An amended law on sheltering foreigners in Poland came into force on Sunday, 19 June.

It gives relevant services extended time for checking personal data of potential refugees wishing to enter Polish territory. The law was amended in connection with EU regulations on the relocation of refugees among Union member countries.

It extends the former seven-day period for supplying information on the applicants to the Office for Foreigners by the National Chief of Police, Commander of Border Guard Service or the head of the Internal Security Agency to 45 days.

Authorities are to deliver their opinion whether the given person’s entry on Polish territory might constitute a threat to state security, the country’s defence capabilities or public order.

The law also provides for this period to be extended by a further 14 days in extraordinary cases. Should the opinion passed to the Office for Foreigners contain any of the aforementioned reservations, the person in question cannot be qualified for relocation to Poland. The amended law on refugees does not apply to minors under 13 years of age.

Germany is the closest ally of Poland in the European Union, according to 32 percent of Poles polled in a recent survey by daily Rzeczpospolita.

According to the poll, the respondents said that the next best ally for Poland is Hungary (20 percent), with the United Kingdom in third place (12.5 percent).

“Over the last decade and a half, Germany has been a strategic ally [for Poland] in the EU for successive governments – from Leszek Miller [Polish PM between 2001-2004 – ed.], who negotiated the accession to the EU, as well as the [Civic Platform] governments, which led its European policy in close cooperation with Berlin. Only the government led by Beata Szydło clearly changed tack, cooling relations with Berlin,” the Rzeczpospolita daily wrote in its Monday edition.

Poland and Germany recently marked the 25th anniversary of the Polish-German Treaty of Good Neighbourship and Friendly Cooperation. Signed in 1991, the treaty set Poland and Germany on a path of reconciliation, several decades after Nazi Germans inflicted mass destruction on Poland during World War II. Rapprochement remained elusive between Poland’s communist-era rulers and the then East Germany.

Polish President Andrzej Duda recently said in Berlin: „The enormity of what had to be overcome has no precedent in history. I am proud as the president of Poland that my nation followed the path of reconciliation with the German people. This is our great, joint achievement and an example, not only for Europe but for the world.”

The European Commission is to start proceedings against Poland over the felling of trees in the eastern Białowieża forest, a UNESCO-listed site, unofficial sources say.

Polish Radio has learned from unofficial sources that the extensive logging operations in Europe’s last primeval forest will be included in an EC list highlighting EU law infringements by member states. The list is to be released on Thursday afternoon.

Brussels is expected to call Poland out on the violation of EU directives on the conservation of natural habitats and wild birds in the forest. The Polish Environment Ministry greenlighted the logging earlier this year, citing the need to fight bark beetle infestation in the forest. The step has been fiercely criticised by environmentalists and academics in Poland and abroad.

In April, the commission initiated a so-called EU Pilot procedure to investigate breaches of EU environmental regulations and laws on the conservation of habitats protected under the Natura 2000 programme in Poland.
The idea behind the procedure is to resolve compliance issues through dialogue without resorting to infringement proceedings. However, Warsaw’s justification for a three-fold increase in timber extraction in the forest proved unsatisfactory to Brussels.

Polish Radio has learned that Warsaw will be given one month, and not the statutory two months, to respond to issues raised by the EC. The decision to shorten the deadline was determined by the fact that „the felling activities could bring about irreversible damage” to the forest, EC sources say. The infringement process could lead to the EU referring Poland to the European Court of Justice and imposing penalties on the country.

In March, Environment Minister Jan Szyszko approved a plan to increase wood extraction in Białowieża from 63,000 to 188,000 square metres under a plan for 2012-2020, after woodcutters had felled 90 percent of the earmarked quota under the ten-year scheme.

Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz has said that Russia “is today the biggest threat to global security.”

Macierewicz was speaking at a conference in Brussels on Wednesday focusing on an upcoming NATO summit, which will take place in Warsaw amid heightened tensions with Moscow following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014.

Macierewicz told reporters: „No country in recent history… has undermined international order to the extent Russia has, first attacking Georgia, then Ukraine, and continuously occupying the territory of an independent state, openly indicating that it does not want to accept the independence of that state and its sovereignty. “
He added: “Russia must accept that it is one of many countries in the world with equal rights… but it does not have the right to constantly impose its views, its rules and its army on other countries and other nations.”
Four battalions for Poland and Baltics

NATO defence ministers on Tuesday approved a plan for the military alliance to station four multinational battalions in Poland and the Baltic states on a rotating basis. The plans are expected to be confirmed at a 8-9 July summit of the Western military alliance in the Polish capital. In an interview with Catholic weekly Gość Niedzielny, Macierewicz said that decisions to be taken at the Warsaw summit will guarantee the security of NATO’s eastern flank.

Poland, he added, is the key element of that flank and therefore the foundation of the security of the entire Central European region. “Today an attack on Poland would be an attack on the whole of NATO and the United States in particular,” Macierewicz told Gość Niedzielny.

Meanwhile, some 31,000 soldiers from 18 NATO members and five partner countries have been taking part in major manoeuvres in Poland. The exercises, codenamed Anaconda 16, are a demonstration of NATO’s strength at a time of heightened tensions with Moscow.

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski has offered his condolences over a gun massacre targeting a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, over the weekend.

“We are deeply moved and struck with grief by the shocking news coming from Orlando,” Waszczykowski wrote in a message sent to US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday.

The deadliest shooting in US history left 50 people dead and 53 injured, after 29-year-old Omar Mateen opened fire inside the Pulse, a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday night.

