Polish and American soldiers carry out joint tasks during Defender Europe20+ exercises in Drawsko, Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak wrote on Twitter. Only five years ago we were on the outskirts of
NATO, there were no US soldiers in Poland, he noted.
Blaszczak reminded that the increasing presence of US troops in Poland is a fact. “The declarations were signed, an advanced divisional command was established in Poznań with a US general at the head, US Army soldiers are deployed in Poland”, he reminded on Thursday. “Now we are agreeing on the last details and the talks are taking place in a good atmosphere”, the head of the Ministry of National Defense added. The minister reported DefenderEurope20+ exercises conducted at the training ground in Drawsko Pomorskie (West Pomeranian Voivodeship), where over a hundred units of equipment passed through Lake Zły Łęg, including Bradley cars and Humvees. “This is another task carried out by Polish and American soldiers as part of a joint exercise”, he noted.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced today that Poland is to reopen its borders to European Union member states on June 13th. According to the head of government, this decision is dictated by the decreasing number of coronavirus infections in EU countries.
“We have decided that on June 13th the borders will reopen to the European Union countries as it was before. In some countries of the world, especially Latin America but also North America, there are still high levels of infection and high levels of deaths. It can be seen that the pandemic is still not fully under control there. Therefore, for the time being we are limiting this decision to European Union countries. This is, after all, the most important for us. From 16 June onwards it will be possible to fly, although it is clear that carriers will have to adapt to the situation, they will need a week or two to prepare a network of connections for operational matters, bookings and so on. We are already in contact with our national carrier, LOT, because this will enable LOT to plan its services accordingly”, stated Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Over PLN 76 billion went to Polish companies and employees to secure and protect jobs. These are funds from various instruments: the anti-crisis shield, the financial shield and the assistance shield, Minister Marlena Maląg said today in Jaworzyna Śląska.
The Minister of Family and Labor during her stay in Lower Silesia (Dolny Śląsk) visited, among others, the “Karolina” Table Porcelain Factory in Jaworzyna Śląska. It is a company with 160 years of tradition. “This company, with Polish tradition, shows how to survive this difficult time. I would like to be the ambassador of <>, not only in Poland, but also in the world”, the Minister said. She added that in connection with the crisis caused by the coronavirus epidemic, the restrictions introduced in “Karolina” as regards employees are “inconsiderable”. The minister emphasized that for today over PLN 76 billion went to Polish companies and employees to secure and protect jobs. She added that the government wanted above all to create instruments that would allow the employers to reach for support money quickly.
The annual largest sea exercise in the Baltic Sea region BALTOPS 2020 (Baltic Operations) has begun. 29 ships, 29 aircraft and helicopters as well as approximately 3,000 soldiers from 19 countries, including 17 NATO member states and 2 partner countries participate in it.
This year’s edition of the exercise will take place only at sea and in the air. This form was adopted to ensure the safety and health of the participating staff. The main elements that will be implemented as part of the exercise include air defense, anti-submarine operations, naval blockade operations and mine operations. The exercise will last until June 16 this year. For the first time, the exercise will be commanded from the land by the Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO Command (STRIKFORNATO) from its permanent headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal. The goal of BALTOPS is to build interoperability between allied and partner countries, strengthen responsiveness, and demonstrate international determination in ensuring stability and security in the Baltic Sea region.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has become the next world leader to declare that his government is considering whether or not to leave the World Health Organization after its questionable handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro cited the US decision to withdraw late last month. President Donald Trump said at the end of May the US would be “terminating” its relationship with the WHO. He accused the UN agency of failing to enact reforms in the face of US concerns over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic and that it put too much faith in information from China. President Bolsonaro pointed to the WHO’s decision to resume testing of hydroxychloroquine on Covid-19 patients, after trials were suspended the previous week.
“The World Health Organisation backed down. U.S. President Donald Trump cut money to them and they went back on everything. I am moving forward on this, The United States left the WHO and we are studying this for the future. Either the WHO works with ideological impartiality or we are also out. We don’t need outsiders weighing in on health here”, stated President Bolsonaro.
Meanwhile, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has slammed the Brazilian president saying that he has failed in tackling the pandemic.
“The Bolsonaro government has definitely failed in tackling the coronavirus pandemic as many other governments have also done”, commented Thunberg.
Bolsonaro and Thunberg have a tense relationship, after he called her “Pirralha”, or brat in Portuguese.
During a visit to a hospital President Bolsonaro commented on the protesters from the far-left who demonstrated against him last weekend. Demonstrations which, despite the Antifa violence seen, were called “pro-democratic” by mainstream media.
“Generally speaking they are outcasts, terrorists, potheads, the unemployed who don’t know anything about the economy nor working to put bread on the table. They want to bankrupt Brazil in the name of democracy, they don’t have any idea”, said the Brazilian head of state.
The President is currently locked in a conflict with the parliament and Supreme Court who wish to impeach him.
