The son of the former German president is dead
Fritz von Weizsäcker, son of the former president of Germany Richard von Weizsäcker, was murdered in Berlin . He died after being attacked by a man wielding a knife during a lecture in a hospital.
”My friend Fritz von Weizsäcker was stabbed tonight in Berlin. A passionate doctor and a fine person. Recently he came to our home for a barbecue. I am stunned and must share my grief. Once again, one can ask himself what kind of world we live in”- says friend of Weizsäcker
Fritz von Weizsäcker was stabbed on Tuesday evening in the Berlin Schlosspark-Klinik. The 59-year-old chief physician was giving a medical lecture there just before 7 pm when a man from the auditorium approached him. For the physician, help came too late.
The perpetrator came across the lecture in the Schlosspark Clinic on the Internet. The man drove to the Tuesday event by train. The man was accused of murder and attempted murder of a policeman privately attending the lecture who intervened and was left severely injured.
According to German media reports, the perpetrator killed the doctor in order to take revenge on the von Weizsäcker family. After reading a magazine and learning about the role of Richard von Weizsäcker, the father of the victim, at the chemical company Boehringer Ingelheim, he justified the murder in his mind. Richard von Weizsäcker had been responsible as the company’s CEO in the 1960s for supplying the company with deadly toxins for the Vietnam War.
The identity of the murderer is unknown. According to German Police, this 57 year old man is a German citizen and has been diagnosed with an acute mental illness. It was said that he will be held in a mental institution.
Pope Francis visits Thailand
Pope Francis arrived in Thailand today, thus beginning his apostolic trip to Asia. During the Pope’s 32nd pilgrimage, he will also visit Japan. The Supreme Pontiff’s journey to the east is part of his pilgrimage to countries with small Christian minorities.
Pope Francis’ trip to Asia began with Bangkok. The flight to Thailand took almost 12 hours, during which the head of the Catholic church thanked journalists and the entire delegation travelling with him, for the work they did enabling viewers all around the world to follow the course of the pilgrimage.
“Good evening to you all. Thank you for accompanying me on this trip, and thanks for your work that helps people a lot. It keeps them informed. It also helps people to know these cultures far away from the western regions. Thanks for your efforts”- says Pope Francis.
The first part of the visit will last until Saturday, as it falls on the 350th anniversary of the founding of the apostolic vicariate in Thailand and the first appearance of the Catholic missionaries in the country. The Supreme Pontiff’s visit is a huge event for the Thai Catholic community which makes up only 1% of the 67 million population of Thailand.
“I never thought that I would have another chance to see him again. I was invited by the Vatican embassy to work for the St. Louis church as a cleaner. This might not be an important role for others, but I’m very proud”- says Bangkok resident.
“I’m a catholic and I strongly believe in Pope Francis. Once in a lifetime I want to see him and be able to receive a prayer from him. I’m so happy. When he waved his hand, I was so delightful. This is the greatest moment of being a Christian”- says one of the Bangkok resident.
All the official celebrations are planned for Thursday morning, including Pope Francis’ meeting with the highest Buddhist patriarch. On Saturday, the head of the Catholic church will go to Japan, where preparations for his welcoming are already on their way.
Parliament on excise duties
Today the Sejm is to vote on the legislation on financing thirteenth pensions from the Solidarity Fund, currently functioning as the Solidarity Fund for Supporting People with Disabilities. MEPs are also to adopt a bill increasing excise duties on alcohol and tobacco products by 10 percent from January 1, 2020. Although the opposition claims that both projects are implemented in order to finance election promises from state funds, the government says that not even a zloty earmarked for people with disabilities from the budget will be used for any other purpose.
“The recently re-elected government of the Law and Justice party has barely started its work and is already reaching for citizen’s pockets. This was stated by politicians of the opposition following the vote on the first draft of the amendment raising the excise on cigarettes and alcohol by 10%. The ruling party also stirred up emotions among the opposition, having proposed changes to the solidarity fund for the disabled. While some members of the opposition agreed with the need for raising the excise, but argued that the new funds should be invested in improving the health care, all of them were strongly against any changes in the solidarity fund. Politicians of Law and Justice responded by saying, that the raising of the excise is part of the government’s strategy to prevent health issues connected with drinking alcohol and smoking, while the amendments to the solidarity fund won’t take away a single zloty out of the pockets of the disabled.
”While there is some moral or public justification for the increase in excise duty, that it’s for preserving health and that it will affect those who drink and smoke, robbing the Disabled People’s Support Fund, and worse, the Demographic Reserve Fund, this is a scandal. This means that we are robbing the next generations for the sake of current election promises. We are robbing our children and contributing to the deepening of the demographic crisis”- says Jakub Kulesza, Confederation Party.
”The excise duty increase was planned much earlier, I even postulated that this increase is too small, because actually the 10%, given the increase in the minimum wage, is still too little and I think that the discussion concerning the issue should continue. We must remember that the excise tax serves not only budgetary purposes, which is secondary, but the excise tax serves primarily preventive purposes”- says Henryk Kowalczyk, Law and Justice Party.
Biejat on notice
During an interview with journalists in Zagrzeb, Grzegorz Schetyna informed that Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska has an opponent in the presidential primaries of the Civic Coalition. The candidates name, however, was not disclosed. In the afternoon the President of Poznań, Jacek Jaśkowiak, stated that he would stand up to the primaries.
