With hardliners taking charge of the government and presidency in Warsaw, the migrant rhetoric is looking worrying. But how much will change in practice?
Law and Justice’s (PiS) candidate for prime minister, Beata Szydlo.
Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski
When they vote October 25 in parliamentary elections, Poles will be taking a dangerous step into the unknown, and the rest of Europe may not be far behind.
Poland’s president Andrzej Duda taking supreme command over Polish armed forces on August 6.
EPA
As tensions run high over Russia’s gas supplies to the Ukraine, and by extension parts of Europe, the reality for the EU is less than perfect: it will need Russian gas for the foreseeable future.
The release of a documentary film in the Czech Republic earlier this year caused much controversy. It is about a dissident named Pavel Wonka who fought against the totalitarian regime in Communist Czechoslovakia…
Polish president Donald Tusk wants the EU to be tough on Russia.
EPA
The Poles and Russians have had a difficult relationship going back centuries. In recent times, the key problem has been competing geopolitical ambitions over the former Soviet republics. Poland wants…
NATO Baltic air policing mission highlights rising tensions north of Ukraine.
EPA
Anxiety over the crisis in eastern Ukraine has ratcheted in recent days amid claims of an effective Russian invasion, and warnings of NATO making a 4000-troop reaction force available to the region. As…
In Warsaw, a newly unveiled memorial puts freedom of speech at the heart of Poland’s liberation from communism.
Aleksandra Hadzelek
“It all started with a word,” said Polish president Bronislaw Komorowski at the opening of a memorial to freedom of speech, “and the word was ‘freedom’”. The event completed three days of commemorations…
Eye of the tiger: Polish PM Donald Tusk.
EPA/Jozef Jakubco
The EU election is the Polish government’s first real strength test since it was elected in October 2011. The poll on May 25 kicks off an electoral marathon, which will culminate in the autumn of next…
Generation War provoked fierce debate and protests with sympathetic portrayals of German soldiers and depictions of Poles as anti-Semitic.
SBS/ZDF
Polish reactions to the German TV series Generation War, which has just screened in Australia, confirm that the history of World War Two remains highly contentious. The resulting public debate tested Polish-German…
Finding happiness is about more than making money.
Rui Vieira/PA
People who move to wealthier countries surely expect that migration will lead them to a better life – but new research suggests that economic migrants are unlikely to achieve greater happiness in their…
Mind the gap: Japanese school girls were covered but not the boys.
Flickr/thecrypt
Heidi Larson, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Recent rubella outbreaks in Japan and Poland are the clearest evidence possible that herd immunity matters. There are many reasons why people don’t get vaccinated for totally preventable diseases such…
Young people who feel excluded from mainstream politics often join extreme groups to ‘belong’.
AFP/Wojtek Radwanski
Many young people in Europe think violent protest can be a legitimate response to the political system they feel no connection to. They believe government pays very little attention to them and have very…