Election - the second round will decide
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A New Iron Curtain?
The Polish-Belarusian border is becoming a dividing line in Europe
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Table of contents
POLITICS AND SOCIETY
The Second Round Will Decide 3-9 Eastern Shield – EU Security Priority 10-13
SOCIETY
Warsaw Among the Leading European Cities of the Future 14-15
ECONOMY
Polish Beer Industry Needs Stability 16-17
THE BUZZ | 18-27
Alanis Morissette’s Polish Debut Justin Timberlake Revisits Poland
Reality Created with Photographs
Max Factor - How American Dream Came True Snapshots of Jerusalem Artists’ Senses of Self
Polish National Opera Takes on Strauss Andrea Fraser’s Interventionist Art
Roma Theatre Brings Wicked the Musical to Warsaw Celebrating 25 Years of Natura Bisse Cosmetic Revolution
Olfactory Journey to Abu Dhabi
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde: Mercedes GLC 63s E Performance
Orlen and EIB Sign PLN 1.7 Billion Agreement First Company Worth PLN 100 Billion CPK Prepares Access Roads to the New Airport Poland to Bid for Gdynia Port Poland Strenghtens Cooperation With the Aviation Giant InPost Buys British Parcel Delivery Company Volvo Car Poland with a Record Number of Registrations Porsche Strenghtens Its Presence in Poland
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THE SECOND ROUND WILL DECIDE
Prof. Andrzej Rychard , director of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of
the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN) talks to Witold Żygulski
Ayear and a half has passed since the parliamentary elections, and in less than two months the first round of the presidential elections will take place; how has the Polish political scene changed during this time?
The changes started earlier. The social scene changed a lot before the 2023 elections. Social and civic discontent, which until then had not found an outlet in the language of politics, began to find one. This led to an election result that changed the ruling camp. A new ruling coalition was formed and we have been experiencing the effects of this change ever since. From the point of view of Poland’s civic and pro-development nature, it was undoubtedly a change for the better. With the political scene still polarized, this situation showed that the mobilization of citizens is possible, and this is the most important lesson from those events. However, it was
not only a great opportunity that the opposition of the time seized to come to power, but also a great challenge for the new government, which is already aware that it will be more closely watched by society, by citizens, regardless of their beliefs and views.
In your opinion, is the new governing coalition coping with this challenge, or as we say “delivering”?
I hear a lot about “delivering” these days. Of course, you always have to ask what exactly is being “delivered”. A few days ago, I read a comment on social media that there is a lot of talk these days about the government not “delivering” in many areas, that certain hopes have been dashed, such as the decriminalization of abortion, that the expected liberalization has not happened, that there are still prob-
Rafał Trzaskowski
lems with activities on the eastern border in the face of the wave of refugees reaching Poland from Belarus, that many groups of citizens feel disappointed. However, the author of the post wrote that in his opinion [PM Donald] Tusk is doing exactly what was expected of him. There is something to that; I think that the “failure to deliver” is exaggerated, as if it refers to the situation of an ideal system in which a new government comes in and finds a tabula rasa situation in which everything can be done and everything can be changed. This is not the case. The previous government, the United Right - which, after all, governed for two parliamentary terms, eight years - made so many destructive changes that they are extremely difficult to reverse. What’s more, the problem is that not all of these changes can be reversed simply in the courtroom. Nowadays, the assessment of whether the current government is doing a good job often depends on whether someone has been detained, arrested, charged, brought to court and convicted. But Law and Justice (PiS) has made so many institutional changes that, first of all, some are extremely difficult to reverse, and secondly, not all of them were criminal in nature. There are many that re-
THE CURRENT ELECTIONS ARE AT LEAST AS IMPORTANT AS THE ELECTIONS IN OCTOBER 2023
quire not courts or prosecutors, but calm, slow, careful systemic and institutional reforms. This also applies to issues related to the rule of law and the judicial system at all levels. It is by no means simple if it is to be done legally. Therefore, I would like to point out that, first of all, the pace of changes in the legal system is due to the fact that the rulers want to make them in a lawful manner, and secondly, they have to deal with many institutional changes that were not criminal in nature. They are impossible to prosecute. All of this is extremely difficult; PiS has created a whole powerful system of institutions, not all of which can simply be dissolved. We also have an entire army of officials sitting at the middle levels of power who are currently following a “wait and see” strategy, watching how the situation develops and unsure which direction their conformity should take to ensure they come out on top. The government is therefore faced with an extremely difficult task, so when assessing whether or not it is “delivering”, the complexity of the issue must be taken into account.
The upcoming presidential elections are, in the opinion of most observers, a test of the popularity of the current government and the opposition; what is the current state of these two political camps?
In my opinion, the current elections are at least as important as the elections in October 2023. Contrary to what one sometimes hears, the victory of the candidate of the ruling camp, the current Mayor of Warsaw Rafał Trzaskowski, will not mean the closing of the system, but rather the opening up of opportunities for further liberalization and modern-
Dr. Karol Nawrocki
ization of the state. This is a fundamentally important issue. If this victory had not happened, then all these processes could have slowed down or even stopped. What has happened in the last 18 months, after the change of power and the removal of the United Right, has shown that Poland was not only the leader of the democratic transformation in the countries of the former Eastern Bloc during the transition period that began after the collapse of the USSR in the early 1990s, but has also become the undisputed leader of something what can be called today re-democratization, i.e. repair, correction of the direction of changes in countries that have slightly deviated from the democratic path of development in recent decades. After 2023, Poland is the country that is definitely leading in such re-democratization. That is why the presidential elections are of such extraordinary importance. The election of a president other than one from the current ruling camp will not block these changes, but it can slow them down considerably. Of course, such a scenario would mean a boost for the current opposition, which could give it a lot of strength before the next parliamentary elections, which are not that far away.
So how do you rate the main presidential candidates?
Jeremi Przybora, an outstanding Polish cabaret artist from the communist era, often said that we live in a reality that increasingly surrounds us. The problem is that this reality is making us increasingly insecure. In this situation, I believe that those candidates who can reduce this insecurity have a better chance. Societies do not like to live in constant fear of what the future will bring. Politicians have various ways
of reducing this uncertainty; the point is that one must hope that at least part of the electorate, and hopefully a large part, will be able to distinguish between rational ways of reducing uncertainty and irrational ways, such as those that build up a certain mythology. The kind of thinking that we, here in Europe, can manage on our own, that only relations with the United States are important. Of course, ties with Washington, transatlantic relations, are of utmost importance, fundamental to the Polish raison d’état. But it is equally obvious that the European position must be strengthened.
It seems to me that the cooperation of such outstanding politicians as Donald Tusk, who is undoubtedly a true leader, as well as Radosław Sikorski, the current Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is able to clearly express certain things and navigate the current very difficult world of diplomacy very efficiently, and Rafał Trzaskowski himself, will be able to base such a reduction of uncertainty on fully understandable and rational grounds. Some of the other presidential candidates, on the other hand, either stir up this uncertainty themselves by saying that we will be very belligerent, or go completely off track. Trzaskowski is able to deal with this uncertainty by showing that he wants to be a normal president in a normal country with strong ties to both the European Union and the United States.
Karol Nawrocki, the Law and Justice candidate, actually says very little. He is not fully recognized. In addition, he seems to be competing more with the radical nationalist Confederation candidate, Sławomir Mentzen, who, like the party he represents, is strongly anti-establishment. Mentzen is something of a phenomenon, emphasizing individual in-
Rafał Trzaskowski
clination, motivation and the ability to cope with all problems, addressing his message to young people, who are more easily convinced that they can handle everything on their own. But with such an individualistic message, it is impossible to reach older people, who, in principle, need more care and want the state to take care of most of their life problems.
Mentzen is certainly a more obvious candidate than Nawrocki. Both try to flirt with the rival’s electorate, but the Confederation candidate’s electorate probably thinks that even if Nawrocki repeats the words of their leader and partly identifies with his views, the original is always better than a copy or a fake. Therefore, I don’t think that Mentzen’s supporters will be persuaded to vote for the PiS candidate in the first round.
The next candidate is the current Speaker of the Sejm, Szymon Hołownia, who is in an extremely difficult situation. He represents the Third Way [an electoral alliance of the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL) and Poland 2050, of which Hołownia is the leader], which means that, according to the name of his group, he should show a “third way”, a different way of conducting politics. Meanwhile, the Confederation and Mr. Mentzen are becoming the “third way” in Poland today.
The other candidates are simply weak. For me as a political scientist, the weakness of the left-wing candidates is particularly fascinating, as it has weakened in Polanda country still suffering from serious social inequalities - in a truly spectacular way. Where are the politicians who have been successful in the last 30 years, such as former prime ministers Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz and Leszek Miller, former Speaker of the Sejm Marek Borowski, not to mention former president Aleksander Kwaśniewski, who served two
SŁAWOMIR MENTZEN’S CAMPAIGN IS PROGRESSING RAPIDLY, BUT ITS MAIN PROBLEM IS TO EXPAND THE ELECTORATE BEYOND THE GROUP OF YOUNG PEOPLE ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT EVERYTHING
NEW IN POLITICS
terms and was re-elected in the first round of voting? Even the current co-leader of New Left, Włodzimierz Czarzasty, was once a more significant figure than he is now. The left is practically non-existent. Magdalena Biejat, the current deputy speaker of the Senate and a New Left presidential candidate, is a decent person and generally says reasonable things, but support for her is around the margin of error. The left cannot find the right political language or the right tools to effectively reach potential voters.
In your opinion, whose election campaign is the best? Rafał Trzaskowski is running a good campaign. He is sometimes accused of being too monotonous, of saying
Sławomir Mentzen
the same thing over and over again, but one thing must be emphasized: he does not arouse aggression in his speeches. In a situation of prevailing uncertainty, people expect a calm message, and this calmness does not have to be a weakness at all.
As for Karol Nawrocki, his campaign is simply weak. There is nothing in it that could attract undecided voters, and that is what it is all about. Either he raises some objections to the current government, but is unable to deal with them himself, or he says nothing at all on the issues that are most important to voters. The PiS candidate does not offer any answers to any important questions. It does not look good. Nawrocki’s only chance is that something happens outside the campaign that will cause a huge influx of Law and Justice supporters. Some huge mistake by the government that will bring about a radical change among its supporters. I don’t think that this could happen.
Sławomir Mentzen’s campaign is progressing rapidly, but its main problem is to expand the electorate beyond the group of young people enthusiastic about everything new in politics. Besides, it is not known whether the supporters of the Confederation candidate only fill out the surveys of the political sympathy research centers or whether they will really bother to go to the polling stations and cast an important vote. It is an open question.
As for Szymon Hołownia, the main question for me is how he and his party will behave in the second round of voting. After all, Hołownia has no local power; his campaign on the ground is based solely on the infrastructure of the PSL. He has no chance of entering the second round, and
as we remember, he behaved quite cautiously in 2020 [when he came third in the first round, obtaining over 13% of the vote], not openly supporting either Andrzej Duda or Rafał Trzaskowski.
