A new study has found that only 64 percent of Poles are able to forget about work while on holiday.

According to data compiled by the Randstad Research Institute, some 60 percent of Poles are required to be available on the telephone during their breaks.

Meanwhile, 36 percent are obliged to reply immediately to company emails or telephone calls while on holiday.

In addition, many Poles surveyed simply struggle to switch off from thinking about their occupational duties during leave from work.

“This can sometimes lead to severe mental stress or even burnout,” commented Tomasz Borkowski, of the Careers Office of School of Banking in Opole, in an interview with Newseria.

Meanwhile, Randstad’s study found that in the first quarter of 2015, the number of Poles who are anxious that they might lose their position increased yet again.

Andrzej Duda has been sworn in to become the sixth president of the III Polish Republic at a ceremony in the Sejm on Thursday morning.

At 10:00 am members the National Assembly, the 460-seat lower house – the Sejm and the 100-seat upper house – the Senate, stood up for the national anthem after which Andrzej Duda took the presidential oath.

Its text is written in the Polish Constitution:

“Assuming, by the will of the Nation, the office of President of the Republic of Poland, I do solemnly swear to be faithful to the provisions of the Constitution; I pledge that I shall steadfastly safeguard the dignity of the Nation, the independence and security of the State, and also that the good of the Homeland and the prosperity of its citizens shall forever remain my supreme obligation.”

Following the ceremony, the President made an address to the National Assembly.

President Duda recalled his electoral promises and pledged that these will not be forgotten. The new president stressed that the most important issues are to submit a bill to increase the tax-free bracket, as well as a introduce draft legislation to lower the retirement age.

Duda added that he hopes for support in the Parliament for the proposals. However, the Civic Platform-led coalition government has steadfastly justified its raising of the retirement age as an essential measure to combat Poland’s demographic crisis.

He called for mutual respect, which, as he put it, is the key to repairing Poland.

“This respect must be the cornerstone of the community,” President Duda stressed, adding that he believes in a constructive cooperation with the government, the Sejm and the Senate.

Official duties

While in the Parliament, the President laid flowers at the plaques commemorating Polish parliamentarians who perished during WWII and those who were killed, along with the president and other high-ranking officials, in the plane crash in Russia in April 2010.

From the Parliament, the President and the First Lady will proceed to St John’s Cathedral to attend mass, which will be celebrated by Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, Head of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, together with the Primate of Poland Wojciech Polak, Kazimierz Cardinal Nycz of Warsaw and the Papal Nuncio Archbishop Celestino Migliore.

Later in the day, during a ceremony in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw, Andrzej Duda will take over command of the armed forces.

Andrzej Duda is the sixth Polish President since the country embarked on the path of democratic transformations in the summer of 1989.

His predecessors were Wojciech Jaruzelski (the only one elected by the National Assembly, in July 1989), Lech Wałęsa, Aleksander Kwaśniewski (who served in the post for two terms, in 1995-2005), Lech Kaczyński (who was killed in the air crash in 2010, the last year of his term), and Bronisław Komorowski.

Foreign policy

Duda told the Sejm that Poland’s foreign policy should “not be a revolution, but it needs correction and an increase in activity.
“This correction is talking about our goals, our aspirations, presenting our point of view in a calm but firm and unambiguous manner, by communicating this to our international partners,” the president said.

On the international arena over the last 26 years Poland has enjoyed two great successes, according to the president: membership of NATO and the EU.

“Thanks to these events, Poland – not only symbolically, but also geopolitically – has moved from East to West.”

“European cohesion must be constructed in such a way that Polish affairs are also taken into account,” he added.

“In this way, we should build the unity of NATO,” the newly sworn in president continued.

Duda stressed the importance of building a strong and well-equipped army and pledged cooperation with the Minister of Defence. “But it will also be active. I believe that we can work together for the good of the Republic in this field.”

“Here one has to put the matter clearly – we need more guarantees from NATO, not only we as Poland, but the whole of Central and Eastern Europe in the current difficult geopolitical situation. We need a greater NATO presence in this part of Europe, including in our country,” Duda added.

Duda also said he plans to create an office for the Polish community abroad (Polonia).

