Hello, and welcome to my fieldwork blog! It is primarily here that I will be discussing my activities in the field, including archival work, interviewing, improving my Polish, the teaching and advising I'll be doing at PAN, and just generally soaking up Poland.
Before I get started, I'd like to take this opportunity to provide you with a brief introduction to my topic, so you'll have a general idea of just what it is I'm on about! Questions, comments, or criticisms are always welcome.
( Chodzę o to: )
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| 2008-05-14 08:22 |
| a significant challenge to Schengen? |
| Public |
| eu, schengen |
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EU: Italy Targets Romanian Immigrants With Plan To Suspend Schengen  | | Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu is warning of rising xenophobia in Italy (file photo) | | (epa) |
Italy’s new right-wing government has unveiled plans to make illegal immigration a crime punishable by up to four years in jail. According to media reports, the plans could also lead to reimposing border controls on travelers from the passport-free Schengen zone.
What explains the measures? Partly, it’s because Italians for years have felt frustrated by an ever-rising tide of illegal immigrants who arrive by sea, air, and land. The latest figures, from 2006, indicate that there were nearly 4 million foreign residents in Italy, according to ISTAT, Italy’s state statistical institute. And press reports say more and more illegal immigrants have arrived in Italy since the European Union expanded in 2007 to include Bulgaria and Romania. The plan's main target is Romania. It's not part of the Schengen scheme, but Italian officials say many Romanians travel to Italy through other countries that are part of the zone. There's also been a steady trickle of crimes linked to Romanians and Roma from Romania, which have been played up in the Italian press. Italian interior statistics from 2006 show that, among foreigners involved in crime in Italy, Romanians ranked first in arrests for homicide, sexual violence, and robberies in homes. read the rest of the article here
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Average wage in Poland rises 10.1 pct y/y in Q1
* Reuters
* Monday May 12 2008
WARSAW, May 12 (Reuters) - The average monthly wage in Poland rose 10.1 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2008 and reached 2983.98 zlotys ($1,359), the statistics office said on Monday. The average grew 2.9 percent compared to the last three months of 2007.
The data are closely watched by the central bank for clues on inflationary pressures from wages and the labour market. In March pay in the corporate sector alone grew 10.2 percent year-on-year, confirming wage pressures persisted on the back of the tight labour market and could continue to risk higher inflation.
Inflation, fuelled by food, fuel and regulated prices as well as by growing demand in general in central Europe's biggest economy, stood at 4.1 percent in March, significantly above the central bank's 2.5 percent target.
To bring inflation back to target, the central bank's Monetary Policy Council (MPC) has been raising borrowing costs since April 2007. The bank's main rate now stands at 5.75 percent.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7512662
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Today is International Women's Day, and in honor of this auspicious occasion, I conducted my first dissertation-related interview today.
My interview subject was my friend and ersatz-colleague, Paulina Bunio. She had an internship/practicum position at the Plenipotentiary's Office in the Summer of 2004. So, I interviewed her about her experience working in the office, and then more generally on her opinions about gender equality in Poland.
I had prepared 9 questions, in Polish in advance. The way I did it was, I asked my question, and then while listening to her give her response (in Polish) I formulated follow-up questions which I then asked in English. A couple of times she started to respond to my questions in English, but I asked her to continue in Polish, which she did. I had almost difficulty following her answers in Polish--of course I'm sure I missed much of the nuance or finer points, but the primary substance was no problem at all. And I think I was also able to ask useful and relevant follow-up questions. In addition to the 9 questions I prepared, I asked an additional 8. The entire interview lasted for an hour.
It feels like such an accomplishment to have survived my first interview! Of course it helped massively that 1)she's my friend, 2) we were sitting in her kitchen, and 3) that I was able to ask my follow-up questions in English. I'm wondering if that's a viable solution to my language issue? It's going to be a loooong time before I can formulate those kinds of questions in Polish on the fly. And almost all of the people I'm interviewing actually do speak English. Therefore, this might be a good way to preserve the "Polishness" of the discourse, while also allowing me to proceed now, given my current level of language proficiency.
I'm just not sure how something like that would fly with a person like Sroda or Jaruga-Nowacka, people who were big-shots in government and with whom I would need to be more formal...