Security issues became the main leitmotif of the election campaign, which is understandable given the geopolitical situation and the threats arising from it. In your opinion, could any other issues emerge at the end of the campaign that could determine the attitude of voters?
The specificity of the Polish, and not only Polish, election campaign is that what drives it is highly emotional - and we know that emotions are very important in politics - and to a large extent depends on factors beyond the control of the election teams. These are contextual external factors. In security matters, it is better to react than to build your own strong position. Poland is becoming an increasingly significant country in the European Union, also due to the construction of the security system, but it is still not the most significant country. The second external factor, apart from the campaign, which will be important, is the issue of economic events. Therefore, I would strongly encourage you to carefully observe the economic situation of the country, which is not as bad as some people are trying to convince us. The third element is what someone will pull out on someone in the last weeks of the campaign, the proverbial “skeletons in the closet”. It happens everywhere: during an election campaign, there are elements of negative campaigning, the search for the dark sides of rivals, not previously known to the public. In this respect, it should be noted that the distribution of such attacks is highly disproportionate; every now and then, the public is informed about Karol Nawrocki’s past, his connections with criminals, suspicious acquaintances or financial ambiguities. On the other hand, at least so far, no such allegations have been made against Rafał Trzaskowski. Even Szymon Hołownia has already been attacked for alleged connections with the private university Collegium Humanum, which is the subject of a prosecutor’s investigation into the trade of MBA diplomas, and many names from the world of politics are mentioned in this investigation.
Assuming that, as polls show, Rafał Trzaskowski will win the election and the Civic Coalition (KO) will take full control, how will this affect the former ruling Law and Justice?
If you had asked me this a month ago, the answer would have been different than it is today. Back then, I would have said, „Well, the chairman of PiS, Jarosław Kaczyński, and a large part of the PiS leaders said that Karol Nawrocki, the current head of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), is a ‘civic’ candidate with virtually no connection to the former ruling party.” But the big secret - and I say this in big quotation marks - about candidate Nawrocki’s connections to PiS came to light when Kaczyński himself actively joined his campaign. It turned out that Nawrocki was not a candidate from outside the political system, but, as the PiS leader himself put it, “our candidate”, fully supported by the party. Nawrocki’s defeat, at a time when he was not yet formally nominated by the PiS leader, could have been overlooked by the former ruling party; Kaczyński would simply have said that nothing had happened, the “civic” candidate had
Dr. Karol Nawrocki
suffered a defeat and they would move on. This is no longer possible; Nawrocki’s defeat, especially if, as some polls suggest, he does not even make it to the second round and loses not only to Trzaskowski but also to Mentzen, must have a devastating impact on Law and Justice. Such a devastating experience can be a very difficult challenge for a party that has ruled unchallenged for eight years.
PiS is a leader-centered party, based on the figure of Jarosław Kaczyński, and it must be analyzed in this way. It can exist with Kaczyński, for better or for worse, but the question is: can it exist without Kaczyński’s position? And with the kind of involvement of the United Right leader in Karol Nawrocki’s campaign that we are currently observing, the failure of the PiS candidate could call into question Jarosław Kaczyński’s hitherto unquestioned leadership ability.
Recently, there has been talk of a scenario in which, in the event of Karol Nawrocki’s defeat, there may be a kind of restructuring of the Polish right wing, which would consist of an alliance of what remains of PiS after Kaczyński’s departure, the Confederation and the right-wing wing of the PSL; what do you think of such a solution? It is not impossible, although I must add that knowing the pragmatic orientation of the PSL, I would rather exclude the
participation of politicians from this party in such a reconstruction. Because if the Civic Coalition candidate wins, the practical attitude of PSL politicians calls into question their willingness to possibly leave for another party. On the other hand, a post-election alliance between the losing PiS and Confederation is entirely possible.
What is the reason for the success of the Confederation, which has been improving its poll ratings month by month, both in terms of the upcoming parliamentary elections and the current presidential elections? Is this phenomenon just another rebellion of young people who once voted for the rock musician Paweł Kukiz or later for the businessman and scandalist Janusz Palikot? One of them is still a member of parliament, but his parliamentary group of three has zero significance, the other is already out of politics and has rather serious problems with the law. Are the Confederation and Mentzen himself equally fleeting phenomena?
I must self-critically say that this phenomenon has not yet been well recognized by sociologists and political scientists. I don’t know if the Confederation’s environment is really that pro-market. I also don’t know if it has a clear program. Today, the Confederation is trying to build something like a genuine third way, on the principle of “everyone has been there before, we haven’t”. This is, of course, populism, and populism, as we know, is characterized by the fact that it has no content of its own. Its content is to be in opposition to what is in the establishment. If the establishment is market-oriented, populism will be anti-market and vice versa. The Confederation shows that it bases its political legitimacy on the fact that it is something completely new, previously absent and untainted by power. I am afraid that such positioning may not fully resonate with some of the Polish electorate, especially since, if the poll data are to be taken seriously, the Confederation’s electorate consists mainly of young people. And young people are rather poorly mobilized politically; it is not known whether those who were mobilized in October 2023 will go to the polls now. On the other hand, those who are really easy to mobilize are the older generations, who actively participate in elections but are not actively receptive to the Confederation’s demands.
In Poland, as can be seen in any demographic study, the population of mature and elderly people is growing rapidly. Even if the Confederation gets rid of (or rather
IF TRZASKOWSKI WINS NOW, THE POSITION OF THE LEFT IN THE GOVERNMENT MAY WEAKEN BECAUSE, LET’S FACE IT, SOME MINISTERS FROM THE PARTY HAVE FAILED THE TEST
Rafał Trzaskowski
has already gotten rid of) the politicians who are the party’s biggest embarrassment, leaving only the libertarian free-market face, what will they have to offer this group of voters? What will they say to them: “We’ll get rid of the Ukrainians and you’ll have shorter queues to see the doctor?” That’s not enough.
Hence the recent news that the Confederation intends to turn to the older electorate and try to win them over to its cause. We will see if it does so successfully, but in my opinion, the highly individualistic, free-market program of Mentzen and his colleagues may not find fertile ground here. The simple, primitive nationalism with elements of anti-Semitism, as presented by Grzegorz Braun, who was removed from the Confederation [the current MEP known for scandalous antics, such as extinguishing Hanukkah candles with a fire extinguisher in the Sejm or spray-painting over exhibits at an exhibition about Ukraine’s struggle] is a thing of the past, the current leaders of the Confederation have already renounced such methods. But whether individualism can appeal to the older generation, for whom PiS has always had a sensible offer, I am not at all convinced.
Before the parliamentary elections, the 4th of June March and the October March of a Million Hearts, organized by the then opposition, played a great mobilizing role; today Jarosław Kaczyński announces the March of All Patriots, and Donald Tusk also does not rule out organizing a march of support shortly before the elections. Is such street mobilization possible again today?
As far as Law and Justice is concerned, such mobilization is possible, but I don’t really see any basis for the success of such a march or protest against those in power. PiS has a huge political problem today, which is its demonstrative support for Donald Trump’s presidency. On the one hand, the party is, at least nominally, very pro-Ukrainian, while on the other hand, its beloved US president is, to put it mildly, very restrained in his support for Kiev. It is difficult to explain this attitude to people. Perhaps Jarosław Kaczyński would have had some power to explain to people that Russia is a great country and that one has to get along with it, but after what Russia did in Ukraine, it is impossible. So I can’t really imagine what would motivate people to mobilize for a march today. The problem of how PiS relates to the war in the east would remain in the background. Of course, Poles have various reservations; surveys show that they are more in favor of Ukraine than of Ukrainians, but the dominant view is clear - Poles know that Ukraine is fighting not only for itself, but also for us. And for Europe.
As for the other side, represented by Tusk and Trzaskowski (by the way, Tusk is acting very wisely by not getting too involved in the campaign of the KO candidate), the question about the possibility of organizing another big support march is very interesting. I am observing a certain caution today regarding the attempt to mobilize en masse those who were mobilized in 2023 and thanks to whom the elections on October 15 were won. I have no evidence for this based on research, but intuitively it seems to me that the thought is emerging that we should not mobilize all these young people too much, because who knows if they will vote for us this time or maybe go to Mentzen. I don’t really know what the next march would look like and what
slogans would be needed to encourage those who may be a little disappointed. And this disappointment could lead them to the Confederation.
Assuming the most likely scenario, Rafał Trzaskowski and Karol Nawrocki will meet in the second round of elections. How will the supporters of the other candidates behave in this situation? Will they simply stay at home and the turnout will be much lower than in the first vote, or will they decide to support one of the two rivals?
We don’t have any meaningful data from surveys on this, so again I can only rely on my intuition. It seems to me that the portion that stays at home may be larger than it used to be. We don’t know how Hołownia’s voters will behave; it has been different in the past. As for Mentzen’s voters, there will certainly be an exceptionally strong attempt by PiS to get as many of them as possible. The question of how many Confederation supporters will go to the second round and vote for Nawrocki will be crucial to the outcome of the election. Either way, the second round will be a great, really great challenge for the candidate, whom I will not hesitate to call democratic - Rafał Trzaskowski.
If Trzaskowski wins, do you foresee changes in the government coalition, which is already experiencing internal friction? The Civic Coalition will then be able to enjoy full power, and as you yourself said in an interview with us before the parliamentary elections, the attitude of the KO towards the Left can be summarized by the words “we invite when we have to, we throw out when we can”... The ruling coalition can change. Its composition resulted from the parliamentary elections. If Trzaskowski wins now, the position of the Left in the government may weaken because, let’s face it, some ministers from the party have failed the test. Some changes may occur, but we must remember that parliamentary arithmetic is brutal and unforgiving; it is impossible to get rid of too many coalition partners when the spectre of a PiS and Confederation alliance may be lurking just around the corner.
Sławomir Mentzen
EASTERN SHIELDEU SECURITY PRIORITY
In the face of the war in Ukraine, which has been going on for more than three years, the increasingly aggressive stance of the Russian Federation and the ambiguous attitude of the new US administration towards the threat from Moscow, the Polish eastern border may soon become the new Iron Curtain, and its security is already becoming a priority for the European Union.
If NATO is to remain a pact that guarantees security for Poland and Europe, it must take on many more responsibilities and tasks”, Donald Tusk said after the March European Council meeting.
The European Council summit mainly focused on strengthening Europe militarily. “Europe can no longer be defenseless. The new American policy emphasizes Europe’s greater responsibility for itself. Poland has known this for a long time,” emphasized Tusk. “From now on, we will no longer be alone when it comes to spending. Until now, we have been praised by President Trump or Brussels, but it would be better for us if the praise was followed by spending from other countries,” he argued.
