The PKW State Electoral Commission announced the official result of Sunday’s presidential election on Monday, informing that Law and Justice candidate Andrzej Duda won 51.55 percent. 

Andrzej Duda garnered a total of 8,630,627 votes, while incumbent Bronisław Komorowski won 8,112,311 votes. Turnout amounted to 55.34 percent. The result of the second round of voting on Sunday 24 May confirms the victory given to Duda in an exit poll on Sunday evening, although by a smaller margin than had previously been estimated. Andrzej Duda becomes Poland’s sixth president starting in August.

Following a motion put forward by President Bronisław Komorowski last week, Poland’s Senate has approved a national referendum package on three issues, including single-mandate constituencies.

Apart from single-mandate constituencies, the referendum is also to ask Poles on the financing of political parties from the state budget as well as a change to the tax law.

The move by Komorowski to moot a referendum on single-mandate constituencies comes after the first round of the presidential election on 10 May, in which rival Paweł Kukiz garnered one fifth of the vote with the single-mandate issue top of his priorities.

A total of 57 senators voted in favour of the referendum, with all members of the opposition Law and Justice in the Polish upper parliamentary house boycotting the vote bar one – Mieczysław Gil – who claims he voted by accident.

The referendum is billed for 6 September, in the run-up to the general election later in the autumn. If more than 50 percent of Poles elegible to vote in the referendum do so, then it will be binding.

Voting on the referendum took place after a 10-hour debate, during which members of Law and Justice argued that the referendum would be unconstitutional.

The cost of the referendum is estimated to amount to PLN 100 million.

Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Grzegorz Schetyna has raised hopes that the Eastern Partnership summit will bring about changes in the EU’s visa policy for its members.

The comment comes as EU leaders gather in the Latvian capital of Riga to meet their counterparts from the six Eastern Partnership countries, namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

In a statement published on the Twitter social media network, the Polish Foreign Ministry cites Schetyna as saying that “The Riga summit is another milestone for the Eastern Partnership project”.

“We should make sure that it brings the [Eastern Partnership] countries closer to the EU, especially in the human dimension, by abolishing visas or liberalising the visa regime,” Schetyna said.

Schetyna’s comment comes off the back of a trip to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in mid-April, where he voiced support for the country’s European aspirations.

In an op-ed published by thenews.pl last week, Georgia’s Foreign Minister Tamar Beruchashvili also wrote that “We must make sure [the Riga summit] delivers a strong message of joint commitment to the European future of our region, and backs this up with concrete measures to realise this vision.”

“The progress towards visa liberalisation for Georgia will be an important part of the picture,” Beruchashvili added.

According to the European Council, the summit – the fourth of its kind, and the first since the escalation of the Ukraine crisis last year – is to “demonstrate [the] EU’s determination to pursue closer, differentiated relations with its independent and sovereign [Eastern Partnership] partners”.

Not so fast…

However, the drafting of the final declaration of the Eastern Partnership summit has caused headaches for both Tbilisi and Kiev, which both wanted a relaxing of EU rules on visas.

While the final document is expected to include statements on the European aspirations of Georgia, Ukraine and Moldova – which have all signed Association Agreements with the EU – not all member states were keen to recognise those countries’ ambitions in a debate earlier this week.

France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy were the most vocal opponents of the statement, declaring that they wanted no suggestion of any European perspective for the three countries.

While the document is set to contain such a statement after all, the visa question has been put on hold, with a relaxation of restrictions once prerequisite conditions have been fulfilled.

Aftermath of Ukraine crisis

The Ukraine crisis, which erupted after the last Eastern Partnership summit in Vilnius towards the end of 2013, has also dampened initial enthusiasm.

“The Ukraine crisis has cast a shadow on the Eastern Partnership, [and] there needs to be a new incentive for this idea,” Pierre Viemont, a former diplomat and expert at the Carnegie Europe think-tank told Polish Radio.

Meanwhile, Eastern Partnership members Armenia and Belarus have also raised doubts as to an annexe to the final declaration which is to criticise Russia for annexing Crimea.