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Poland sticking to planned GMO livestock fodder ban: ministry
12 hours ago
WARSAW (AFP) — Poland is sticking to plans to ban the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in livestock fodder, despite an earlier rethink, the agriculture ministry announced Tuesday.
Ministry spokeswoman Malgorzata Ksiazyk told AFP that the government had decided to put on ice a move to amend a restrictive law that is due to come into force on August 1.
read the rest of the article here.
This marks the second instance in which PO said that they would agree to something that PiS had rejected, only to them reverse their position later on. The first instance was with the ratification of the Fundamental Charter of Rights, and now this. Interesting.
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| 2008-02-04 15:23 |
| this is so, so wrong |
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| eu, serbia |
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EU offers closer ties to Serbia  Mr Tadic wants to push forward his European integration agenda | The European Union has said it wants to accelerate Serbia's progress towards membership following the re-election of pro-Western President Boris Tadic. Mr Tadic claimed victory after taking slightly more than half the votes cast in a tight run-off contest with nationalist Tomislav Nikolic. He had campaigned on a ticket promising EU-backed prosperity against Mr Nikolic's pro-Moscow campaign.
Read the rest here.
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Poland looks to introduce fast-track health care
Tue Jan 8, 2008 1:43pm EST
WARSAW, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Poland's ruling party is set to overhaul the state healthcare system later this week, giving Poles the option to buy additional insurance to gain quicker access to services, officials said on Tuesday.
read the rest here
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| 2007-12-21 11:11 |
| a new way of thinking of in vitro fertilization: it's like an abortion! |
| Public |
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Bishops Slam In Vitro Fertilisation
In an open letter issued on Dec. 18 the Polish Episcopate’s Family Life Council reminded the country’s parliamentarians of the late Pope John Paul II’s teaching that invitro fertilisation was “repugnant and unacceptable” because countless embryos die during every attempt to use it. The letter follows a declaration by Health Minister Ewa Kopacz that the government would like to pay for in vitro fertilisation from public funds. The bishops wrote that in vitro was not acceptable to Catholics, calling it “an elaborate abortion”.
They also said that “each child has the right to be born of the loving marital act of their parents” and that a child was not an object, which was why “even prospective parents cannot say that they have a right to [a child], especially when it is paid for by the death of its brothers and sisters”.
SIMON CYGIELSKI
New Warsaw Express December 21, 2007 I Issue 47 (275)
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I particularly like the line "each child has the right to be born of the loving marital act of their parents." So then why do so many of them object to abortion in the case of rape--if ever there a situation in which the "loving act of their parents" was wholly absent!
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| 2007-12-21 11:03 |
| an interesting EU foreign policy brief |
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| eu |
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Poland's second return to Europe? ECFR Policy Brief 2 - Poland's second return to Europe? Published on 20 December, 2007 The parliamentary elections on 21 October 2007 produced a new governing coalition between the Civic Platform and the Polish People's Party, prompting a sigh of relief in Warsaw's foreign policy establishment. The new government, headed by Donald Tusk, is set on changing the country's foreign policy profile and wants to erase memories associated with the self-centred style of their predecessors. The Kaczyński twins wholeheartedly believed that Poland needed to use every opportunity to assert its national interests, and eagerly used their veto power on a range of issues, including the new EU-Russia partnership agreement, the January 2006 tax package, the directive on the transfer of prisoners, and the European Day Against the Death Penalty. Donald Tusk's new team will follow a different logic, working more through discussion and persuasion rather than obstruction. Donald Tusk, the new Prime Minister, enjoys strong public support and has the necessary self-confidence to change Poland's position and perception within the EU. He is now set on bringing Poland back to the 'heart of Europe', rebuilding ties with Germany and France, lessening tensions with Russia, and trying to make the country a genuine player in European foreign policy. He will also try to rebalance the relationship with the United States, slowing down the move towards missile defence and withdrawing its troops from Iraq. This policy brief argues that while a change of style is guaranteed on contentious issues like Russia, the new government will still be an ‘assertive partner' opting out of the Charter of Fundamental Rights; unlikely to join the euro; and likely to put up a fight against reform of the EU budget. While the government has the constitutional powers and the moral clout to set the agenda, the unavoidable co-habitation with President Lech Kaczyński will create tensions. Read the Policy Brief: Poland's second return to Europe?, by Pawel Swieboda, published on 20 December, 2007.