The European Commission has included the Eastern Shield project, which aims to strengthen Poland’s eastern border and NATO’s eastern flank, in the so-called White Paper on Defense. This means that the project has been recognized as a critical area in increasing Europe’s defense capabilities. “I would like more countries - like Poland - to make this effort. So that the Eastern Shield is a priority,” Tusk emphasized.
Tusk also spoke about migration issues. “Despite growing pressure from the Belarusian authorities, we are successfully stopping the wave of illegal migrants. This is fully understood in the EU,” said the Prime Minister. „Every day, we have 150–200 attempts to cross the border”, he added.
The EU is not the only organization prioritizing security in the east of the Community. The NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte assured during his visit to Warsaw that if anyone thought they could attack Poland or any other ally without consequences, the North Atlantic Alliance would respond “with full force” and its response would be “destructive”. “This must be clear to Vladimir
ect. He also informed him that the project had been included among European defense priorities.
TODAY, THERE IS A NATIONAL CONSENSUS ON BORDER PROTECTION AND ANYONE WHO FACILITATES ILLEGAL BORDER CROSSINGS IS PARTICIPATING IN A VERY UGLY PRACTICE AND UNDERMINING THE SECURITY
OF THE POLISH BORDER
Putin and anyone else who would consider attacking us,” he emphasized.
During a press conference after a meeting with Tusk, the NATO Secretary General praised Poland for its defense spending and emphasized that it is a “valued ally” that strengthens NATO’s eastern flank.
“We will work very closely together for a good peace in Ukraine,” said the Polish PM, adding that peace in Ukraine must fully guarantee its sovereignty, because ”only a just peace will give us all a sense of security.”
Tusk thanked the NATO Secretary General for his “unequivocal support and interest” in the Eastern Shield proj-
Tusk and Rutte discussed the “European dimension of NATO”. The Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of National Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Radoslaw Sikorski also talked to the NATO Secretary General. The talks concerned defense spending by other member states.
“We spend the most (on defense) among (European) NATO countries, we invest in the transformation of the Polish armed forces and we hope that every NATO country will fulfill this,” said Kosiniak-Kamysz. The talks also con-
Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister
cerned the hub mission at Rzeszów-Jasionka airport and “the role of NATO - as the only defense alliance, effective and credible, whose mission is defense and deterrence”.
A few days earlier, the head of the government, together with the head of the Ministry of National Defense and the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, the coordinator of the secret services, Tomasz Siemoniak, went to the Polish-Belarusian border.
“We are mobilizing Europe to treat this border as a common duty and, as I have informed, we have further confirmation that both the Eastern Shield, i.e. the military dimension of border protection, and the protection of the border against illegal crossings is a common NATO, but above all, European, duty. This involves financing these activities, which translates into an increasingly rich infrastructure protecting this border,” said Tusk in Ozierany Małe in the Podlaskie Province.
“Today, there is a national consensus on border protection and anyone who facilitates illegal border crossings is participating in a very ugly practice and undermining the security of the Polish border. That is why the government, the army and the Border Guard will be decisive and very tough here,” he added.
After a briefing with the commanding staff of the Polish Army, Border Guard and Police, Tusk said that Poland was effectively dealing with the detention of immigrant smugglers. He also announced that he had “received a report confirming at least the organizational and political patronage of Alexander Lukashenko’s administration” (over the human smuggling). “We also know about Russian involve-
ment, so we are dealing with a state machine and a smuggling machine,” he added.
Reports of subsequent arrests of smugglers show that international groups are involved in the smuggling. The Polish services are quite effective in apprehending them. “We have achieved a 98% arrest rate thanks to the determination of our soldiers, border guards and police,” said Tusk.
There are 11,000 people on duty at the border. Poland has spent PLN 2.7 billion on border defenses.
The Polish government’s number one priority is to effectively defend the eastern border. However, the Polish army is not expected to take part in any peacekeeping missions in war-torn Ukraine. General Dariusz Łukowski, head of the National Security Bureau (BBN), categorically ruled out a Polish military presence in Ukraine.
“Our physical, military presence in Ukraine is absolutely out of the question for now. We have no idea what the structure of a potential peace will be, which is why this element must always be presented in this way. The decisive position today is a definite ‘no’,” he said in an interview with private radio broadcaster RMF FM.
“We were all eagerly awaiting the results of the conversation between President Trump and President Putin. If we consider Putin’s declared immediate halt to attacks on energy or critical infrastructure, and then we see another massive attack on Ukraine, credibility has already collapsed on this element,” he added.
According to the head of the National Security Bureau, Putin has “exposed his weakness”. “The Ukrainian side’s at-
OUR COUNTRIES ARE READY AND ABLE TO USE ANY MEANS NECESSARY TO DEFEND OUR TERRITORY AND FREEDOM
tacks on Russian infrastructure are becoming increasingly effective and are affecting a larger and larger part of Russian territory. The development of technology on the Ukrainian side is progressing,” he noted, adding that ”it is no coincidence that Putin mentions further conditions for potential talks, talking about withholding support from Western countries, including (support for the exchange of information) intelligence.” “This is a prohibitive condition from Ukraine’s point of view, but it is also difficult for all European partner countries, including Poland, to accept. This is the first demand, which is aimed at reducing the potential of the Ukrainian armed forces,” he emphasized.
As the head of the BBN said, “Regardless of how we define our participation in any stabilization mission in Ukraine, we are dealing with a situation in which Poland will be involved, and it will be involved in the most spectacular way of all countries.”
Effective border protection also entailed legal and diplomatic measures. Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are withdrawing from the Ottawa Convention, which prohibits the use of anti-personnel mines. According to the defense ministers of the four countries, the most important thing now is to ensure that the armed forces have “flexibility and options with regard to the potential use of modern weapon systems and solutions, in order to strengthen the defense of the threatened eastern flank of the Alliance.” “We, the defense ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, unanimously recommend the termination of the Ottawa Convention. Our decision sends a clear message: our countries are ready and able to use any means necessary to defend our territory and freedom,” the ministers declared.
The Ottawa Convention prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of anti-personnel mines with the aim of eliminating their use as a means of armed conflict. The Mine Ban Treaty was adopted on December 3-4, 1997 in Ottawa. So far, 163 countries have ratified it, while China, Russia, the USA, India, Israel, North Korea and South Korea have not signed it. Poland became a signatory to the agreement on December 4, 1997.
Earlier, when presenting information on Poland’s security in the Sejm, Prime Minister Tusk announced that he would recommend this step. “I have asked the Minister of National Defense to present his opinion, I will recommend a positive opinion for Poland to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention and perhaps the Dublin Convention, I am talking about anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions,” he said on March 7.
Kosiniak-Kamysz also announced a motion for Poland to withdraw from the Ottawa Convention. Following the government’s decision, the motion must be adopted in the form of a law to be passed by parliament and signed by the president. Kosiniak-Kamysz appealed to both houses of parliament and the president to cooperate on this matter.
Voices about the need to withdraw from the convention - in the face of the growing threat from Russia, which has never accepted such obligations - have been appearing in the public debate for many months. Last May, members of the former ruling Law and Justice (PiS) prepared a draft resolution of the Sejm on this matter. A bill on the same subject was prepared by the members of the radical-nationalist Confederation.
The areas planned to be mined in the event of a conflict are one of the elements of the Eastern Shield project. According to current regulations, the Polish Army can only use anti-tank mines to destroy or immobilize enemy armored vehicles.
The debate about the treaty is also ongoing in other NATO countries. In February, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said that it was “very possible” that his country, which shares a land border with Russia that is approximately 1,300 kilometers long, would withdraw from the treaty. A citizens’ petition on the same topic has also been submitted to the Finnish parliament.
Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister
WARSAW AMONG THE LEADING EUROPEAN CITIES OF THE FUTURE
The Polish capital made it to the podium in this year’s Financial Times ranking “European Cities & Regions of the Future”, retaining its leading position among Central and Eastern European cities.
London and Dublin are in first and second place. Paris, Amsterdam and Berlin are among the cities ranked below Warsaw. Warsaw came second in Europe in the categories “Business Friendliness” and “Human Capital and Lifestyle”.
The latest ranking of cities and regions of the future analyzed 521 European cities and regions. The ranking is the work of fDi Intelligence, a subsidiary of The Financial Times, which has been analyzing Europe’s investment potential for over a decade. It is one of the most prestigious rankings, often referred to by investors and local governments. It evaluates European cities and regions in terms of their economic, financial and business strengths.
“I am proud of Warsaw’s position in this year’s ranking by fDi Intelligence. This rise of one position compared to last year’s ranking confirms that our efforts to build a city that is friendly to residents and investors are paying off.
“Besides our everyday efforts to provide residents with the best possible living conditions, we also take many measures to adapt the city to global changes,” said Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw and candidate of the ruling Civic Coalition (KO) in the May presidential elections.
For several years now, the Polish capital has consistently ranked second in the ranking of business-friendly cities.
Only London is higher. In the category evaluating human capital and lifestyle, Warsaw has advanced as many as three places. Considering the fact that two years ago Warsaw was not even in this category, the position of the second best city in Europe is a great success. Another undeniable and ex-
tremely important advantage of the capital is the high availability of human capital, which attracts talents from all over the country and abroad.
Warsaw is home to leading universities and research institutes, which facilitates business access to research results and potential employees. More than 260,000 students study at Warsaw universities, and around 50,000 graduates enter the capital’s labor market every year
“Warsaw’s high position is the result of many activities that increase the attractiveness of the capital as a future-oriented business center of Europe and the world,” said Maciej Fijałkowski, secretary of the capital city of Warsaw. “The capital of Poland is an open and modern city, which is a perfect place to conduct business, get a great education, but above all, to live, which is confirmed by as many as 87% of Varsovians,” he added.
Warsaw’s results were as follows:
➤ Main comparison of large European cities – 3rd place (up one place).
➤ Human capital and lifestyle – 2nd place (up three places),
➤ Business friendliness – 2nd place (same position as last year),
➤ Economic potential – 6th place (same position as last year),
The study included a total of 379 European cities, which were classified into five groups according to population size – major, large, medium, small and micro cities – as well as 142 European regions divided into three groups – large, medium and small regions.
The winners were honored on March 11th at the International Property Market MIPIM in Cannes.
THE CAPITAL OF POLAND IS AN OPEN AND MODERN CITY, WHICH IS A PERFECT PLACE TO CONDUCT BUSINESS
POLISH BEER INDUSTRY NEEDS STABILITY
Bartłomiej Morzycki of the Union of Brewing Industry Employers – Polish Breweries , answers questions from The Warsaw Voice
How would you assess the condition of the Polish beer industry in the spring of 2025?
