Opposition leaders have criticised the government for failing to provide concrete proposals to contain the latest surge in COVID-19 cases following cross-party talks hosted by the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki.
After the meeting, the government announced that supplementary legislation based on opposition ideas would be put forward. The talks came amid a surge in infections, with Poland today reporting its highest ever number of new COVID-19 cases, 53,420. That beat the previous record of 40,876 set on Saturday.
Morawiecki last week invited all opposition parties and groups in parliament to the meeting, which took place yesterday. Also present were Jarosław Kaczyński – chairman of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party and deputy prime minister – as well as health minister Adam Niedzielski.
Following the meeting, Borys Budka, head of the parliamentary caucus of the largest opposition group, Civic Coalition (KO), said that they had “expected details” but “did not receive any draft legal act, regulation or bill in writing”.
“We need urgent, concrete actions, not more meetings and conferences,” he said. Budka added, however, that the opposition groups have collectively managed to exert pressure on the government for it to “present specific statutory solutions” by today, which will serve as the basis for joint work in parliament.
In a similar vein, Tomasz Trela of The Left (Lewica), the second largest opposition group, said the meeting had made clear that the government “has no strategy and no plan, and they do not want to implement our [suggested] solutions”.
“This government is not going to do anything [and] must leave [office] quickly,” he added. The Left has pushed for Covid vaccines to be made compulsory for all residents of Poland, though has failed to receive support for that proposal from other parties.
Earlier this month, the group’s MPs unfurled a banner in parliament mourning Poland’s 100,000 Covid deaths and accusing the government of being responsible for the scale of the tragedy.
Following yesterday’s talks, government spokesman Piotr Müller said that they would seek to introduce opposition ideas into Covid legislation currently being considered by parliament.
While the government has been cagey on the new measures, Marcelina Zawisza of The Left said it would include the issue of the civil liability of employees who do not want to test themselves and people who do not comply with sanitary regulations.
However, after the meeting, Krzysztof Bosak of the far-right Confederation (Konfederacja) party expressed concern that strict punitive measures for those who do not abide by restrictions presented a harmful push for “centralism” in health care. His party has consistently opposed lockdowns and vaccines mandates.
The other groups to attend yesterday’s talks included the Polish People’s Party (PSL), Poland 2050 (Polska 2050), Kukiz’15 and Agreement (Porozumienie).
Poland has since last week experienced a surge in COVID-19 cases, as predicted by the government and health officials after Omicron began to spread. The variant now accounts for around half of all new infections.
The government has so far refrained from introducing new restrictions in response, leading three quarters of its Covid advisory council to resign in protest at the inaction. Yesterday, the education ministry announced that most children will from tomorrow return to remote learning until the end of February.
Children from the fifth grade upwards are returning to remote learning until the end of February, as Poland seeks to contain a surge in the Omicron variant that has led to record numbers of infections https://t.co/fM6aCAh9OH
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 25, 2022
Main image credit: Slawomir Kaminski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