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This is taken directly from my electronic dictionary:
skojarze|nie
sv skojarzyæ
n association; nieprzyjemne skojarzenia unpleasant associations; słowo "feministka" budzi określone skojarzenia the word 'feminist' has certain associations a. connotations.
This is the example they choose for demonstrating the word "association" and "connotation"?!?!?!
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Here is Timothy Garton Ash's excellent, and acerbic, commentary on the Lisbon Treaty. His point is well taken, however: "Now that the end of this long, disappointing constitutional debate is at last in sight, it should free us to concentrate on what this union does, rather than what it is, or says it is." This treaty is a mess, but it will free Europe to do more important things Compared with the US's inspiring constitution, the Lisbon reform treaty reads more like a manual for a forklift truck Timothy Garton Ash
Thursday December 13, 2007
The Guardian
When the leaders of the European Union (except for the curmudgeonly latecomer Gordon Brown) gather this morning at Lisbon's Jerónimos monastery, to sign what was once intended to be a European constitution, they will be congregating in a glorious building in Portugal's distinctive Manueline style, they will be welcomed by a prime minister called Socrates, and they will be endorsing a dog's dinner. If I were them, I'd concentrate on the architecture, and the good lunch afterwards, in the former riding school of a royal palace. Wonderful city, Lisbon. Pity about the treaty. In the English version I have downloaded from the official website of the European Union, it has 175 pages of treaty text, 86 pages of accompanying protocols, a 25-page annexe, renumbering the articles in existing treaties, and a 26-page "final act", which includes no fewer than 65 separate "declarations". And that's just the English version; it will be disseminated in all the 23 official languages of the EU and - a detail buried in declaration 16 - in several non-official ones as well. Since the mere printing of the treaty in all these languages will require the destruction of several forests, it is hard to reconcile with its own commitment, in a new Article 2, to protecting the environment. Many of the qualifying declarations are the result of interventions by Europe's awkward squad, which at the time the treaty was negotiated consisted of Britain and Poland under the Kaczynski twins, and now consists of Britain. Several of them are the result of translation into euro-legalese of Gordon Brown's "red lines", designed to protect him from Eurosceptic onslaught and save him from a referendum. (Denmark has just helped too, by deciding not to have a referendum.) They include pesky and largely pointless reservations about what should be one of the main benefits of this treaty - mechanisms for a stronger, better coordinated European foreign policy. Elsewhere, 16 member states declare (number 52) that they still like the EU's symbols: its flag, anthem and motto ("United in diversity," in case you had forgotten), the euro and Europe Day on May 9. Well, bully for them. The list of signatories does not include France. Does this mean France disapproves of these symbols? And if we are "united in diversity", why do only 16 out of 27 member states unite to endorse this motto? I am, however, delighted to see that my all-time favourite from earlier versions of the would-be constitution has survived. I hereby award the Salvador Dalí prize for the most surreal EU treaty declaration to number 58, in which the governments of Latvia, Hungary and Malta solemnly declare that the spelling of the name of the single currency on banknotes and coins "has no effect on the existing rules of the Latvian, Hungarian or Maltese languages". What is it, we wonder, about the word "euro" that so horribly twists Latvian, Hungarian and Maltese tongues? And what is the intended effect of this declaration? Is the fear that, but for this prophylactic incantation, the very word "euro" will act like some sort of semantic polonium, slowly devouring the organic substance of the Latvian, Hungarian and Maltese languages? I think we should be told. To my left, there squats this monstrous 312-page spotted dick, plus copies of earlier treaties without which it cannot be understood; to my right, an elegant, pocket-sized, burgundy-coloured volume of just 60 pages, which contains both the Declaration of Independence and the 220-year-old constitution of the United States of America, with all subsequent amendments. "We, the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity..." begins their effort. "His Majesty the King of the Belgians..." ours begins, and proceeds, through a thicket of presidents and crowned heads and a reference to completing "the process started by the Treaty of Amsterdam and by the Treaty of Nice", to this inspiring first article: "The Treaty on European Union shall be amended in accordance with this article." It then provides for the addition to the existing treaty preamble of some of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's frightful waffle from the failed constitution. "Ach, Europa!" as the writer Hans Magnus Enzensberger once exclaimed. It's