Last year, the brewing industry closed with a decline of 1.7%. The beginning of this year also started with lower sales than in the same period last year. However, the winter months are traditionally not the best time for beer. The summer months, which are traditionally the best period in terms of consumption, will be decisive for the industry’s situation this year. And, as usual, the weather will also be of great importance - the more sunny days, the better for the industry. It should be noted that the beer market has been steadily declining since 2019, with a cumulative decline of more than 7 million hectoliters during this period.
In which segments of the beer sector are there more market risks than opportunities, and in which are there more opportunities than risks?
The beer market is subject to various changes. Interest in strong beers and alcoholic lagers is steadily declining. Last year, the sales volume of strong lager decreased by 3.8%, and of traditional lager by 3.1%. This is in line with the general trend in alcohol consumption – a reduction in consumption and alcohol content in beverages. This is also evident in the categories that are gaining popularity. I am referring primarily to non-alcoholic beers, which increased sales by approximately 17% last year. Flavored beers are also doing well – here we recorded an increase of around 2%.
Is the growing popularity of craft beers in recent years, coming from small, often unknown to most consumers, local breweries a Polish phenomenon, or is this sector beginning to play a greater role in other markets as well?
Craft beers are not exclusively a Polish phenomenon. The national “beer revolution” was a manifestation of imitation of trends that came from abroad, but it is very visible in our
country. Craft beers have greatly enriched the beer landscape and contributed to the development of beer consumption culture. Their growing popularity can be linked to consumer trends such as premiumization and a focus on the quality of the taste experience. In recent years, we have seen rapid growth in this segment of the brewing market. There are now well over 200 such breweries in Poland, but they still only account for 1-2% of the total beer market in terms of volume.
What is the position of Polish beer as an export product today? Which markets does it go to most of all and how is it positioned there?
Poland is one of the largest beer exporters in the European Union. In this respect, we rank 7th in the community. We ex-
WE ARE SEEING MORE AND MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS OF STRICTER LAWS AND CHANGES THAT COULD SERIOUSLY
AFFECT THE FUNCTIONING OF OUR INDUSTRY
port about 10% of the total annual production. This is more than such significant countries as Italy or Denmark. Polish beer is sold in around 80 countries worldwide, but the largest recipient is the European Union. Of course, we also export Polish beer to the USA and Canada, as well as to Asian markets. It is safe to say that Polish beer is well-known worldwide and is an important export product for our country.
The phenomenon of non-alcoholic beer - what is the reason for its popularity and does it have a chance to stay on the market?
The development of non-alcoholic beer is a result of the growing trend to look for non-alcoholic substitutes for alcoholic products and the trend towards a healthy lifestyle and increasing health awareness among consumers. A growing number of consumers are giving up alcohol or trying to reduce their consumption. Non-alcoholic beer is therefore an
excellent alternative, as it allows you to eliminate alcohol, but still enjoy the taste of beer and consume it in various situations where drinking alcohol would be impossible. The global market for non-alcoholic beer is already 56-58 m hl, which is about 3% of the total beer market. The World Brewing Alliance predicts that by 2030 this market will increase to 100 m hl, which will already represent 5% of the market. Currently, in Poland, the share of non-alcoholic beer in the entire market is already over 7%. We also expect further development of this category.
Does the beer industry have any demands for the government to get back on the path of sustainable growth? (advertising issues, sales restrictions)
I think it would be enough if the government simply gave us legislative peace for a while, because we also need stability in the area of regulation after several years of uncertainty and market instability. Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more announcements of stricter laws and changes that could seriously affect the functioning of our industry. Some of them are even inspired by producers of spirits that compete with beer. We also have major challenges in the environmental area. I am thinking of the implementation of the deposit system, which will take place at the end of this year.
How does beer compare to other spirits? Have the changes of recent decades affected the popularity of beer and, if so, how?
Beer is still very popular and, despite a 15% drop in consumption in recent years, it remains the most common choice for people reaching for alcoholic products. In terms of market value, spirits and beer have similar shares, close to 50% for each category.
THE
Alanis Morissette’s Polish debut
Alanis Morissette, a Canadian singer-songwriter and 90s music legend, will perform for the first time in Poland at Warsaw’s Torwar Arena on June 19, 2025 as part of her European tour. The artist has announced that her show will be a combination of 90s nostalgia with her current, mature approach to music. The audience will hear her classic hits and the most recent compositions, which confirm that the singer still has a lot to offer her fans.
The artist has various musical experiments to her credit, and her discography includes elements of pop, rock and ambient. She is known for her candid and emotive delivery and each of her performances is a combination of excellent vocal skills, sincere lyrics and deep interaction with the audience.
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in 1974, a child actress turned alternative pop rock sensation with her record-breaking international debut Jagged Little Pill in 1995
becoming the highest-selling debut album by a female artist in the US (more than 16 million copies) and the best-selling debut album ever worldwide (33 million copies). The album made her an international star and one of the most important figures in the alternative rock scene and her songs such as “Ironic” and “You Oughta Know” became classics of ‘90s music.
In recent years, Morissette has continued to develop her career, releasing new albums that surprise with their maturity and depth. Her latest album, Such Pretty Forks in the Road, shows that the artist is constantly experimenting and searching for new ways of expression.
Described by Rolling Stone magazine as the “undisputed queen of alt-rock angst,” Morissette has seven Grammy Awards and has sold 60 million albums worldwide.
BUZZ
Justin Timberlake revisits Poland
The American singer, songwriter, actor and record producer Justin Timberlake, known as Prince of Pop, will perform on June 17, 2025 at the PGE Narodowy stadium in Warsaw as part of his The Forget Tomorrow World Tour. This will be Timberlake’s fourth concert in Poland. He previously played at the stadium in Gdańsk in 2014 and twice in Kraków ten years later.
The Warsaw audience will hear greatest hits including “Cry Me A River”, “What Goes Around” and “Mirrors” as well as newer songs such as “Drown”, “Selfish” and “No Angels” from the latest, sixth studio album “Everything I Thought It Was”, released in 2024.
Timberlake is celebrated for his wide-ranging abilities in music and acting. His career is decorated with numerous prestigious awards, including ten Grammy Awards, four Primetime Emmy Awards, and multiple Billboard Music Awards. He gained fame in the late 1990s as part of the *NSYNC group, contributing to their status as one of the top-selling boy bands with over 70 million records sold globally.
As a solo artist, Timberlake has enjoyed immense success, selling over 54 million albums and 63 million singles worldwide and garnering more than 23 billion views on streaming platforms.
His hit “Can’t Stop the Feeling!” from the film Trolls was nominated for a 2017 Oscar in the “Best Original Song” category.
Reality created with photographs
The Centre for Contemporary Art (CSW) Ujazdowski Castle has staged a collective photographic exhibition “Mine Eyes Bees Deceive”. It is the first time in many years such a large cross-sectional exhibition of Polish photography whose intention is to show the most intriguing contemporary ways of photographic imaging in art. Forty-six artists have been invited to show their works. Among them are figures well-known and respected on the national and international art scene, such as Aneta Grzeszykowska, Rafał Milach, Joanna Piotrowska and Karol Radziszewski, but a number of participating artists are only starting their careers.
The exhibition is divided into chapters, with human beings, human concerns, emotions and relationships at its centre. Its title indicates the fantastic dimension of the photographic images, which, freed from a purely documentary function, tell their own stories, offering various interpretations of reality.
“We are not neutral in our choices, we are as vulnerable and susceptible to the effects of the image as any other person,” says Kamila Bodnar, one of the exhibition curators. “Our role was to surrender to the pleasure of looking, and we invite the public to do the same.”
The photographs presented at the CSW often take on materially and spatially unobvious forms, and enter into a relationship with sculpture and painting. A separate space, arranged in the form of a chill-out area, has been dedicated to an extensive collection of photography books available for free viewing.
A photograph on the poster promoting the exhibition, “Portrait of Zuzanna” by Karolina Zajączkowska, shows a silver face with red eyes. “It creates rather than documents reality,” says Bodnar, “and represents a very strong voice of young artists who choose to show human stories, emotions and relationships not literally, but through an abstract image.”
Till August 31, 2025
Max Factor How American dream came true
The Jewish Theatre in Warsaw commences the celebration of its 75th anniversary with the premiere on April 11 of Agata Biziuk’s original musical M. Faktor. The Birth of Beauty about the life of Maks Faktorowicz, the legendary founder of the world-famous cosmetics brand Max Factor, creator of the term “make-up” and a make-up artist to the biggest stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood.
Faktorowicz was born in 1872 into a Jewish working-class family in Zduńska Wola, central Poland. As one of ten children he began very early financially supporting his family. At the age of seven, he worked in a chemist’s, also selling sweets and fruit, and at the age of nine, he became an apprentice to the best wig maker in Łódź.
Four years of intensive training in hair cutting and styling opened for him the way to an international career. First, in Berlin, he joined the team of the famous hairdresser Anton. A year later, he got a job in Moscow at the Imperial Grand Opera. His path to the top was interrupted by compulsory military service, after which he settled in the town of Ryazan. There, he opened a shop where he sold his own cosmetics and wigs. He became well known when a traveling theatrical troupe wore Faktorowicz’s cosmetics to perform for Russian nobility. He was appointed as a private make-up artist for Tsar Nicholas II and his brother-in-law Alexander and the official cosmetics expert for Moscow Bolshoi Theatre.
In 1904, growing anti-Semitic sentiments and court intrigues forced Faktorowicz to flee the country. He chose to move to the United States. An immigration officer’s mistake led to the creation of a pseudonym that later became known throughout the world.
In the USA, his career took off. He became not only the owner of a shop, but also the creator of a cosmetics brand. His
experiments changed the beauty industry, and the invention of cream foundation opened the way to cooperation with film producers. Thanks to his original treatments and products, actresses and actors such as Rita Hayworth, Rudolf Valentino and Jean Harlow gained recognition. His clients also included Pola Negri, Charlie Chaplin, Ginger Rogers, Frank Sinatra and John Wayne.
He not only coined the term “make-up” but also came up with the strategy of hiring celebrities for commercials. He died of heart failure in 1938 and left behind a cosmetics empire and a belief that big dreams can come true.
The musical, which reveals these and other secrets of the make-up legend’s life, takes place in a bustling film studio, where dreams of beauty and art become reality. M. Faktor. The Birth of Beauty is a story about the power of self-creation and fulfilling your dreams.
The music by Stanisław Pawlak is inspired by contemporary sounds from swing to Latino. The lyrics of Anna Domalewska’s songs build a story about Faktor’s life and achievements, showing him not only as a cosmetic innovator, but also as a man he was for his loved ones. The choreography was created by Krystyna Lama Szydłowska. Marika Wojciechowska’s set design was inspired by the world of the “dream factory”. The result is a show full of passion, wild imagination and glamour.
The Ester Rachel and Ida Kamińska Jewish Theatre in Warsaw is the only Jewish theatre in Poland and one of two state theatres in Europe presenting performances in Yiddish.