However, a source close to the EU delegation told the AFP news agency that “this is not a real threat to the summit”, meaning that the annexe will most likely concentrate on the respect of territorial integrity of each Eastern Partnership country.

The full text of the declaration is set to be announced on Thursday evening once the summit gets under way. The meeting ends tomorrow, Friday.

Presidential candidates Bronisław Komorowski and Andrzej Duda faced each other on Sunday in a TV debate to present their plans for the presidential office.

The debate which was held on Sunday, a week before the second round of the presidential election on 24 May, was moderated by two journalists from broadcasters TVP and Polsat respectively.

In one section, each candidate had 90 seconds to discuss a question posed by each of the two journalists.
The topics covered:

“Poland/Poland war”

Komorowski: It is easy to talk about an agreement, it is much harder to implement it. Poles need agreement. […] It is important to set policy into practice, not theorise. […] Your party [Duda’s PiS, Law and Justice – ed.] is the only one who did not want to take part in the security of the state.
Duda: In no way should we divide Polish society. There is no Polish radicalism, no Polish rationalism. We all live in one nation, for which our fathers shed their blood.

Unemployment and labour issues:

Komorowski: Unemployment leads to a lack of prospects, and hence a source of unhappiness. So it’s important to continue the process that [my presidency] has already started. 100,000 jobs is not a theory, it’s practice. That is an example of [our] achievements. 100,000 young people will have a guaranteed job next year. The largest number of Poles emigrated during the PiS government. Now, it is eight times lower than during your [Duda’s] government.

Duda: I visited more than 240 cities. At every meeting I heard that young people do not see opportunities for themselves [in Poland] and leave. […] PO promises miracles, a flat tax and Ireland. Young people are emigrating to the real green island.

Pension issues:

Komorowski: Fortunately, I can already talk about what has been done. What we have saved Poland from. […] The team behind Andrzej Duda wanted to go back to an older pension reform system, which would have resulted in lower pensions.

Duda: Ordinary people whom I spoke to said that they do not want to work they die. Because they are currently working beyond their capabilities. […] I am a person who seeks consensus on this matter. […] If the nation demands lowering the retirement age, then so be it.

One on one

Towards the end of the debate, the two candidates asked each other questions. Each had some three minutes to answer a question by the other.

The discussion ranged from IVF policy, history (the Jedwabne pogrom) and radical politics.

The average Pole drinks around 10.3 litres of pure alcohol per year, exceeding the OECD average.

Poland is also among the worst-ranking country among nations whose children drink alcohol. In fact 84.4 percent of 15-year-old have admitted to drinking alcohol in Poland in 2010. The figure grew from 56.7 percent in 2002, and places Poland fifth among the countries surveyed.

“Today, alcohol consumption by adults in OECD countries is estimated at an average of around 10 litres of pure alcohol per capita each year, equivalent to over 100 bottles of wine,” the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) wrote in a report.

“This level has fallen slightly over the past two decades overall but has particularly risen in Finland, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Poland and Sweden. Consumption has also risen substantially in the Russian Federation, Brazil, India and China, although from low levels in the last two.”

The abuse of alcohol is one of the leading causes of death and disability globally. It kills “more people worldwide than HIV/AIDS, violence and tuberculosis combined,” OECD wrote.

In the two decades between 1990 and 2010, “harmful drinking rose from eighth to fifth leading cause of death and disability worldwide.”

The camps of the two enduring candidates in Poland’s presidential race fought a mud-slinging match on Thursday over tactics at street level.

Beata Szydło, chief of staff for opposition candidate Andrzej Duda, claimed that current head of state Bronisław Komorowski is unable to interact with ordinary people without the aid of a prompter.

Szydło cited as evidence a video of Komorowski talking with an agitated woman in a wheelchair who proceeded to harangue the president about insufficient benefits for disabled citizens.

Although Komorowski appeared calm, video footage indicated that he was being prompted on how to respond by a female assistant.

Referring to a separate incident, the president’s camp then accused opposition party Law and Justice of planting activists in public places where Komorowski was on walkabouts.

