The Warsaw Voice, Summer 2022, Issue 1229

Summer 2022 No. 1229

Political scene Pages 3-7

KPO negotiations: there will be no leniency

Focus on Poland | Published since 1988

Pages 8-11

The Four Horsemen ISSN 0860-7591

of The Apocalypse Horrific War in Ukraine Causes Global Energy Crisis and Food Shortage, With More Threats Looming Pages 12-17

This publication is part of The Warsaw Voice Multimedia Platform in Poland

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Table of contents POLITICS AND SOCIETY Rulers Still Strong, Opposition Still Dispersed

Polish fashion at its best in the communist era

3-7

BUTIK | 30

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS There Will Be No Leniency

GREAT GEAR | 31

8-11

ECONOMY Energy Security First and Foremost Specter of Famine on the Horizon

12-15 16-17

REAL ESTATE Office Market - Between Pandemic and War

18-19

SPORTS A Star Is Born

CWS T1 G.Gerlach Mio MiVue C588T Dual Garett Elegance RT

MOTO A Real Eye-Catcher: Renault Arkana E-Tech Hybrid, Techno Green Driving with the Right Tires

SOCIETY

20-23

THE BUZZ | 24-29 Rembrandt Masterpiece on Show at Łazienki Park Madonnas at the Castle Warsaw hosts Chopin and his Europe Festival Open-air Chopin concerts every Sunday Chagall Works Premiere in Warsaw Homelessness through the eyes of the artist Tribute band festival first time in Poland

Helping Refugees - A Report After Three Months of Crisis

IN BRIEF | 38-39

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POLITICS AND SOCIETY

RULERS STILL STRONG, OPPOSITION STILL DISPERSED Prof. Andrzej Rychard, director of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences, talks to Witold Żygulski.

D

oes the term “United Right” used by the ruling coalition still have any actual justification?

It does, insofar as the term “United Opposition” has its justification. At the current level of the opposition’s lack of unity, the fact of the governing, i.e. right-wing camp’s weak unity is of marginal significance.

Dispersion is visible on both sides of the political barricade in Poland. The United Right can still afford not to be fully united for some time, but it will eventually be forced to try to mend the cracks we see today. I also think that some of the coalition partners - above all, I have Solidarna Polska [United Poland] in mind - faced with the alternative of whether to struggle with the leadership of [Law and Justice (PiS) leader] Jarosław Kaczyński or to fall into a political black hole, will choose the former option.

What is behind the current phenomenon of Solidarna Polska? The party, which has less than 1 percent of the votes in the polls if it were to run on its own, seems to have a decisive influence within the ruling coalition on fundamental issues such as the National Recovery Plan (KPO), EU funds for which are still being held up by the European Commission because of the judicial reform, which was initiated by the SP and which is being questioned in Brussels?

First of all, this 1 percent translates into a dozen or so votes in the parliament, on which a parliamentary majority depends, as it is being maintained with difficulty by those in power. Secondly, Solidarna Polska has the ability to present itself as a defender of the most radical sovereignty stance. In my opinion, the SP’s attitude is far from The Warsaw Voice

being sovereign, because the further we are from Europe, the less sovereign we are, but that does not matter to this party’s electorate. The most radical right wing understands such arguments, and PiS, which feels itself threatened by radicals, prefers this part of the electorate to be controlled

by Solidarna Polska rather than by rival radical-nationalist groups like Konfederacja [Confederation]. It is PiS’s way of securing the right flank of the political scene. This attitude of the coalition’s leader is what causes the excessive importance of Solidarna Polska.

AS FAR AS SOCIAL ISSUES ARE CONCERNED, IT IS NOT ONLY THE RELATIVELY STABLE PIS ELECTORATE THAT IS IMPORTANT, BUT FIRST AND FOREMOST A HUGE NETWORK OF NGOS THAT HAVE BEEN SET UP AND FINANCED GENEROUSLY IN RECENT YEARS Summer 2022

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Jarosław Kaczyński

Is the attitude of Jarosław Kaczyński, the undisputed leader of the ruling camp, also a result of the fact that he remembers the events from the years 2005-2007, when his party ruled in an alliance with radicals: Andrzej Lepper’s Samoobrona [Self Defense] and Roman Giertych’s nationalist Liga Polskich Rodzin [League of Polish Families]? He eliminated them from the coalition and then, after the minority cabinet fell and early parliamentary elections were held, he lost power for eight years.

Definitely, especially because today we are dealing with a completely different political situation. Back then, Kaczyński could afford such a sudden move because he was not afraid of any account-settling for his time in power. There was nothing for which to hold him accountable as prime minister, compared to now. This time, the PiS leader has to consider what will happen to his entire camp in the case of a possible defeat and loss of power. This makes him less inclined to such radical moves as those from 2007.