Snapshots of Jerusalem
Anew exhibition Roads to Jerusalem at the National Museum in Warsaw aims to be a reflection on Jerusalem’s universal history, eternal myth and complicated present. It attempts to present the phenomenon of a city of three cultures: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. It shows Jerusalem not only as existing in a specific geographic, historical and cultural reality, but also as an imagined space, a metaphysical
destination for pilgrims, a fantasy for travellers, and the eschatological end of the road in the afterlife for generations of the faithful. According to religious traditions, the world originated in Jerusalem and would end there on the Day of Judgement.
The visitors will see a city that is full of contradiction and paradoxes. Shared and divided, its status has been tied to the spirituality and piety of the followers of various faiths and to tumultuous
political conflict, not infrequently provoked by religious motives.
The exhibition is designed as an open and multicultural space of learning and dialogue where historical art and craft meet the work of contemporary artists. It displays both artworks and artifacts created in Jerusalem and in Palestine, which express fascination and longing for the land by evoking memories and symbolic explorations.
On view through July 20, 2025.
Artists’ senses of self
The “Self-Portraits” exhibition at the National Museum in Warsaw presents an assortment of contemporary examples of this type of artwork, going far beyond the standard depiction of an artist’s likeness that classical art history has accustomed us to.
Among the works spanning a range of disciplines, including paintings, sculpture, photography, sound installation, and more, are those highly personal and those which contribute to a broader analysis of the artist’s place in society.
Some works refer directly to the current social and political situation and are
an artistic commentary on the world we live in every day. Some contain content that could potentially be considered sensitive, such as references to difficult experiences or nudity.
The presentation of contemporary self-portraits hearkens back to an idea realised a century ago by Count Ignacy Karol Korwin-Milewski to assemble a collection of self-portraits by 19th-century Polish artists. The two corresponding undertakings illustrate the continuity of the tradition of artistic culture as well as the significance of private patronage.
Visitors to the show will see works by twenty artists: Paweł Althamer, Mirosław Bałka, Agnieszka Brzeżańska, Rafał Bujnowski, Barbara Falender, Izabella Gustowska, Zuzanna Janin, Łukasz Korolkiewicz, Katarzyna Krakowiak-Bałka, Zbigniew Libera, Rafał Milach, Jarosław Modzelewski, Agnieszka Polska, Katarzyna Przezwańska, Karol Radziszewski, Joanna Rajkowska, Wilhelm Sasnal, Jadwiga Sawicka, Aleksandra Waliszewska and Artur Żmijewski.
On view till July 20, 2025
Polish National Opera takes on Strauss
Ariadne on Naxos, an opera by Richard Strauss, directed by Mariusz Treliński, will premiere at the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera on April 4.
It is the third opera written by Strauss together with librettist Hugon von Hofmannsthal. Their collaboration had started with the expressionist Elektra, followed two years later by a drastically different, Mozartian Der Rosenkavalier. Their next project drew heavily on literary inspirations.
The narrative loosely derives from the famous myth of Ariadne, who is abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos and eventually falls in love with the god Bacchus. This once-act opera is, however, preceded by an extensive modern prologue in which Strauss and Hofmannsthal employed the play within play convention. The audience peeks behind the stage mounted at a wealthy Viennese household where a young composer finds himself tortured by egotistical artists complicating preparations for the opera’s production in an eternal struggle between comedy and high art. Sung in the original German with Polish subtitles.
This is not Treliński’s first Strauss production. In 2014 he directed Salome, coproduced by the Polish National Opera and the National Theatre in Prague, and in 2023 his take on another Strauss and Hofmannsthal collaboration, The Woman without a Shadow triumphed at the Opéra National de Lyon.
Andrea Fraser’s interventionist art
The exhibition Art Must Hang at the Zachęta - National Gallery of Art is a review of over three decades of artistic and intellectual work of the American artist Andrea Fraser, one of the leading figures in institutional critique within the art world.
Designed in collaboration with the artist, it features a selection of works spanning from the late 1980s to her most recent productions which involve the investigation of the cultural context of a specific location. A significant area of her practice is performance, in which she embodies diverse personas, frequently assuming the role of a discerning critic of the attitudes presented. Fraser’s work is realised in many other formats - films, installations, workshops, analyses, interviews, activism, and teaching. The exhibition also incorporates textual works and documentation. It is pivotal in delineating the mechanisms of power and the ‘production of goods’ within contemporary art.
One of her latest works, on view at Zachęta, is a huge, large-scale diagram describing the art world. It outlines the internal relationships and power hierarchies. The diagram is meant to provoke self-reflection, especially among artists and other people in the art world, about
where they find themselves in this system, Fraser said.
Fraser’s artistic practice can be accurately described as a form of cultural resistance, possessing an ethical, rather than a strictly political, orientation. Through her artworks and theoretical writings, the artist directly confronts the core mechanisms of the art world system.
Often characterised as a third-generation institutional critic and a second-generation feminist, Fraser integrates gender and sexual dimensions into the earlier critiques advanced by Hans Haacke, Daniel Buren, Carl Andre, and others.
Her recent work also encompasses socio-political research, psychology, and the affective experience of increasingly polarised societies.
On view till June 8, 2025, the exhibition contains elements of nudity and audio content of a sexual nature and is intended for adults.
Roma theatre brings Wicked the Musical to Warsaw
The Roma Musical Theatre will be the first in Poland to present to the Polish audience the blockbuster musical “Wicked” by American composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz and librettist Winnie Holzman, which has been performed on Broadway in New York for over 21 years. The premiere of the Polish version is scheduled for April 5.
Michał Wojnarowski, the theatre’s literary director and the musical’s translator, said that the first contacts with the Music Theatre International agency representing the authors as regards the Polish staging took place nearly nine years ago but were suspended in early 2020 due to the pandemic. The licensing agreement was finally signed last year.
“Wicked” in Roma, directed by Wojciech Kępczyński, is a socalled “non-replica” version, one that does not replicate the original New York staging. The Polish cast was selected in open auditions last autumn out of 600 candidates. Performers of the main roles were picked by Schwartz himself. The Polish set design, costumes and translation had to be submitted to the American authors and copyright owners for approval.
The world premiere of “Wicked” took place on October 30, 2003 at the Gershwin Theatre in New York. The musical is played on Broadway till today, eight times a week. With over 8,000 performances, it is the fourth longest-running musical (after “The Phantom of the Opera”, “Chicago” and “The Lion King”) and the second in terms of box office revenue (over one billion seven hundred million dollars). Since 2006, daily performances of
Wicked have also been held in London’s West End, in addition to hundreds of other productions around the world, including in Japan, Korea, Spain, Australia, Germany, Mexico.
Based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, inspired by Frank Baum’s classic 1900 book “The Wizard of Oz,” the musical largely takes place before the events surrounding Dorothy’s arrival in the Land of Oz. The narrative revolves around the friendship between two young women: Elphaba, later known as the Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda, who ultimately becomes the Good Witch of the North. The whole story is shown from their perspective. The plot refers to stereotypes in the perception of good and evil, and is also a pretext to raise the issue of the relativism of human behavior, hypocrisy, lack of acceptance for differences, and topics related to friendship, love, power, and manipulating public opinion.
The most important roles in the musical are doubled, and sometimes even tripled as Roma plays seven times a week throughout the season, just like Broadway or West End theatres.
The Polish version features the talents of Natalia Krakowiak, Zofia Nowakowska and Maria Tyszkiewicz as Elphaba, while Glinda is played by Anna Federowicz, Patrycja Mizerska and Agnieszka Przekupień.
The sets for the Polish version have been designed by Mariusz Napierała, costumes by Martyna Kander and choreography created by Agnieszka Brańska. Jakub Lubowicz is the musical director of the entire undertaking.
CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF NATURA BISSÉ COSMETIC REVOLUTION
This year, the Spanish luxury spa and skincare company, Natura Bissé, celebrates the 25th anniversary of the launch of their Diamond Collection which has revolutionised the skincare world with an extraordi nary formula designed to boost cellular energy which helps delay the first signs of aging and visibly rejuvenate and revitalise mature skin.
Dubbed the most intelligent anti-aging skincare, Natura Bissé Diamond Collection has evolved over these 25 years through continuous cutting-edge innovation, refining formulas and introducing new versions to meet the needs of new generations.
On March 19, Patricia Fisas, Senior VP Research & Innovation at Natura Bissé, visited the Quality Missala Perfumery in Warsaw to share the history behind the brand and the collection with invited beauty editors.
To mark the jubilee, Natura Bissé is offering the limited-edition ritual featuring all its diamond icons in mini version. This special set includes Diamond Luminous Rich Luxury Cleanse 20ml, Diamond Cocoon Hydrating Essence 30ml, Diamond Extreme Serum 15ml, Diamond Extreme Eye 10ml and Diamond Extreme Cream Rich Texture 15ml. It is available on https://perfumeriaquality.pl/en/
Patricia Fisas, Senior VP Research & Innovation at Natura Bissé
OLFACTORY JOURNEY TO ABU DHABI
Ines Martineau , Area Manager Europe at Memo Paris, talks to the Warsaw Voice about the latest fragrance launched by this luxury fragrance house.
With each new fragrance, Memo sends us to a faraway destination and country-specific ingredients. This time is Abu Dhabi. What is the story behind it?
All Memo perfumes are inspired by travelling to various destinations and depending on what their main ingredients are they are classified into particular collections. Abu Dhabi is the latest addition to our Graines Vagabondes collection, that is everything that is linked to start of life. Its common denominator would be a seed that grows into fruit. Fragrances in this collection do not have any flowers nor leather in their composition and this one is an amber perfume.
Memo believes that every place we visit forms distinct memories and the olfactory sense is the strongest out of the five senses. So we start the creation process with the destination. The idea is that the two founders of Memo, Clara Molloy and her husband John, fly to a given destination where they try to feel the emotional and cultural aspect of the
place. Clara, the creative director of the brand, then writes a letter to a nose, about emotions felt in the visited place and this is how it all begins.
So what are the key ingredients that reflect emotions associated with Abu Dhabi?
I love the fact that we source our ingredients from the visited countries. What we call this perfume is the enchanted date, it’s a little game between a date like a meeting, because Abu Dhabi is a city where lots of communities and cultures meet, and the dried dates - very middle-eastern fruit that comes from Abu Dhabi which we put in the perfume. Other main notes are plum, which also comes from Abu Dhabi, amber, vetiver, cardamon and saffron. But not all ingredients are natural. It’s impossible to make dates out of natural ingredients, so it is a synthetic accord. Likewise amber, because it is illegal to use ambergris in the making of fragrances. But synthetic and molecular accords are as important and need to be mixed with natural ingredients to make the perfume stay on the skin. We use the expertise of various fragrance creation houses in developing ingredients, some are perfect at creating amber other at sourcing vetiver. We first choose the nose and then the nose chooses the house for the expertise.