The “Wall Street Journal” yesterday wrote that US president Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to pull up to 9.5 thousand American soldiers out of Germany before September. The report was followed by Reuters informing that part of the 9.5 thousand Americans are to be transferred to Poland, with the figure of 5000 being mentioned as the most probable.
The US military currently has over 35 thousand soldiers and 17 thousand civilian employees stationed in Germany. Apart from that, they have a strategic infrastructure on site: a military hospital in Landstuhl, an airbase in Ramstein and a command centre for operations in Europe and Africa located near Stuttgart. It is in Germany where the Americans also have the largest amount of American military equipment in Europe.
In August 2019, the US ambassador in Germany warned Berlin that his country will soon pull back some of the soldiers from near the Rhine river and transfer them to Poland. It is a consequence of Germany’s too low – according to Washington – expenditure on defence. Georgette Mosbacher, the American ambassador in Poland, back then wrote on Twitter:
“On the contrary to Germany, Poland fulfils its obligations to spend 2% GDP on NATO. We would gladly transfer American soldiers from Germany to Poland”.
During president Andrzej Duda’s visit in Washington, US president Donald Trump also spoke of moving part of the American troops from Rhine to Poland.
Today was truly a show of bad manners in the Polish Sejm. The quarrel began with the leader of the Civic Platform party, Borys Budka interrupting the speech of Barbara Nowacka, who was giving arguments behind the motion to dismiss the Minister of Health. Budka tried to stop deputy Prime Minister Gliński and the leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, Jarosław Kaczyński from leaving the hall during the vote of no-confidence against Minister Szumowski. After that, the situation spiralled out of control, especially when chairman Kaczyński called the shouting members of the opposition “a rude rabble”. Speaker Terlecki could not get the MPs of both sides to calm down and finally ordered a five-minute break. It seems like both the ruling party and the opposition are going to go all out in the coming days leading to the presidential elections on June 28th. Only time will tell who will be the winners, and who will be the losers of this unacceptable rudeness.
Leaders like chairman Kaczyński and President Andrzej Duda, are the individuals who clearly send the message around the world that the future of Poland is bright.
That energy resources that you have on shore and the energy resources that you develop with relationships will continue to make Poland if not the leading country in Europe, certainly one of the strongest, most committed to democracy countries in the entire, not just European Union, but in the world. Said Rick Perry at the Lech Kaczyński’s Prometheus Award Ceremony in Warsaw, Poland.
It’s been my great privilege to be associated with the people of Poland as we worked together towards making Poland an even stronger and independent country. Particularly if it comes to energy my relationships with President Duda, with the Prime Minister and with my great and dear friend, Minister Naimski.
Clearly this is a country whose leadership is committed to the people in the form of making sure that the Polish people have multiple sources of energy. A Three Seas Initiative is an example of that making sure that those waterways are free for commerce. The LNG that comes in on the Baltic. Looking forward to nuclear power. The potential that Poland has committed to Europe’s own natural resources and your coal, the clean burning technologies that are available.
So, I don’t think that people of Poland have anything to look forward to but greatness in the future.
Having said that, the neighborhood is not the… you might have not the best neighbors, you would like to have. Particular on the eastern side. And this another reason for Poland to continue to be independent, to stand up and control your own future.
This is the great honour that I accept this Promethean Award in the name of a man whose history is incredible. Lech Kaczyński, what he’s done. His memory, the people that he impacted, that is a great legacy for Poland. The history of your country, understanding the power to revive yourselves from oppressive regimes that have been there.
And the leaders like president Kaczyński and President Andrzej Duda, those are individuals who clearly send the message around the world that the future of Poland is bright. That energy resources that you have on shore and the energy resources that you develop with relationships will continue to make Poland if not the leading country in Europe, certainly one of the strongest, most committed to democracy countries in the entire, not just European Union, but in the world.
And I thank you for the great honor, I thank You for the continued relationship and I look forward to being back in Warsaw and the surrounding area in the not too distant future.
Thank you very much
Polish translation below:
To dla mnie wielki zaszczyt być związany z Polakami, gdyż wspólnie pracowaliśmy by Polska stała się jeszcze mocniejszym i bardziej niezależnym krajem. Zwłaszcza w dziedzinie energii. Moje związki z prezydentem Dudą, premierem i moim wielkim przyjacielem ministrem Naimskim.
Widać wyraźnie, że jest to kraj, gdzie wyrazem zaangażowania przywódców jest zapewnienie Polakom wielu źródeł energii. Wspaniałym przykładem jest inicjatywa Trójmorza, której celem jest zapewnienie wolności handlu na tych wodach. Kolejny przykład to terminal LNG na bałtyku czy współpraca w dziedzinie energetyki atomowej.
Potencjał jaki Polska oferuje regionowi dzięki własnej energetyce węglowej i wykorzystaniu dostępnych już technologii czystego węgla.
