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Polish Briefing 12 June, 2017 9:00 am   
Editorial staff

Polish Briefing: No EU visas for Ukrainians. Erasmus’s birthday

What goes in Poland on 12th of June.

No EU visas necessary for Ukrainians

On 11 June, the EU abolished visas for Ukrainians wanting to travel to the EU. As of that day, they will be able to enter almost all Member States without a visa for 90 days, within any six month period, for business, tourist or family purposes.

The spokeswoman of the Chief of the Border Guard, second lieutenant of the BG Agnieszka Golias, stressed that the visa-free travel, did not mean the other duties regarding entrance to other countries included in the Schengen Border Code were no longer required.

This means Ukraine’s citizens will have to have a valid biometric passport. Additionally, they will have to justify the purpose and conditions of the planned visit, and have sufficient financial means as well as insurance.

Erasmus’s birthday

The European Parliament will celebrate the Erasmus Program’s 30th birthday. The scheme enabled over nine million people to study, get a job, or work as a volunteer abroad.

The President of the EP, Antonio Tajani and President of the EC Jean-Claude Juncker will award symbolic prizes to 33 participants of the Program.

The celebrations will include, among others, an exhibition devoted to the Erasmus + Program, and debates on its future with its participants and representatives of national Erasmus agencies.

Erasmus is one of the most successful EU programs. Over 9 million people participated in it. It started in 1987 with a student exchange program, and in 2014 it was expanded into Erasmus +. Currently it encompasses a number of educational and exchange programs in which pupils, students and teachers from secondary and higher education schools can participate. It also welcomes participants of workshops and apprenticeships, as well as volunteers.

Verification commission launched

Paweł Rabiej (Nowoczesna Party) is the final missing member of the verification commission for reprivatization in Warsaw. All members were elected by the Sejm. The plenary session of the commission will start today.

On 25 May, the Sejm elected seven members of the commission. Those included candidates from: Law and Justice party – bailiff Łukasz Kondratko, MP Jan Mosiński, MP Paweł Liseicki and lawyer Sebastian Kaleta, Civic Platform – lawyer Robert Kropiwnicki, Kukiz’ 15 – lawyer Adam Zieliński, Polish People’s Party – legal adviser Bartłomiej Opaliński.

The verification commission, as an administrative instrument, will investigate whether administrative decisions on the reprivatization of Warsaw’s real estate were legal. It can either uphold a given decision (i.e. decide that given real estate was returned legally), or it can repeal a decision and make a new, substantive decision, which will allow to take back illegally reprivatized real estate. It will be able to annul a reprivatization decision and direct the case for a review to the institution, which had originally made it, together with binding indications as to further proceedings.

Social Dialogue Council to determine minimum wage

This week the minimum wage will be discussed by the Social Dialogue Council. The government proposed the increase of minimum wage in 2018 to PLN 2.080 (by PLN 80), and the minimum hourly rate from PLN 13 to PLN 13.50. According to politicians, Poland’s economic situation makes it possible to increase the minimum wage in a balanced way.

The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy wanted the minimum wage to go up to PLN 2.100. Trade unions OPZZ and FZZ wanted PLN 2.200. Whereas employers in the Social Dialogue Council wanted the minimum wage to increase only by the statutory indicator, i.e. to PLN 2.050.