Ruling Civic Platform plans changes to Constitution due to differences with the President and unemployment wanes demand, subsequently tax revenues.   

Presented by Slawek Szefs  

Contrary to assurances of the National Health Minister and the Chief Sanitary Inspector, DZIENNIK sounds the alarm of Poland not being adequately prepared to face the spreading epidemic of swine flu, which is assuming a global dimension. Polish health services do not have any information on the number of Poles presently staying in Mexico, nor how many have actually returned, unless arriving on a direct flight from a flu stricken region. Secondly, the suspected passengers are to be screened at airports by Border Guards, however the officers are not equipped with the most needed and helpful devices in such cases, namely body temperature scanners. “Poland not ready to face an epidemic,” Dziennik writes defiantly.  

RZECZPOSPOLITA reveals the ruling Civic Platform’s (PO) plans to establish a constitutional commission to draft amendments to the Supreme Law of The Land. Though none of the top Platform figures has officially admitted to such considerations, it remains a public secret that what lay at the roots of the idea is the omnipresent feud between the President and Prime Minister hailing from the opposing Law and Justice and Civic Platform camps, respectively, concerning prerogatives and political influence. The paper quotes sources saying the plan would be to create a body of approximately ten experts in constitutional law, preferably former judges of the Constitutional Tribunal, who would be called on the basis of a broad political consensus among parties represented in Parliament. Much ado about nothing, is the paper’s comment reminding of scores of unsuccessful, except for one, attempts to introduce changes to the new Constitution since its adoption in 1997. The magic number of 307 votes in the 460 seat House seems impossible to manage, given the strong divisions among both major and junior players.

GAZETA WYBORCZA draws attention to a hike of 400 thousand in the number of jobless in Poland since last October, which brought the unemployment rate to 11.2 percent at the end of March. This, in turn, has adversely influenced consumption figures, marking a 1.6 percent y/y decrease in February with a tendency of further drop. This is a serious problem for the state budget, as close to 60 percent of revenue comes from indirect taxes, i.e. VAT, which is linked to consumption, experts explain. The article headline puts the dependence in even simpler terms: “When there’s no work, there’s no shopping”.

The tabloid FAKT has some inspiring news for readers regarding a government program to offset financial losses for those who were deprived of their job as a result of the crisis. If, due to such circumstances, a person seeking fresh employment receives less favorable financial terms from his or her new boss, part of the difference could be made up on a one time basis from a special fund obtained by Poland from the EU. Also, if the new place of work is located more than 100 kilometers from the employee’s place of residence. The primary requirement for being eligible to profit from the scheme is receiving notice of leave after 30 June 2008.  The aid program could be operational already as of July.