Myślę, że Polacy nie powinni spodziewać się niczego innego jak wielkości swojego kraju. Powiedziawszy to musimy zwrócić uwagę na sąsiadów, którzy może nie są najlepsi, zwłaszcza na wschodzie. I to jest właśnie powód by Polska zachowała niezależność i mogła przeciwstawić się i kontrolować swoją własną przyszłość.
Tak więc jest Nagroda Prometejska to dla mnie wielki zaszczyt zwłaszcza, że nosi ona imię wielkiego człowieka Lecha Kaczyńskiego. Jego dokonania i pamięć o nim oraz ludzie, których zainspirował stanowią wspaniałe dziedzictwo dla Polski.
Historia waszego kraju, fakt, że odrodziliście się po tylu okupacjach i przywódcy tacy jak Lech Kaczyński i prezydent Andrzej Duda, którzy przed całym światem dowodzą, że przyszłość Polski jest jasna a zasoby energetyczne, które już macie i te które rozwijacie razem z partnerami sprawią, że Polska stanie się jeśli nie najsilniejszym krajem w Europie to napewno jednym z państw najsilniejszych, najbardziej zaangażowanych po stronie demokracji nie tylko w Unii Europejskiej ale i na całym świecie.
Raz jeszcze dziękuję za zaszczyt, za trwałe relacje i mam nadzieję, że już w nieodległej przyszłości znowu odwiedzę was w Warszawie i okolicach.
Nearly PLN 43.8 billion of subsidies from the Financial Shield of the Polish Development Fund (PFR) went to companies all over Poland, PFR informed on Twitter. It was added that e.g. small and medium enterprises received PLN 31 billion.
Micro enterprises received PLN 12.7 billion. According to PFR, finance assistance was provided to over 231 thousand companies employing 2.2 million people. PFR Financial Shield is a government financial support program for entrepreneurs financialy hurt as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aid is directed to the sector of micro, small, medium and large companies. Its value is about PLN 100 billion. On May 30th, the European Commission issued a positive decision regarding the aid program for large enterprises. The budget of the approved program is PLN 7.5 billion.
Speaker of the Sejm, Elżbieta Witek, has set the date of the presidential elections in Poland for June 28th. This date allows for the avoiding of a situation in which the highest office in the country would remain vacant, following the end of Andrzej Duda’s term of office on August 6th as President of Poland.
Candidates for President of Poland have time to register committees until June 5th, and until June 10th to propose candidates. Existing candidates do not have to register committees once more, however Rafał Trzaskowski is not exempt from this ruling.
“Now, we start the presidential campaign, honestly, I presume. The first round is on June 28th, and a possible second on July 12th, so that before August 6th the President can be sworn in”, stated the Speaker of the Sejm, Elżbieta Witek.
Yesterday, the Sejm passed a bill on presidential elections, with most of the amendments introduced by the Senate in the evening signed by President Andrzej Duda, and later published in the daily newspaper. On its basis it will be possible to vote by correspondence, which must be reported in the municipal office by 16 June. In case of people living abroad, it must be reported before June 13th, those quarantined and in isolation can report this until June 23rd, and if one’s quarantine begins after the announcement of the election date by the Speaker of the Sejm, this date is postponed to June 26th.
“It is good that all of this legal chaos is behind us, as it was unnecessary for all Poles. It seems that although there is not much time, only three weeks, it is enough to organize these elections, mainly in the traditional form. How many Poles will decide to vote by absentee ballot – we do not know”, columnist Jacek Prusinowski commented on the matter.
In an interview with the Polish Press Agency, Speaker of the Senate Tomasz Grodzki said that if the election is won by a candidate of the opposition, then there is a possibility of accelerated elections.
“We can always count on the destructive actions of the Speaker of the Senate. He first planned the elections for after August 6th, which would leave Poland without a head of state. Now he is announcing more destruction, meaning if Rafał Trzaskowski wins in the first round, then we will see accelerated elections. It seems Speaker Grodzki does not fully know the Constitution, because this is not such a simple procedure”, said columnist Marek Król.
In today’s Ibris survey for Polityka weekly, Andrzej Duda is in the lead with the support of 41% of respondents, followed by Rafał Trzaskowski with 26%, Szymon Hołownia with 12%, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz with 7%, Krzysztof Bosak with 6.5%, and Robert Biedroń with 2.3%.
“I think these proportions are realistic. The candidate of the Civic Platform Party before May 10th was under-represented in the polls, also due to the weak campaign of Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska and her call to boycott the elections. In the more recent surveys, it seems that Andrzej Duda has a great chance to win in the second round. Voting at polling stations will take place between 7 AM and 9 PM. It will also be possible for those voting by absentee ballot to deliver return envelopes through the Polish Post, as well as municipal offices to relevant PECs. A possible second round will take place on July 12th”, stated the editor-in-chief of “Do Rzeczy” weekly, Paweł Lisicki.
e to be associated with the people of Poland as we worked together towards making Poland an even stronger and independent country. Particularly if it comes to energy my relationships with President Duda, with the Prime Minister and with my great and dear friend, Minister Naimski.
