law and Justice party, Jarosław Kaczyński, announced that the issue of the election of Magdalena Biejat, a feminist from the Together party, to the leadership of the parliamentary social policy and family committee will soon be resolved. Biejat was elected thanks to the votes of Law and Justice deputies sitting on the committee, which made the decision all the more shocking to conservative supporters. The left has warned that the dismissal of Magdalena Biejat will be a violation of parliamentary custom.

Official celebrations of the 189th anniversary of the outbreak of the November uprising took place in Warsaw. According to some historians, it was the November insurgency which was Poland’s biggest, last chance to regain independence during the 123 years of partitions.

Yesterday is the second day of the Pope's pilgrimage to Japan. Pope Francis celebrated Sunday Mass at the National Stadium in Nagasaki, where over 35,000 faithful gathered.