With the name Abu Dhabi I was expecting a lot of oud that really pleases the Middle Eastern population but there is no oud.
No, no oud, I would describe it as a more orientalised ambery perfume. Mylène Arlan, our nose, wanted to have a different approach, to have the smoky side of vetiver, the freshness of the cardamon, the brilliant aspect of the saffron and then of course the very comforting aspect of amber. She loved the amber expertise of Givaudan and decided to create a really elegant amber, this is how she describes Abu Dhabi. She wanted to create some kind of addiction in Abu Dhabi
but without any sweetness. This was the biggest challenge because with a date and a plum, which are quite sweet, she had to counterbalance, play around with the proportion and everything. The fact that we created addiction without sweetness is very rare, it is very complicated for a nose, and she rose to the challenge very nicely. So it’s a very unique and complex fragrance with around 200 ingredients and it evolves very differently on the skin of a woman and a man, but also depending on the PH of your skin.
And people who went to Abu Dhabi said “oh my God – is smells like the city, it’s incredible how you managed to replicate this”. And this is the goal of Memo, to create memories around a destination.
What is the significance of the plaque which adorns the perfume flacon?
All our collections can be recognised by a bottle. Our flower collection the Fleurs Bohèmes has a blue colour on the plaque, our leather collection the Cuirs Nomades has an animal, and the plaque on the bottle of Abu Dhabi was inspired by the traditional Emirati fabrics called Al Sadu made out of camel wool with a traditional Bedouin weaving technique used by the tribes. This weaving technique inspired Clara to create a very different olfactory pattern in the form of a special coffret that contains a large bottle of Abu Dhabi and
six small bottles, each featuring one of its six key notes and which you can layer on, if for example you want to add more saffron to your perfume.
The niche perfume market has become quite saturated. What do you think makes your brand stand out from the crowd?
Since its creation in 2007, Memo Paris has been committed to collaborating with many artists, photographers, and writers to further expand the imagination around a destination. It takes us two years to create a perfume because Clara first writes a poem about each perfume, then we have a scrap book and visuals by an artist we choose for a particular launch. This time it was Julien Colombier who created these beautiful master visuals that look like palm trees from Abu Dhabi. We also have our own in-house artist who works on the plaque of the bottle of each fragrance. We want the layering that we smell, the olfactory pattern of the fragrance to be reflected on the artwork of each artist.
The storytelling is also very important and all these” memotions” around each perfume are so strong that people are touched by them and can identify with the destination they travelled to. But also people who have never been to the destination can say I felt as I went to Abu Dhabi by smelling it, I imagine myself there.
BUTIK
Compiled by Marzena Robinson
1/ Innocent olfactory escape
Widian, a perfume house from Abu Dhabi, has expanded its Rose Arabia collection which captures the essence of Arabian flowers, with two new fragrances: Cotton and Ginger.
Widian Cotton is reminiscent of the delicate scent of sugar-dusted cotton candy drifting on a warm breeze. In top notes, fresh lemon and green tea meet velvety honey. The floral heart features crisp Orange Blossom, Jasmine and Heliotrope. The serene, soothing composition lingers on a creamy base of Vanilla and subtle hints of Cedarwood and Patchouli.
Widian Ginger is like a spicy, refreshing journey to a tropical island. It opens with
sparkling Bergamot, zesty Ginger, juicy Lemon and Paradisone. The heart of the fragrance contains floral accents of Violet, Hedione and Magnolia. The whole composition is wrapped in a deep and warm base of Ambroxan, Patchouli and Sandalwood.
2/ Distinctive sophistication
A new captivating fragrance by Clive Christian, a renowned niche perfume brand from the United Kingdom, L Red Tea Vetiver, has been expertly crafted to reflect the refined elegance of the wearer.
This woody aromatic scent is a harmonious blend of the warmth of red tea, fresh citrus with the earthy sophistication of noble Vetiver
L Red Tea Vetiver opens with a vibrant burst of Lemon Primofiore and Bergamot, delivering a crisp and invigorating introduction which awakens the senses. As it unfolds, the heart reveals a perfect harmony of bold and refined notes - rich and slightly smoky essence of Rooibos Tea layered with the Vetiver. The fragrance then settles into a sensual base of the comforting notes of Musk and creamy Sandalwood leaving an aromatic and charming impression.
3/ Bold and sensual Hypnotic Musk, a new gourmand fragrance by the Grasse-based Perfume House M. Micallef is the latest addition to their Jewel Collection. With the perfect
fusion of fruity-floral notes is a perfect choice for warmer days.
Designed for a thoroughly modern and magnetic woman, Hypnotic Musk embodies the spirit of timeless femininity by combining softness with intensity, sensuality with confidence and unveiling a seductive aura.
From the very first notes, the radiant Raspberry leads the way, offering a fruity and addictive freshness. The subtly spicy aphrodisiac Ginger adds an alluring dimension. The sensual depths of Vanilla and Sandalwood blend with the exoticism of Lychee, creating a soft, luminous, and mysterious composition.
The perfume’s boldness and refinement is reflected in a redesigned bottle
design. Dressed in matte pink with an opaque finish, it exudes a playful yet tender charm. The iconic mosaic of the Jewel Collection is adorned with rose gold mirror accents, adding a contemporary and elegant touch.
4/ Scent with profound earthy signature
The new oriental-woody perfume Purpose 50 by Amouage, a High Perfumery House founded in Oman in 1983 renowned for creating some of the world’s most finely crafted fragrances, is the latest addition to their Exceptional Extraits. With an extraordinary 50-percent oil concentration, it is a deeper and more intense interpretation of the original Purpose Eau de Par-
fum. Created by master perfumer Quentin Bisch, the fragrance captures the essence of a total frankincense tree, from its roots, branches and leaves to the precious resin that flows through its bark. A higher dose of Sandalwood accord lends the composition a unique, creamy-woody earthiness and a comforting note of Vanillin creates a change in texture to a well-rounded, warmer scent.
It is further enriched with a burst of Bergamot and Pink Pepper, Papyrus, and a sand-grown variety of Vetiver, softened by the romantic touch of Rose. The blend of Saffron, Suede, Akigalawood, and Mystikal in the base notes add integrity to this exceptional olfactory experience.
G REAT
Compiled by Bartosz Grzybiński
1/
Three cameras on board
The new Mio MiSentry 12T 4G LTE is an advanced remote car monitoring solution that offers real-time support for three cameras via the MioNext app. Thanks to the built-in SIM card, it enables free data transmission throughout the EU, ensuring full cloud recording. The Smart Parking Guard intelligent parking mode detects incidents such as collisions or break-ins and sends an instant push notification. The MioNext account can be shared with other users, allowing multiple vehicles to be managed simultaneously. This makes the Mio MiSentry 12T the ideal solution for fleets. The camera records in excellent quality thanks to the Sony STARVIS sensor
with F1.8 aperture, ensuring clear recordings even in difficult lighting conditions. As a starter gift, users receive a 3-month cloud subscription for free.
www.mio.com/pl
2/ An environmentally friendly tire for all seasons
The new Nokian Tyres Seasonproof 2 is an all-season tire developed for the needs of drivers in Central and Southern Europe. The product range offers sizes for modern passenger cars, SUVs and CUVs, available to consumers by fall 2025. The all-season tires are designed to perform safely in all four seasons in Central European conditions, and Nokian Tyres Sea-
sonproof 2 has the 3PMSF (Three-Peak Mountain Snowflake) symbol, indicating that it is officially approved for winter use. The tire range contains up to 38% renewable and recycled materials. It is also the first tire range on the market to be produced in Nokian Tyres’ new factory in Romania – the world’s first zero CO2 tire factory.
www.nokiantyres.pl
3/ ZTE U50 5G – reliable internet on the go
The ZTE U50 5G router is perfect for use at home, in the office, but especially when traveling or camping. It is a sleek and elegant device that fits easily in the palm of your hand. The device can support up to
GEAR
32 users connected via Wi-Fi at the same time. The router has a built-in 4500 mAh battery that provides a very long operating time on a single charge, which increases the device’s mobility and ease of use. This advanced device provides outstanding performance on the 5G network with maximum speeds of up to 2.63 GB/s for downloads and 525 MB/s for uploads. With Wi-Fi 6 support, the router provides a transfer rate of up to 1.8 GB/s, which guarantees fast and stable connections regardless of the number of connected devices. The ZTE U50 5G is equipped with connectors that allow the connection of external antennas, which significantly improves connectivity with 5G base sta-
tions. It is the ideal solution for users who require reliable and fast Internet access regardless of the conditions.
www.zteshop.pl
4/ Maurice Lacroix Aikon Skeleton
This year’s new releases from the Swiss brand Maurice Lacroix include a watch that is another variation of the skeleton watch in the company’s offer.
The Aikon line of watches is currently the flagship of the Swiss manufacturer’s collection. In its appearance, it combines modern styling with models clearly associated with the brand from over 30 years ago.
The skeletonization of mechanical watches involves removing excess material
for structural and working elements while maintaining the full functionality of the mechanism. In combination with a transparent case back and the elimination of the traditional dial, skeletonization is a procedure that allows for convenient observation of the workings of all the elements of the mechanism. The unusual visual effect of the skeletonization in this model is enhanced by the use of interesting decorative techniques for the surface treatment of the mechanism.
According to the manufacturer, the 2025 edition of the Aikon Skeleton model is their response to the interest of Maurice Lacroix brand enthusiasts.
www.odczasudoczasu.pl
DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE
Mercedes GLC 63s E performance
Story and photos by Bartosz Grzybiński
This model has two faces. On the one hand, it is a luxurious family SUV that provides travelers with extraordinary comfort and safety, and on the other hand, it can literally turn into a sports car in a fraction of a second, with incredible parameters and performance straight from Formula 1.