painful to recall that ours was once meant to be something like theirs: a noble, clear statement of what our union is, how it works and the values it stands for, in muscular prose. That was the hope of at least some in Europe when we set out on this journey six years ago - and not just among the Euro-elites. In a Eurobarometer poll conducted in autumn 2001, two-thirds of those asked said they thought the EU should have a constitution. Even in Britain, the figure was 58%. What a falling-off there has been. We set out to give ourselves a constitutional banquet and ended up with a dog's dinner. Yet the European Union continues to function and grow. "Eppur si muove" (And yet it moves) - Galileo's legendary defiant sigh - is perhaps the true, secret motto of the European Union. Our leading expert on the EU's institutions, Professor Helen Wallace, has just published a report on how the EU has been working since the great eastward enlargement of May 2004. Against sombre predictions of gridlock, she finds that it has continued to work rather well, through pragmatic adaptation and non-treaty reforms. Now this amending treaty of Lisbon, modest and hedged about with qualifications though it is, should enable the union to work just a little bit better when - assuming all 27 member states ratify it - it comes into force in January 2009. But a noble constitutional document, comparable to that of the United States, it is not. It more nearly resembles the instruction manual for a forklift truck. In itself, it will do nothing to convince Europe's citizens, or the rest of the world, of what the European Union is good for. But it will help the EU to do things that may convince them. Now that the end of this long, disappointing constitutional debate is at last in sight, it should free us to concentrate on what this union does, rather than what it is, or says it is. In fact, the EU will define what it is by what it does. Will it help to create jobs, strengthen a free-trading world, encourage development, or combat climate change? What can it offer neighbours who will not become members, in the arc of crisis that surrounds us, from Murmansk to Casablanca? We cannot wait until January 2009 to address these questions. By then, a new American president will want to hear our answers. A short walk from the Jerónimos monastery, down the estuary shore that leads to the Atlantic, is the magnificent tower of Belém, a gleaming white Manueline fortress that Europe's early modern explorers would have passed as they sailed out to discover new worlds. After their doubtless excellent lunch, today's European leaders should take a digestive stroll to the tower of Belém, and contemplate the wider horizon. full article here
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Poland keeps Lisbon opt-out 2007-12-14, 14:28 In Lisbon the Reform Treaty has been signed by government leaders from the European Union. Premier Donald Tusk and foreign minister Radosław Sikorski, arrived in the Portuguese capital to take part in the proceedings. After the failed European Constitutional Treaty, which was blocked by referenda in France and the Netherlands in 2005, the new and improved Reform Treaty is to take the European Union in a new direction. When ratified, the Treaty will come into force at the beginning of 2009.
Poland joins the United Kingdom for not applying the Charter of Fundamental Rights from the treaty. The United Kingdom asked for an opt-out clause in the charter, but will only use the option in special circumstances. Warsaw’s take on the charter is somewhat different. Rafał Trzaskowski, from the Natolin European Centre: “Basically there were fears that the Charter of Fundamental Rights could be interpreted in such a way as to bring new competences to the EU, competences which would encroach upon the sovereignty of the country on very sensitive issues such as euthanasia, abortion etc. Obviously these fears were unfounded because the Charter of Fundamental Rights itself cannot be interpreted where the [European] Union doesn’t have any competences. However, there are certain fears which were felt in the internal Polish debate.” read the rest of the article here
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| 2007-12-15 09:23 |
| Schengen update |
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| schengen |
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Time-lag has Poland, Lithuania pondering Schengen start 13 hours ago WARSAW (AFP) — EU newcomers Poland and Lithuania were Friday grappling with a timely problem ahead of joining the borderless Schengen zone from December 21: their one-hour difference. When the midnight chimes usher in the new passport-free rules on the Lithuanian side, it will still only be 11:00 pm (2100 GMT) over in Poland.
*snip* After abolishing land border controls with other zone members on December 21, they are due to drop airport checks on March 31, 2008, creating a seamless passport-free area. The Schengen zone is currently made up of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden as well as non-EU members Iceland and Norway. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gM0l Tn6ngJhGKDP9fn33u-igWolA Sadly, I hadn't realized it wouldn't change in airports until March! How annoying.
