President Bronislaw Komorowski wants to be ready to move into the Belweder Palace in time for Christmas - a decision that is causing headaches for his security staff.
Immediately following his election in the summer, Komorowski indicated that he does not want to live in the Presidential Palace in the centre of Warsaw but would rather either stay in his own apartment - much like the Czech Republic’s Vaclav Havel did after his election as president in the 1990s - or move down the road to the Belweder Palace, near Łazienki Gardens.
But security at the palace is not tight at the palace, which has not been used as a presidential residence since Lech Walesa moved out in 1994.
A tender for a whole range of security equipment has been issued, including x-ray scanners for bags, a portable explosives detector, handheld metal detectors, specialized equipment to detect radiation, and even mirrors for searching for explosives under car chassis.
“This is a standard set of devices similar to what they have at the Presidential Palace,” Jerzy Dziewulski, former head of security at the palace during the two terms of President Aleksander Kwasniewski told TVP television.
Firms have only ten days to submit applications.
Bronislaw Komorowski has decided to live in Belvedere Palace but work in the Presidential Palace for historical reasons.
“It's reviving a tradition. Pilsudski [father of Poland’s independence after the First World War] believed that Belvedere is a symbol of Polish culture,” said Thomas Nałęcz, Komorowski’s advisor on historical issues. (pg)