FOR Communications

After the Commission's complaints to the Court of Justice regarding judges of common courts and the Supreme Court, the Disciplinary Chamber or the so-called Muzzle Act, this time the institution used strongest measure in its arsenal. The complaint that was related to the politicization of the Constitutional Court and its undermining of the foundations of EU law was filed to the court in Luxembourg. Some commentators, as in the case of previous complaints, are of the opinion that the EU does not have the competence to take action regarding Polish courts. This is a myth that should be scattered in the context of the CT case. Finally, one should consider the impact of this complaint on the possible payment of funds to Poland from the Recovery Fund.

The December ruling of the Voivodeship Administrative Court in Gdańsk (case III SA/Gd 1173/21) is indisputably a breakthrough. For the first time, the administrative court overruled the order of the president of the court, ordering a month-long break in the duties of a judge, having previously considered itself competent to review this act.

Core inflation in Poland in December 2022 was 11.5%, while the average in the European Union was 5.97%, and in the euro zone alone it was 5.2%. These huge differences in core inflation prove that the Polish monetary policy was pro-inflationary. These pro-inflationary mistakes had to be made mainly in 2020-2021.

According to the increasingly popular narrative, apartments purchased for investment purposes are almost synonymous with unoccupied buildings, that is uninhabited properties. The villains are investors, both institutional (real estate funds) and individual (wealthy individuals). They allegedly buy apartments from the market in order to "speculatively" refrain from placing them on the market in anticipation of a further increase in real estate prices, thus deepening the housing shortage.

In March 2020, in connection with the crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic, an amendment to the System of Development Institutions Act was passed, which enabled Polski Fundusz Rozwoju S.A. to implement government support programs for businesses. Their execution in this form quickly contributed to the emergence of a problem for administrative courts and businesses themselves.

From 14th of January, the work of the Civil Development Forum Foundation will be led by the founder of FOR, Leszek Balcerowicz. Sławomir Dudek and Patrycja Satora are leaving the Foundation.

According to the estimates of independent experts - former longtime employees of the Ministry of Finance, the real budget deficit may amount to over 235 billion PLN. That's 345% of what the government presents.

The passing year of the rule of law crisis in Poland was mainly dominated with the issue of the "milestones" attached to the RRP and the disagreement within the ruling coalition as to how to achieve them. On the other hand, at the European level, both the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights were extremely active in Polish cases. Let us look at their activities.

According to Jarosław Kaczyński, PiS’ government is not decidedly fighting inflation, not to repeat Leszek Balcerowicz's alleged mistakes from the times of transformation: "We were making up for this shock for several years." In reality, however, reforms of Leszek Balcerowicz turned out to be a huge success, and Kaczyński himself was once a supporter of radical solutions.

Russia's criminal invasion on independent Ukraine is now in its ninth month. Invasion’s tragic consequences reached also the territory of Poland, which may turn out to be even more detrimental if PiS passes a change in the constitution. The amendment is about excluding defense spending from public debt. The ruling coalition is blind to arguments that security is not only about tanks and cannons.