Donald Tusk’s legal expertise as Prime Minister is rather alarming. Yesterday, he announced that the government would introduce certain legal provisions. However, he clearly forgot that these provisions are already in force, working just fine, and were actually introduced… during the Law and Justice (PiS) government. Internet users were quick to point this out.
Yesterday, Donald Tusk met with representatives of social organizations alongside Rafał Brzoska, the head of the deregulation team and CEO of InPost. In addition to discussing the deregulation process in Poland, several interesting—let’s say, “interesting” in quotation marks—announcements were made.
Tusk’s Knowledge of Polish Law
During the meeting, Donald Tusk admitted that changes are needed in how court cases are handled, especially “trivial” cases, as some of them drag on for years while the parties involved wait in vain for a resolution.
One of the key announcements was about introducing the so-called “principle of tacit approval.”
“We will introduce the principle of tacit approval—if an office fails to respond within the designated timeframe, the citizen’s request will be considered approved. No more endless waiting for decisions on simple matters, such as planting a tree on one’s own property.”
These words came from Tusk himself and were quoted on the official account of the Prime Minister’s Office on Platform X.
Sharp-Eyed Internet Users Strike Again
Unfortunately for Tusk, he seems unaware that this regulation has long been part of Poland’s legal system. The “principle of tacit approval” already exists and is outlined in Chapter 8a of the Code of Administrative Procedure.
But that’s not all. Under the Prime Minister’s Office’s post, a note appeared containing a link to the relevant legal provisions. You can check it yourself by clicking on the post mentioned above.
And the Trees?
But the issue doesn’t end there. As you may have noticed in the quoted statement, Tusk gave a rather absurd example of a “trivial case”—namely, “planting a tree on one’s own property.”