THE ENORMOUS PRICE INCREASES HAVE SO FAR BEEN SUCCESSFULLY BUFFERED BY WELFARE SPENDING POLICIES, SO RAPIDLY RISING INFLATION HAS NOT YET CAUSED ANY REAL SHOCK TO ORDINARY PEOPLE However, another factor is very important that we are probably not fully aware of. It is the network of institutional connections that PiS has created during the seven years it has been in power. This has occurred in three areas: political, social, and business. In the first area, despite various troubles, PiS still has a weak but substantial majority in the parliament. Essentially, it is the other two areas that are important.

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Summer 2022

Control over state-owned companies will remain even if PiS loses the next elections. The new rulers will not be able to get rid of the PiS-appointed heads of those companies, especially if they want to apply non-political, merit-based methods rather than the PiS style of filling such positions.

As far as social issues are concerned, it is not only the relatively stable PiS electorate that is important, but first and foremost a huge network of NGOs that have been set up and financed generously in recent years. When we talk about NGOs and civil society, most people think of a liberal-left image. This has not been the case for a long time; a very strong network of organizations connected to the current government has emerged, generously funded from government sources, though not only. It cannot be removed and cannot be ignored. All this secures the right-wing party in power, and in case they lose power it is a kind of safety cushion and a very big problem for the new team.

In spite of many mistakes and scandals exposed by the media, and, above all, rampant inflation and the growing cost of living, support for the United Right remains at a similar level as one or two years ago; why is this?

There are several factors. The first one is undoubtedly the weakness of the opposition, which is still dispersed and unable to agree on any alliances. Various analyses clearly show that some level of cooperation is beneficial: going to the next elections together, not necessarily in one but maybe in two blocks, means more votes at the ballot box. Nevertheless, no serious talks on this issue have taken place so far.

The second factor is a certain community of goals and values that emerged in Polish society after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. The new situation has somewhat reduced the polarization between the authorities and the opposition, as well as between the supporters of both sides.

Please note that there is no dispute today about how Poland should behave in the face of the crisis caused by the Russian aggression. PiS is also taking advantage of a simple mechanism that has been known to researchers for a long time: in a situation of external threat, citizens naturally gather around the authorities, presuming that only they will be able to defend them efficiently. Unity becomes the supreme value, disputes become secondary.

The enormous price increases have so far been successfully buffered by welfare spending policies, so rapidly rising inflation has not yet caused any real shock to ordinary people.

Poland’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for autumn 2023, the European Parliament elections are scheduled for spring 2024, and there is increasing talk of postponing the local elections, scheduled for 2023, by a year…

Scheduling manipulation and potential changes in the electoral law are factors that can very much influence the outcome of the elections. It is clear that if the local self-government elections are held before the parliamentary ones and the opposition does well in them, it will be a clear signal for the opponents of the United Right, boosting their position.

This is why those in power want to postpone these elections.

However, it is not a simple operation: a blockade from the presidential center, which has clearly been emancipating itself in recent months, is possible. There is no telling whether Andrzej Duda will support a change in the order of the elections; there are voices from the Presidential Palace that he The Warsaw Voice

thesis, it is simply lame, used only for the moment. That is probably the point: a “technical” coalition is supposed to be aimed solely at defeating PiS. When the average voter hears something like that, they think: “If I vote for such a coalition, everything will fall apart the day after the elections and PiS’s defeat, chaos will ensue and I will have wasted my vote.”

Such a voter will either decide to vote for someone else or simply stay home.

POLITICS AND SOCIETY

may not. Things are similar regarding any possible change of the electoral law.

In order for the next elections in Poland to be fair, it is not enough to change the electoral law and the dates. Today the majority of Polish voters are recipients of information coming exclusively from state-owned media: TVP public television and Polskie Radio public radio broadcaster. The message coming from there is more radically supportive of those in power than they themselves could imagine. This has a powerful influence on the election results. It is therefore difficult to predict how the Poles will behave at the ballot box.

Despite the weakness of the ruling party’s policy and the visible cracks in the United Right’s camp, its position is still strong, while the opposition is actually sending one message to the electorate: “we are still unable to reach an agreement.” Public opinion tends to promote consensus and agreement, and it is clear that if everyone in the opposition goes solo, they will lose out. The results of analyses indicate that there is only a chance to defeat the ruling camp if there is one or at most two joint electoral lists of the opposition.

But there have been no signs of readiness for cooperation; the dominating signals suggest the impossibility of forming reasonable alliances. If a high-ranking leader of the Civic Platform (PO) says “we are thinking about a technical coalition,” he is using a term that has a very bad tradition in Poland. “Technical” means not political, temporary, not conclusive, used in place of something. It is a kind of pros-

Where does this months-long impotence of the opposition come from?

The individual ambitions of the smaller opposition parties’ leaders lead them to the following calculation: being in the future government, where the main player will be PO leader Donald Tusk anyway, taking joint responsibility while not having a position that matches one’s aspirations is not worthwhile. It is better to be a strong party in the opposition. Such a calculation is a powerful factor that might make any pre-election opposition alliance difficult or even impossible. In the case of the PO itself, one gets the impression that the party is not fully reconciled with who its leader is today.