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EU heads to sign landmark treaty  European leaders will be signing the treaty in a 16th-century monastery. | EU leaders are preparing to sign a treaty in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, that will greatly alter the way members govern themselves. The treaty creates an EU president and a vastly more powerful foreign policy chief for the Union's 27 nations. At the same time the document scraps veto powers in many policy areas.
(read the rest here) What the BBC article doesn't state is that 2 EU nations opted out of certain key elements of the Treaty: the UK and Poland. The new document will apply to the EU's institutions and member countries only when they are implementing European laws and does not establish any powers that would allow Brussels to interfere with national legislation. It divides the basic rights into six categories -- dignity, freedoms, equality, solidarity, citizens' rights and justice -- and contains many elements the member states have already signed up to in other agreements. However, the charter will only apply to 25 countries. Britain and Poland have decided to opt out amid concern that the European Court of Justice could use the document to impose certain rights in their countries. (see full text here)
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No EU rights charter for Poland  Donald Tusk says tells MPs he won't sign up to EU rights charter | The new Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, has told parliament that his government will refuse to sign the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Mr Tusk said the decision was out of respect for a deal negotiated by the previous conservative government.
read the rest of the article here
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| 2007-11-20 09:35 |
| because Roma must come from Romania, right? |
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| eu, politics, roma |
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Franco Frattini: bad words for Italy's gypsies
 After Alessandra Mussolini's outbursts cost the extreme-right European party 'Identity, Tradition and Sovereignity' its mandate in the European Union, the Committee on Civil Liberties had to put up with the European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security unleashing further torment on the communitary chambers. A substitute for the ultra catholic Rocco Buttiglione (predecessor who was outspoken on homosexuality and the rôle of women), Franco Frattini's recent declarations to the Italian press about ways of expelling gypsies within European legislation provoked sour verbal disputes between the PPE conservatives (Frattini's party) – and the left in Strasbourg parliament, liberals included, before the chamber passed a resolution disapproving their declaration. 'What has to be done is simple,' said Frattini. 'Go into a nomad camp in Rome for example, and ask them: Can you tell me where you live? If they say they do not know, take them and send them home to Romania. That is how the European directive works.' As well as being simple, and directly inexact, the directive grants a series of guarantees to all EU members ... demagogy, did you say?
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| 2007-11-18 16:15 |
| uh, it's called EUROPEAN Union for a reason! |
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| eu, europe |
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EU 'should expand beyond Europe'  | Mr Miliband urged the EU to use "soft and hard power" | Foreign Secretary David Miliband has suggested the European Union should work towards including Russia, Middle Eastern and North African countries. He said enlargement was "our most powerful tool" for extending stability. In his first major speech on the UK's relationship with Europe, he said the EU would not become a "superpower" but should be a "role model" for the world.
read the rest of the article here
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| 2007-11-14 13:53 |
| when fascists implode |
| Public |
| eu, politics |
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European far-right bloc collapses  Remarks by Ms Mussolini angered the Romanian delegation | The European parliament's far-right bloc has collapsed after five Romanian MEPs resigned over an Italian colleague's "xenophobic" remarks. Italian MEP Alessandra Mussolini, the grand-daughter of fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, reportedly described Romanians as "habitual law-breakers".
Italy recently expelled 20 Romanians following a spate of violent crimes. The resignations take the bloc's membership below the minimum required for a grouping in the parliament. The European parliament only grants official status to political groups that can claim a minimum of 20 members from at least five countries.
read the rest of the article here
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| 2007-10-25 08:42 |
| this, from the people who won't sign the EU Charter of Rights |
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| human rights, politics |
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Brown: we need bill of rights as well as Human Rights Act Constitutional reform plans will expand MP powers and end protest ban Alan Travis and Patrick Wintour
Thursday October 25, 2007
The Guardian
Gordon Brown will try today to restore his reputation as a prime minister driven by principle by setting out his plans to reform the constitution with a new British bill of rights and duties that builds on the existing Human Rights Act. read the rest hereAt least Brown his resisting Conservative pressure to repeal the British Human Rights Act. Guess politics really is all about "better something than nothing."
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Miliband on the EU