The automotive world is full of mysterious signs and symbols. For most car users, it doesn’t matter if there are any numbers or letters on the tailgate, for example. What matters more is the brand, the look of the car, the price, the equipment, or the color of the bodyespecially important for the fairer sex. It’s a different story for car enthusiasts. For them, the letters AMG, RS, GTS, or M say almost everything. Almost, because in the era of electrification, some symbols have been modified. This is clearly visible in the Mercedes GLC AMG 63s E performance. The letters GLC stand for an SUV model, which belongs to the middle class in terms of body size, and has been produced since 2015 (the second gen-
eration appeared in 2022). The abbreviation AMG in the Mercedes brand name stands for the most powerful engine versions, factory-tuned, with engines and chassis adapted for sporty driving. The name comes from the names of the founders of the tuning company “Aufrecht” and “Melcher” and the name of the town where the company operated“Grosaspach”, hence the abbreviation “AMG”. The motto of the company, which has been operating since 1957, was and is (since 2005 the company has been taken over by Mercedes) that each tuned engine is assembled from start to finish by one person. A name tag with the name of the mechanic who assembled the unit and the AMG logo is placed on the engine block. The logo includes an apple tree, which is the coat of arms of the city of Affalterbach, where the Mercedes-AMG factory is located, and two technical elements of the engine: a valve spring and a tappet, symbolizing the manufacturer’s reliability and performance. In addition to the AMG logo, the tailgate also features the number 63. Until recently, this indicated that the model in question was equipped with the most powerful 6.3-liter eight-cylinder engine. Until recently, because on the GLC model presented, the number 63 has an additional red border and the letter “s”. What do these symbols mean? In the case of this model, they mean that the drive system is a hybrid, consisting of the world’s most powerful four-cylinder gasoline engine with a displacement of 2 liters and 475 hp and an electric motor located on the rear axle. The electric motor itself has a continuous output of 108 hp and up to 204 hp in “Race” mode. Although this power is only available for 10 seconds, it is enough for rocket-like acceleration. In total, the hybrid drive has an output of 680 hp and a maximum torque of 1020 Nm. According to the tech-
THE ELECTRIC MOTOR ITSELF HAS A CONTINUOUS OUTPUT OF 108 HP AND UP TO 204 HP IN “RACE” MODE
nical data, the car, which has a curb weight of over 2300 kg, accelerates to 100 km/h in just 3.5 seconds and can reach a top speed of 275 km/h.
Such incredible performance is achieved by utilizing the brand’s technical experience in the construction of Formula 1 racing cars, from which the electric supercharging of the turbocharger was transferred. The turbine is not powered by gases, as in the case of “traditional” turbocharged units, but by its own electric motor located between the turbine wheel on the exhaust side and the compression wheel on the intake side. Thanks to this solution, maximum power is available practically every second and across the full engine speed range. With such performance and parameters, it is obvious that the drive is transferred electronically to all wheels (4Matic+) via a 9-speed sequential automatic transmission (with manual gear selection).
The entire chassis and steering system have been adapted to the engine’s performance. Steel springs with adaptive shock absorbers, active stabilizers, a steered rear axle, electronically controlled differential and a three-stage dynamic power steering system are designed to facilitate
driving and control of the car’s enormous power. The use of a steered rear axle is particularly noteworthy. At speeds of up to 100 km/h, the rear wheels turn 2.5 degrees in the opposite direction to the front wheels, reducing the turning circle. Above 100 km/h, they turn 0.7 degrees in the same direction as the front wheels, allowing for faster cornering. In combination with the 4Matic+ all-wheel drive, the rear axle steering allows for easier maneuvering in city traffic as well as faster and safer driving on the highway in various road conditions.
This model is a very elegant and comfortable SUV. The sleek silhouette with a body length of 4.74 meters is a real eye-catcher on the road, especially in the graphite matt Manufaktur paint finish. The functional and clearly laid out cockpit, spacious passenger compartment, 470-liter trunk and comprehensive safety equipment (five-star rating in the Euro NCAP crash test) and comfort features such as black-gray nappa leather, aluminum and carbon inlays, and heated and ventilated seats. Four-zone air conditioning and a great Burmester sound system complete
the feeling of luxury that surrounds the passengers. This Mercedes has two faces. On the one hand, it can be a family car, with a spacious and functional interior, a large trunk and a drive system that guarantees safe driving in all conditions. When driving calmly in “Comfort” mode, the engine runs quietly, no noise reaches the cabin, and the suspension dampens any bumps in the road very well. Even at highway speeds, the fuel consumption is not particularly different from that of other models in the segment. It seems as if the almost 700 horsepower is only on paper. But this model has another side to it. All you have to do is select the “Sport” or “Sport+” mode with the round knob on the multifunction steering wheel and the magic happens. The monster awakens. In a fraction of a second, the car hardens its suspension and steering system and turns into a bullet on wheels. Even gentle operation of the gas pedal causes an immediate reaction of the engine and a jolt in the seat.
The acceleration is almost unearthly and can be very dangerous. Exceeding the speed limit on public roads is very easy and may go unnoticed by the driver, but the police will notice it... To check the full potential of this model, it is better to go to a special track and try driving, also in “Race” mode.
Unfortunately, due to the price of over PLN 580,000, not many drivers will have this opportunity. Although, if for this price we are actually buying two cars in one, maybe it’s not that much and it’s worth at least considering?
ORLEN AND EIB SIGN PLN 1.7 BILLION AGREEMENT
The Orlen Group and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have signed another agreement to finance the development of the electricity distribution network. The new loan amounts to PLN 1.7 billion, which, together with the previous two agreements, brings the total amount to PLN 3.5 billion. This is the largest support granted by the EIB in the corporate sector in Poland.
The money from the EIB will allow Energa Operator, a company belonging to the Orlen Group, to invest in the modernization and expansion of energy infrastructure, which is to strengthen the security of electricity supply and increase the use of renewable energy sources.
“The record-high financing that Orlen obtained from the European Investment Bank is a testament to the trust in our development plans. We have an ambitious but well-thoughtout strategy, the implementation of which will benefit not only our shareholders but also the entire economy,” said Magdalena Bartoś, Orlen’s Vice-President for Finance, quoted in a press release.
“Financing from the European Investment Bank for the Orlen Group
will support the long-term, sustainable development of the Polish economy. These funds will contribute to the energy transition and increase the energy security of Poland and the entire European Union,” emphasized Teresa Czerwińska, Vice-President of the EIB and former Polish Minister of Finance.
The agreement signed will provide Orlen with funds that can be used in tranches over the next three years. The loan is to be repaid within a maximum of 15 years from its disbursement. This is a key element in the financing of Energia Operator’s investments, which will total PLN 40 billion by 2035. As part of this program, the company plans to build 11,000 kilometers of new power lines and 7,000 kilometers of cable lines, as well as modernize nearly 10,000 kilometers of existing lines.
Thanks to these investments, 350,000 new customers will be connected to the grid, as well as 9 GW of renewable energy sources, supported by energy storage facilities stabilizing the power system. An additional source of financing is PLN 7.5 billion obtained from the National Reconstruction Plan (KPO).
The previous energy company with
Treasury participation that received co-financing from the EIB for investments in the distribution network was Enea. The Poznań-based company announced at the beginning of 2024 that it had been granted PLN 2 billion, which is to be spent on modernization in the distribution area by the end of this year. In previous years, another energy giant Tauron also received similar funding. Traditional networks were designed to transmit energy in one directionfrom large power plants to consumers. Now that energy is also produced locally, new technological and infrastructural solutions are needed. Investments also allow for the construction of new lines, the replacement of outdated infrastructure, and the implementation of automation systems that react faster to failures and enable their localization and repair in a shorter time. Modern technologies, such as cable lines instead of overhead lines, reduce these losses, which translates into lower costs and greater efficiency of the power system. In addition, thanks to modernization, vehicle charging stations and energy storage facilities must be properly connected to the system to avoid power surges and grid destabilization.
FIRST COMPANY WORTH PLN 100 BILLION
The share price of PKO BP bank exceeded PLN 80. As a result, the largest Polish bank became the first Polish company with a market value exceeding PLN 100 billion.
Over the past year, the price of PKO BP shares has risen by more than 50%. This is the best result among the ten domestic banking institutions listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Millennium, which ranks second in this list, has already gained less than 30%. The WIG-Banks stock market index has grown by 31% over the past 12 months. It also includes the shares of two foreign banks: Santander from Spain and UniCredit from Italy. According to the data
provided by stooq.pl, the latter’s share price has increased by 66% over the past year.
This is largely due to the increase in bank share prices, the entire Warsaw Stock Exchange is breaking records. The value of the WIG index is approaching 100,000 points. The stock market value of banks is growing thanks to record profits. The entire sector earned PLN 42 billion last year, half more than the year before.
At PKO BP, profit increased by almost 70%. The bank earned a net profit of PLN 9.3 billion, and if it hadn’t been for the so-called extraordinary events – mainly involving provisions for foreign currency mortgage loans
– the profit would have reached PLN 14 billion. In the case of PKO, the Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) agrees to pay a dividend corresponding to a maximum of 75% of last year’s profit, which would translate into an amount of almost PLN 6.9 billion and PLN 5.5 per share.
The increase in the price of PKO benefits primarily the State Treasury, which is the main shareholder. It holds 29.4% of the shares, which, at a price of PLN 80, translates into a valuation of the block at PLN 29.4 billion. Pension funds are also significant shareholders. They hold a total of shares worth almost PLN 23 billion.
CPK PREPARES ACCESS ROADS TO THE NEW AIRPORT
Investments in the Central Transportation Port (CPK) are picking up speed. The fast train from Katowice to Ostrava has been divided into two parts. Kalisz has been promised a connection to the national railway network via a connecting line.
The CPK company has announced a tender for the modernization and construction of access roads to the future airport. It concerns roads in the Sochaczew county and Teresin municipality as well as in the Żyrardów county and Wiskitki municipality. The tender includes the execution of a complete project including obtaining the necessary permits, as well as construction works. The entire CPK project will also include the construction of approx. 90 km of roads around the airport, connecting it to the existing public road network.
CPK, which received a capital injection of PLN 1.9 billion earlier this week, is finalizing the purchase of land for the airport. It is about to start buying up properties located along the route of the high-speed railway line between Warsaw and Łódź. Tenders for construction work for the airport are also being prepared, and the tender for the drilling of the HSR tunnel in Łódź is about to be decided.
The current recapitalization of the CPK, which is in addition to the PLN 3.5 billion tranche from last December, will allow the airport terminal, railway station and interchange projects to be adapted to the new traffic forecasts. The money will also be used for the construction of the HSR Y line, a key CPK project.
Decisions have been made regarding the construction of a high-speed railway line from Katowice to Ostrava in the Czech Republic, which has met with local protests. The investment has been divided: the railway infrastructure management company PKP Polish Railways (PLK) will be responsible for the section from Katowice to Mikołów, while CPK will be responsible for the section from Mikołów to the state border. This solves the problem that has been ongoing since 2022, when both com-
panies were preparing independent, competing investments in parallel. The current division is expected to end the existing planning chaos.
The issue of the route of the railway line in Wielkopolska has also been clarified. In the coming weeks, the so-called program and spatial concept for the HSR Sieradz–Kalisz–Pleszew and Pleszew–Poznań lines is to be ready. The HSR line will be routed through the outskirts of Kalisz, while railway sidings will lead to the station in the city. Selected trains will travel along the Kalisz bypass, providing the fastest connection, while others will travel to it, including the city in the HSR network. According to CPK, this solution enables the service of medium-sized cities: trains that stop in Kalisz and other centers on the route will also be able to use the new tracks built by the company.