“We must maintain connectivity with the young abroad, create conditions for their return to Poland.”

Poland is preparing a mission to Lebanon in order to process candidates due to be given asylum in Poland as part of an EU-led programme.

Deputy Interior Minister Piotr Stachańczyk has said that “the refugees will reach Poland in stages, in groups of between 100 and 200 people.”

Some 2,000 refugees are ultimately due to be given asylum in Poland, taking in 900 from camps outside the EU, and 1,100 from camps in Italy and Greece. In total, the EU hopes to resettle 60,000 refugees across Europe.

The mission to Lebanon concerns 900 Syrians who have fled the ongoing civil war in their homeland.

The candidates will be chosen at camps run by UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency.

“One should bear in mind that they will come to our country if they agree to do so,” Deputy Minister Stachańczyk said.

“It is a voluntary process.”

The 1,100 refugees due in Poland from camps in Italy and Greece will be Syrian and Eritrean citizens.

The first groups are to arrive in 2016.

As noted by Stachańczyk, all of those ultimately given asylum in Poland will take part in intregrational programmes, in two phases.
They will intially reside in centres belonging to Poland’s Office for Foreigners. Language courses and vocational training will be parts of the integrational programmes.

Just under half of Poles (48 percent) believe that president-elect Andrzej Duda will be a better president than outgoing Bronisław Komorowski.

Just over a fifth (22 percent) said Duda’s presidency would be worse than his predecessor, according to a CBOS opinion poll.

Seventeen percent of respondents said Duda – whose inauguration takes place on Thursday – would be a “decidedly better” president, with 31 percent saying he would be “better” and 30 precent not expressing an opinion.

Specialist opinion on why Komorowski unexpecetdly lost the May presidential election after holding a large lead for so long was mixed. One political scientist, dr Hubert Horbaczewski from the University of Łódź, for example, told the Polish news agency (PAP) that Komorowski had been a “colourless figure, and also one of the more partisan presidents to date.”

A proposed legislation contains basic regulations for conducting a business in Poland and should strengthen entrepreneurs’ rights.

The aim is to create a model of cooperation between business and administration that would be based on partnership and mutual trust.

The government has stated that at the basis of the new legislation lies an assumption that 99 percent of the companies are legitimate.

In case of a conflict of interpretation of the law, the courts will now be encouraged to settle in favour of the entrepreneurs.

Meanwhile administrative bodies will be forced not to change long-established practices, in order not to confuse business owners.

Despite the administrative sector’s negative reaction, the legislation was well received among Polish entrepreneurs.

The government is determined to implement the bill before the 25 October general elections.

Poland’s richest man, Jan Kulczyk, has passed away at 65, his company says.

“Tonight, as a result of post-operative complications, Jan Kulczyk died at the age of 65 years,” Kulczyk Holding SA said in a statement, adding that he was “Poland’s largest entrepreneur.”

Daily Gazeta Wyborcza said that Kulczyk had reportedly underwent „minor cardiac surgery”. Kulczyk was expected to be released from hospital in Vienna today, the daily said.

Kulczyk, who was born in 1950 in Bydgoszcz, cemented his position as early as the 1980s, before the free market emerged, when he managed to secure a deal as sole importer of new Volkswagen cars to Poland.

He regularly topped the list of richest Poles, with an estimated net value of around PLN 16 billion (EUR 3.84 bln) in the most recent issue of the ranking by Polish weekly Wprost.

Kulczyk Holding owns companies in the energy, mining, transportation and banking industries.

The Foreign Ministry has issued a directive that Polish holidaymakers should avoid travelling to south-eastern Turkey.

“As a result of hostilities on the Turkish-Syrian and Turkish-Iraqi borders as well as instability in other parts of south-eastern Turkey, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly recommends that Polish citizens refrain from traveling in those regions of the country. People staying there temporarily should consider leaving and those in permanent residence should exercise caution,” the Foreign Ministry said.

According to the Foreign Ministry, those visiting popular tourist resorts on the Mediterranean and the Aegean Seas should be watchful and follow instructions given by local authorities.

Tourists are also warned against travelling to countries such as Tunisia and Egypt.