“On behalf of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and myself, I wish to express our deepest condolences. Our thoughts go to the families and friends of the victims as well as to all people affected by this tragedy,” reads the foreign minister’s statement.

Waszczykowski expressed hope that the circumstances of the tragic event would be “thoroughly examined and that those responsible will be promptly brought to justice.”

Omar Mateen, a US citizen of Afghan origin, is believed to have been acting alone. Preliminary findings indicate that the gunman was inspired by the Islamic State (IS), but no evidence has surfaced as yet to prove he had links to the fundamentalist militant group.

Thirty-one thousand soldiers from 18 NATO members and five partner countries will take part in major manoeuvres in Poland starting on Tuesday, amid fears by Central and Eastern European states that Russia poses a threat to their security.

The manoeuvres, codenamed Anaconda 16, will last until 17 June, and are the largest military exercises in Poland since the fall of communism in 1989. They are set to be a demonstration of NATO’s strength at a time of heightened tensions with Moscow following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014.

The manoeuvres are being held in the run-up to a 8-9 July NATO summit in Warsaw. Poland, fearful of the intentions of its mighty neighbour to the east, hopes the summit will see the Western military alliance confirming that it will beef up its presence in Central and Eastern Europe.

Some 12,000 Polish soldiers will take part in Anaconda, which will see 3,000 military vehicles, 105 planes and helicopters and 12 warships conducting exercises. During a ceremony at the National Defence University in Warsaw on Monday marking the official launch of the manoeuvres, Polish Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz said: „The aim is to check the capabilities of member countries of the Alliance to defend the eastern flank of the Alliance.”

Gen. Mark Milley, the US Army Chief of Staff, said the United States aimed to demonstrate in the exercises that it stands “shoulder to shoulder” with Poland, the Polish army and with NATO. The Anaconda exercises have been held every two years since 2006. This year, the aim is to ensure coordination between national and coalition commands in a joint operation designed to ward off the threat of hybrid warfare.

In an interview for Vatican Radio, the Archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, has said that he spoke to Pope Francis on Saturday about the pontiff’s forthcoming visit to Poland for World Youth Day.

“I told him about the great enthusiasm surrounding the event, not only in Poland but across the world, with pilgrims from 194 countries and 930 bishops expected to arrive,” Dziwisz said.

“Preparations for the event are proceeding well,” the cardinal told Vatican Radio. “The only thing is: we have to pray for good weather,” he added.

While in Poland for World Youth Day, which runs from 25-31 July, Pope Francis will visit the former Nazi German concentration camp of Auschwitz and the Black Madonna shrine in the southern city of Częstochowa.

Expenditures earmarked for child rearing account for 15 to 30 percent of Polish families’ household budgets, research finds.

It costs anything between PLN 176,000 and 190,000 (EUR 40,000-43,000) to raise a child in Poland, a report by the Adam Smith Center (CAS) in Warsaw shows. The overall expenses allocated to bringing up kids until they reach adulthood rise to the range of PLN 317,000-342,000 (72,000-79,000) in the case of two kids and PLN 422,000-427,000 (96,000-97,000) in the case of three.

“We continue to see a very high share of household budgets going to child rearing, with no signs of diminishing,” the head of the center, Andrzej Sadowski, said at a press conference on Wednesday. Such high costs are the result of a fiscal policy pursued by successive governments, experts at CAS say. They point to labour and indirect taxation, particularly VAT, as the main factors. The experts warn the high costs of raising kids along with the difficult situation on the labour market are some of the key reasons behind the low birthrate in Poland. “We are facing a demographic crisis.

There is no basis for Poland to be penalised: Polish Foreign Minister

This is no longer just a problem but a crisis,” Ireneusz Jabłoński, an analyst with CAS said. The birth rate in Poland, standing at 1.32, is one of the lowest in Europe. “If the current fertility rates remain as they are, our population will simply shrink by a third over the course of two generations,” he added. The Central Statistical Office (GUS) predicts that the number of Poles will drop from 38.4 million in 2014 to 36 million in 2035.

Interior Minister Mariusz Błaszczak has confirmed that Poland will reintroduce border controls for World Youth Day in July, after the US Department of State issued a “travel alert” report for the country.

“US citizens should be aware that local infrastructure may be strained due to the large number of visitors,” the Department of State said about World Youth Day, which will be held on 26-31 July and is expected to see some 2.5 million visitors flock to the city of Kraków in southern Poland.

There is no basis for Poland to be penalised: Polish Foreign Minister

“Poland will impose border controls at all of its national borders from 4 July to 2 August, and visitors to Poland during this period should be prepared to show their passport and undergo stricter security screening throughout Poland,” the report said. Speaking to Polish Radio, Błaszczak said that such security measures are “nothing special”. He pointed out that similar measures were introduced for the Euro 2012 football championship co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine.

Warsaw’s Regional Military Court has sentenced an officer of the Polish Army to six years in prison for spying for Russia.

The ruling, which was issued last month, is pending appeal. Lieutenant Colonel Zbigniew J. (name withheld under Polish privacy laws) entered a no contest plea, news agency PAP reports. The court also stripped the defendant of civic rights for a period of five years and ruled a forfeiture of his mobile phone and PLN 16,500 (EUR 3,700), acquired as a result of his criminal activity.

Poland braced for EU Commission opinion amid row

Zbigniew J. was an employee of the Defence Ministry’s department of education when he was arrested in October 2014. The public prosecutor’s office charged him with espionage for foreign intelligence services and passing sensitive information considered potentially harmful for Poland. While the details of the case were not disclosed, members of the parliamentary committee for special services said the defendant had been accused of collaborating with the military intelligence of Russia’s Armed Forces.