MPs of United Poland wrote a letter to the Law and Justice parliamentary club demanding that Magdalena Biejat be dismissed from the chair of the Social Policy and Family Committee. Other right-wing politicians also support this solution.
”Saying that a conceived child has no PESEL, so he should not be protected, is the worst thing that could be said. Here we are talking about a person who has a very honorable function, the chairman of the Social Policy and Family Committee. Of course, there are some parliamentary rules that apply to the opposition having its representatives, but the question is whether a person with such far-left views should be in such an important committee and perform such a function”- says Jan Kanthak,United Poland press officer.
”I think that the application submitted by Solidarity Poland. It is a good conclusion. It seems that with such an important topic, with the entire term of the previous one devoted to caring for the families, chairmanship should be held at most by a neutral person or by someone willing to express deep concern for the traditional family model in accordance with constitutional provisions”- says Wojciech Murdzek, Agreement party.
”If there is no chairman of this committee, then she will have to have a chairperson or chairperson of another committee, and, in theory, there is some wiggle room”- says Ryszard Czarnecki,Euro MEP
”There is freedom of opinion, but we agree with the fact that the committees should be headed by people who try to consolidate understanding. These people are in every party, in every formation”- says Tadeusz Cymański, United Poland.
Biejat’s opponent for the position of the head of the Sejm Social Policy and Family Committee was Confederation MP Grzegorz Braun. His grouping filed for the dismissal of Magdalena Biejat.
”We believe that a person who clearly says that abortion should be upon request, and at the same time offends the Catholic religion with some of their entries, even in social media, should not represent voters as a person responsible for the families”-says Michał Urbaniak,Confederation.
According to the opposition, the Law and Justice party clearly got lost in this matter.
”The club chairman and Ryszard Terlecki, alongside Marek Suski, have fully accepted this candidacy. What has changed between last week and today? Nothing. The views of this MP remain unchanged”- says Michał Szczerba,civic Platform party.
”It was Law and Justice who decided who will be responsible for this commission, who they elect, who the party’s MPs voted for – they have the majority in committees, so this also shows how the party respects previous arrangements”- says Mieczysław Kasprzak, Polish People’s party.
“You cannot call someone off because of their views. The voters choose us precisely because of the views we represent”- says Katarzyna Lubanuer,Vice-Chairman of The Citiziens Coalition club.
Magdalena Biejat herself referred to the applications for appeal.
”There are no grounds to dismiss me and I have repeatedly declared that I will do everything so that we can create space on the Social Policy and Family Committee and work together on joint projects. The Law and Justice party has a majority in the Sejm and if they want to dismiss me, if they want to dismiss the head of the Environmental Protection Committee or the Public Finance Committee, they will do it”- says Magdalena Biejat, Chairman of The Social Policy and Family Comission.
Biejat’s candidacy for chairwoman of the committee was supported by 25 deputies, including the majority of Law and Justice MPs represented in the committee. Three Law and Justice deputies were against, four members abstained.
There is no conflict
Polish MPs focused yesterday on a debate around a bill proposing to lift the limit of social pension contributions. Presently, there is a fixed contribution cap for high earners. The opposition claims that the withdrawal of this bill is supposed to prove the conflict in the ruling right camp. Politicians of the ruling camp, however, deny that there is a conflict at all, and the discussion about the bill on the abolition of the contribution ceiling is a normal one for Poland’s finances.
After the proposal of the bill, submitted by the Law and Justice party, providing to remove the ceiling of the social pension contributions disappeared from the lower house of Polish parliament agenda, the meeting of the United Right leaders on a coalition agreement took place. For several days, there have been talks about some noticeable tensions on the right, due to the opposition to the proposed changes to the bill by one of the Law and Justice coalition partners – the “Agreement” party of Jarosław Gowin.
”The chairmen of all three parties will meet. The atmosphere is good, the talks are in progress. We are glad that this project has been withdrawn, it shows that agreement on a united right is important”- says Stanisław Bukowiec, Agreement party.
Withdrawing the bill proposal seems to be a concession to the faction of Deputy Prime Minister Gowin, although unofficially the project is expected to return to the lower house later, probably after the 2020 Polish presidential election, perhaps in a changed formula. Law and Justice party politicians say that there is no crisis in the united right.
”We will work on the economic issues. There is no conflict, these are just talks. A discussion is taking place and these are its effects. Sometimes you have to take a step back to take two steps forward”, says Karol Karski,European Union MP,Law and Justice party.
As political columnists point out, the withdrawal of the bill is certainly a success for Jaroslaw Gowin, although no one is under the illusion that the proposed regulation will return sooner or later.
”This shows that the Law and Justice party politicians are not concerned with an image problem. Until now the united right has spoken unanimously, unlike the opposition, and this unity has been lacking in the last few days, but I don’t think it is going to bring permanent conflict”- says Michał Wróblewski, publicist,Wirtualna Polska.
”I think this project will come back and it has been withdrawn temporarily. In my opinion, the move is just to calm the situation a bit, taking care of other issues and discussing whether this bill has a chance to pass”- says Maciej Chudkiewicz, publicist,TVP Warsaw,TVP Info.
The removal of the social pension contribution limit was to bring over 7 bln zł to the state budget in 2020. This was the second attempt to establish such a law. The first bill proposal was considered at the beginning of 2018 and was redirected to the Constitutional Tribunal by President Andrzej Duda, who in turn decided that the bill was unconstitutional.