Travelers will be able to travel faster. The previous travel time between Warsaw and Poznań, assuming a maximum speed of 250 km/h, was 2 hours and 5 minutes. This is assuming a mandatory stop at the CPK and Łódź Fabryczna stations, a non-stop journey through the Kalisz station, as well as the construction of an additional link to shorten the so-called Kalisz serpentine. However, according to the new assumptions, the journey time will be reduced to 1 hour
and 38 minutes for the fastest train stopping only at Łódź Fabryczna. This 27-minute acceleration is due to the increase of the trains’ maximum speed to 320 km/h, the lack of stops for the fastest HSR trains at the CPK station, and the use of the Kalisz railway bypass by the fastest trains.
Thanks to the construction of the KDP line, Kalisz is also expected to benefit from the integration of the interchange hub, including the reconstruction of the existing station in the city. The proposed solution includes increasing the number of railway platforms to serve passengers, as well as improvements related to regional and urban bus transport, the road system and bicycle paths.
The section of the PKP line between Warsaw, the CPK station and Łódź is to be completed by the end of 2032. During this time, air traffic will be transferred to the new CPK airport. The remaining sections of the line, Łódź–Wrocław and Sieradz–Poznań, are to be completed in 2035. Further lines will also be built as part of the CPK railway investment. Advanced design work is related to routes belonging to the trans-European transport network TEN-T and includes two types: core and supplementary routes. The former will be completed by 2035, while the latter by 2040.
POLAND TO BID FOR GDYNIA PORT
The part of the Port of Gdynia that belongs to Hutchison Ports, which has close ties to China, may be sold to the Americans. The Polish state may exercise its right of pre-emption.
CK Hutchison, which owns more than 40 ports worldwide, is to be taken over by an American consortium made up of BlackRock and others. The main reason for this transaction is that Hutchison owns two ports at the Panama Canal, and US President Donald Trump is exerting pressure for the Americans to take control of this trade route.
From a Polish point of view, it seems crucial that Hutchison Ports, a subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings Limited, is, as we read on its website, “the owner of 19.6 hectares of post-shipyard land located in the port of Gdynia at the Bulgarian Quay”. The Chinese shareholder has influence over which ships can moor at this quay. In 2023, there was a lot
of talk about the fact that the American warship MV Cape Ducato was not allowed to dock there. After this incident, the port was added to the List of Critical Infrastructure Facilities. This gives the Polish state a little more control over how the area is protected, but it also allows for informal pressure.
“Currently, the Ministry of Infrastructure does not know the structure of a possible transaction between BlackRock and Hutchison Ports, including the level at which a possible takeover will take place, and this is crucial in the context of the creation of the State Treasury’s right of pre-emption,” said Anna Szumańska, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Infrastructure, to the Rzeczpospolita daily.
“The pre-emptive right procedure is regulated by the Act of December 20, 1996 on Seaports and Marinas. In order for the State Treasury to be entitled to exercise the right of
pre-emption, the conditions set out in the Act must be met. First of all, it is necessary to conclude a conditional share purchase agreement and for the seller to effectively notify the minister responsible for maritime economy of the content of this agreement,” she explained.
The history goes back 20 years; in 2005, Hutchison Ports became the owner of 19.6 hectares of post-shipyard land located in the port of Gdynia at Bulgarian Quay. According to MI officials, the company took over the debts of the bankrupt company belonging to Gdynia Shipyard from the banks, to which the state had previously contributed 550 meters of quay and approx. 20 hectares of land within the boundaries of the Port of Gdynia. The Hong Kong-registered company has the right of perpetual usufruct of a significant part of the Bulgarian Quay in the Port of Gdynia until the end of 2089.
POLAND STRENGTHENS COOPERATION WITH THE AVIATION GIANT
It seems unlikely that Poland will buy shares in Airbus, but the Polish Air Force could benefit from cooperation with the aviation giant.
Warsaw’s interest in shares in the Franco-Spanish-German Airbus came to light in February when it was reported in the French daily Le Monde.
“There has been discussion as to whether Poland should be the fourth shareholder in Airbus. We must remember that this is a decision that requires huge financial outlay. If we were to take a 4% stake, we are talking about EUR 5-6 billion,” Jakub Jaworowski, Minister of State Assets, said in early March on the public channel TVP World. “Such a decision must not only be preceded by thorough analyses, but also by determining with Airbus which weapon systems we can cooperate with them on. In today’s situation, the absolute priority is to provide the Polish army with the best possible equipment,” he added.
One possible option could be for the Polish government to reconsider the purchase of Airbus H225M Caracal multirole helicopters. This would be a return to the concept of strengthening the armed forces from the time of the second Donald Tusk government. In 2012, Warsaw issued a con-
tract for the purchase of multi-purpose helicopters for the Polish army. In April 2015, the Ministry of National Defense selected the offer of Airbus Helicopters; the French were to supply Poland with 50 machines for PLN 13.4 billion. However, the contract was not finalized before the change of government, and the contract was opposed by Law and Justice (PiS), including the Minister of National Defense Antoni Macierewicz and his successor Mariusz Błaszczak. The renegotiation of the offset contract did not bring an agreement and at the end of 2016, talks on the purchase of Caracals were finally broken off.
“Airbus was very keen to invest in Poland. We wanted to contribute to the creation of a competitive aerospace industry in this country. But the Polish government slammed the door in our face. We take this to heart,” said the then head of Airbus, Tom Enders. The situation has changed over the past decade. In 2024, the Ministry of National Defense signed a contract with the US government for the delivery of 96 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters. The contract value, including the logistics and training package as well as the supply of ammunition and spare parts, was set at USD 10 billion.
The contract for the delivery of A400M transport aircraft could be the basis for an in-depth cooperation with Airbus. The Polish army needs this type of aircraft because the ones it has are quite old and have outdated parameters. Entering into a cooperation with Airbus would have the added advantage of creating an international alliance, which is currently beneficial for financial reasons. Today, Europe favors cross-border military projects. The EU defense loan package worth EUR 150 billion assumes that each member state willing to obtain financing from this source will have to present an armaments procurement plan together with at least one other EU country or Ukraine.
The strengthening of industrial and military cooperation between Poland and France was discussed at last week’s meeting between Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Bejda and the Director General of the French Armaments Agency, Emmanuel Chiva. The French delegation was accompanied by representatives of Airbus, and the talks focused on “issues related to the needs of the Polish Air Force in terms of strategic transportation and air-to-air refueling capabilities.”
INPOST BUYS BRITISH PARCEL DELIVERY COMPANY
The Polish parcel giant is set to buy the courier company Yodel, strengthening its logistics in the UK.
The assets are a logistics network covering the UK and Northern Ireland, as well as home deliveries, which InPost does not offer in the UK. Yodel is the last CEP logistics company in the UK to be taken over. If InPost does not reach an agreement with Yodel, the company will be bought by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky, who is a shareholder of Royal Mail and GLS.
The purchase of Yodel could have important advantage for InPost: cooperation with the CollectPlus network, which has 11,000 out-ofhome delivery points in the UK. This network was founded by Yodel and PayPoint, but in April 2020 PayPoint
bought out its partner.
In October 2024, Yodel and InPost agreed on a joint delivery service, in which Yodel couriers collect parcels from parcel machines and deliver them to the recipient’s door.
At the end of the third quarter of 2024, InPost had 8,395 collection points and 3,443 parcel machines in the UK. The network grew by 72% year-on-year and saw an 88% increase in the number of parcels handled in the third quarter, when the market as a whole grew by 1%.
In the UK, InPost bought Menzies, which is a logistics base and provides “middle mile” services, but does not cover the whole country. If the merger of InPost and Yodel goes ahead, InPost will have logistical
support in all corners of the UK.
The investment is expected to cost GBP 35 million, but much more money will be needed to unify the network and all systems. InPost is expected to record operating profits in the UK from the third quarter of 2023.
VOLVO CAR POLAND WITH A RECORD NUMBER OF REGISTRATIONS
Volvo Car Poland recorded an excellent sales result in 2024, registering nearly 15,000 cars and increasing its market share to a record 2.7%. The Volvo XC60 SUV is invariably the most popular among Poles, maintaining its position as the leader of the premium segment for 16 years now with a 41% share of sales.
The dominance of SUVs in Volvo’s portfolio fits in perfectly with the preferences of Polish customers. As many as 85% of Volvo buyers have chosen this type of car. The podium of the most popular models is occupied by: The Volvo XC60 with a 41% share of sales, the Volvo XC40 with almost 25% share of sales and the largest in the range Volvo XC90
with almost 12% share of sales. The remaining models of the Swedish brand account for 23% of sales.
“We are pleased with the growing interest in our models, which is confirmed by this excellent result. Last year, we came close to the mark of 15,000 registered Volvo cars in Poland. Our revised electrification strategy and the addition of traditional drive and plug-in hybrid models to our range are a good sign for customers and fans of the Volvo brand in our country. The new Volvo XC90 is already on Polish roads, and the refreshed Volvo XC60 will also be available with the new model year. This is of great importance because there is still a lot to be done in terms
of developing the infrastructure for fast charging of electric cars in our country,” said Emil Dembiński, Managing Director of Volvo Car Poland.
Despite the gradual increase in popularity of electric vehicles, in 2024 Poles still more often chose traditional engines when buying Volvo cars: mainly gasoline (62%) and diesel (17% - end of production on March 26). Electrified models in Poland already accounted for a total of more than 20% of sales, of which 12% were plug-in hybrids (PHEV) and 8% were fully electric cars (BEV). This resulted in a growth of almost 5% compared to 2023. Volvo’s ambition is for electrified models to account for 60% of sales by 2025.
PORSCHE STRENGTHENS ITS PRESENCE IN POLAND
Porsche continues its dynamic development on the Polish market. In January, the brand started operating from its new headquarters in Warsaw. The change of location is related to the transformation of the organizational structure – the Polish company will now operate as a direct subsidiary of Porsche AG.
The establishment of the new company Porsche Polska is part of the German manufacturer’s broader strategy to increase the brand’s influence in the Central European region. Until now, Porsche’s interests in Poland were represented by Volkswagen Group Polska, based in Poznań. The transformation into an independent subsidiary of Porsche AG will allow for an even more precise adaptation of the offer to the expectations of local customers and intensification of activities related to building brand experience on the Polish market. It is also proof that Poland plays a strategic role for the concern, which has recognized the potential of the local premium car market.
The reorganization of the structure and change of headquarters are also related to plans to expand the team with more experts who will help realize the ambitious vision of brand expansion in Poland. The direct link to the headquarters in Stuttgart is expected to translate into greater business efficiency and speed of decision-making, which will benefit customers, employees, and brand dealers alike.
The new headquarters of Porsche Polska is located in the VIBE building at 7 Towarowa Street, in the business center of Warsaw. The facility, awarded the prestigious BREEAM certificate at the Outstanding level, is one of the most ecological office buildings in the country. The innovative technological solutions used in it contribute to energy efficiency and low emissions.