Civic Platform MP Jakub Rutnicki claimed that a young man who said he was compelled to find work abroad in Norway was actually sent to ask the president awkward questions by Law and Justice.

The second and final round of the presidential election will be held on 24 May.

The Irish low-cost airline will employ 150 people at a new Aircraft Maintenance Facility in south west Poland.

Ryanair has announced that construction of the maintenance base will open in March 2016, and will be run by a staff of 150 high-tech specialists, including licensed engineers, mechanics and support staff.

The airline is expected to spend over EUR 6 million at Wrocław Airport as part of the project.

“As Poland’s biggest airline, Ryanair is pleased to announce our first Polish heavy maintenance base as we invest a further EUR 6 million at Wrocław, which was made possible through the help and support of the airport,” Ryanair’s Chief Operations Officer, Mick Hickey, said on Wednesday.

“Poland is a significant growth market for Ryanair and Wroclaw is a fantastic location with opportunities to attract, train and employ local skilled manpower to support this exciting project. We look forward to growing tourism, traffic and jobs at our Wroclaw base in the coming months and years.”

An exit poll released seconds after polling stations closed in Poland reveals that major opposition rival Andrzej Duda beat incumbent Bronisław Komorowski by winning 34.8 percent of the vote, with the latter garnering 32.2 percent of the vote.

If confirmed by the PKW State Electoral Commission, the result means that there will be a second round of voting on 24 May between the two front runners to determine who will become Poland’s president.

In third place, musician Paweł Kukiz managed to garner 20.3 percent, much higher than he was polling towards the end of last week.

Voter turnout according to the poll stood at 49.4 percent. The exit poll was conducted by IPSOS for TVP, Polsat and TVN24. (jb)

Exit poll results in full:
Grzegorz Michał BRAUN – 1.1 percent
Andrzej Sebastian DUDA – 34.8 percent
Adam Sebastian JARUBAS – 1.6 percent
Bronisław Maria KOMOROWSKI – 32.2 percent
Janusz Ryszard KORWIN-MIKKE – 4.4 percent
Marian Janusz KOWALSKI – 0.8 percent
Paweł Piotr KUKIZ – 20.3 percent
Magdalena Agnieszka OGÓREK – 2.4 percent
Janusz Marian PALIKOT – 1.5 percent
Paweł Jan TANAJNO – 0.3 percent
Jacek WILK – 0.6 percent

President of Russia Vladimir Putin defended the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that paved the way for the division of Poland during a press conference on Sunday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

“When the USSR realised that it was left facing Hitler’s Germany alone, it took steps so as to not permit a direct collision and this Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was signed,” Putin said in Moscow after being pressed on the matter by a German journalist.

“This pact had significance for ensuring the security of the USSR,” Putin added.

The pact, which was signed in August 1939 on the eve of World War II, was ostensibly a non-aggression agreement, but a secret protocol envisaged the carve-up of Poland between Germany and Russia, and the latter’ s annexation of the Baltic states. The agreement took its name from the foreign ministers of both countries, Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyachesllav Molotov.

Putin said that “Poland became a victim of its own policy,” alluding to Warsaw’s annexation of a part of Czechoslovakia in October 1938.

Chancellor Merkel however condemned the pact on Sunday.

“From my point of view, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact is hard to understand unless you take into consideration the extra secret protocol,” she said

“And from this point of view, I consider it was not right, it was done on an unlawful basis.”

Polish company Whisbear has sent a humming teddy bear to Kensington Palace as a gift for the UK’s youngest royal, Princess Charlotte, born on 2 May.

The bear, which hums so as to calm down newborns by recreating the sounds heard in the womb, was created by Zuzanna Sielicka-Kalczyńska and Julia Sielicka-Jastrzębska, who made a special royal edition of the bear with a crown.

The company hopes to promote the teddy bear on the UK market thanks to the royal gift.
So far, a few thousand of the bears have been sold in Poland, with two internet retailers now selling the teddy in Britain.

So far, no news has been emerged whether the UK’s fourth in line to the throne has taken to the teddy.