Tusk’s political skills, competence and potential, which, in my opinion, surpass the rest of the Polish political class by several lengths, are paradoxically both the strength and the weakness of the PO. They cause tensions, trigger jealousy and fear, not only among the opposition like Polska 2050

by Szymon Hołownia, but also internally, among local PO activists. I wonder to what extent the PO leader has a trust-

Donald Tusk

The Warsaw Voice

Summer 2022

5

AgroUnia protest

ed team around him and to what extent he is alone. If he received adequate support, his political skills would probably be enough to change the situation in Poland. Meanwhile, today Tusk must not only try hard not to frighten other opposition parties with his power, but also to make this power real within his own party, which is not so easy.

THERE CANNOT BE ANYTHING MORE DEVASTATING IN THE PRE-ELECTION PERIOD THAN THE IMAGE OF A PARTY THAT IS NOT ONLY UNABLE TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE REST OF THE OPPOSITION, BUT ALSO HAS PROBLEMS WITH UNITY IN ITS OWN RANKS Can there really be a leadership challenge in the PO today?

Such a problem will undoubtedly arise, and swiftly, in the case of a defeat in the next parliamentary elections. Then, I am sure, there would be a change of leadership. Today it is in the biggest opposition party’s interest to show that it has one undisputed leader plus another person who might be the leader of the future. I am thinking about Warsaw mayor 6

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and former minimal loser of the presidential elections Rafał Trzaskowski, a politician who has a colossal influence on the operation of local government networks, which are the backbone of the PO. The fact that there are many indications that these two leaders can go forward together is a very good sign for the party. There cannot be anything more devastating in the pre-election period than the image of a party that is not only unable to communicate with the rest of the opposition, but also has problems with unity in its own ranks. So I think that reason will prevail, both Tusk and Trzaskowski know very well that it would be completely irrational to start a conflict. And their ideas can complement each other very well.

Throughout the entire period since its formation, originally as a social movement in 2020, Polska 2050 by Szymon Hołownia gained supporters using the advantage of being a political newcomer. Judging by the results of opinion polls, far from those of a few months ago that sometimes even placed the party in first place among the opposition, would you say that this label is no longer enough?

Polska 2050 appears to have come straight out of a handbook on how to start a political party. You cannot accuse it of anything, it has an answer to every question, and its leader specializes in this. However, one cannot deny it is hard-working; the new party has surrounded itself with several serious think tanks that analyze reality, develop proposals, and do serious work from the ground up. Programs are being developed for specific sectoral policies.

On the one hand, we have truly grassroots work, and on the other we have Hołownia, whose silver-tongued speech is far from concrete. You cannot really see his words translating into the language of specific programmatic proposals. You The Warsaw Voice

AgroUnia protest

Do the former rulers from the past - the leftists and the agrarian Polish People’s Party (PSL) - have any political strategy, or are they riding with the opposition today taking care only of their own interests?

The left wing has constant problems with finding a place for itself in contemporary Poland. It is still a hybrid conglomerate of elements of the post-PZPR [communist party ruling in 1944-1989 in the Polish People’s Republic] tradition. This option has some support in society. Someone who was 30 at the time of the Polish political transformation in the late 1980s is now 60-something. By current demographic standards, these are people still in their prime, socially active and active at the ballot box. Then there is also a liberal-left part of the electorate, which by no means has to go hand in hand with the post-PZPR electorate. One should remember that the Polish communists had very conservative views in many areas important in today’s political debate. There is also a pro-welfare left wing, which is generally in the worst situation because its electorate was absorbed by PiS through its policy of welfare distribution.

Thus, the left wing is not able to unite at all. Suffice it to recall Ryszard Bugaj’s Unia Pracy [Labor Union] political initiative, probably the only attempt to build an authentic Polish left in recent decades; it suffered a devastating defeat at the ballot box. If we conducted an in-depth analysis of why Bugaj failed so dramatically, we would probably get an answer to the question about the possible strategy of the political left in Poland.

The PSL also has a big problem. The party has some sensible leaders, led by its chairman Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, but it is unclear whether it is still actually in touch with its potential base, which has largely been taken over by PiS in rural areas. It does not help that fewer and The Warsaw Voice

fewer people live in the countryside and the agricultural sector is less and less important in the economy. In my opinion, the PSL today is living in an illusory state of awareness that it has always performed poorly in the polls but has always made it into the parliament, exceeding the 5-percent threshold. I am not sure, but this might be the time that this hope will turn out to be unfulfilled.

What role can parties of a radical nature play today? The anti-system Kukiz’15 seems to have fallen apart, and its leader does not rule out that he might run on PiS lists, but the nationalist Konfederacja remains above the electoral threshold, while the agricultural AgroUnia is preparing to enter the parliament.

Radical parties have programs that are contrary to the Polish raison d’être. Claiming to be fighting for a sovereign Poland, in reality they are working for the loss of sovereignty, for Poland’s severance from the European community and its marginalization in the international arena. Luckily, they remain on the political margins, because Polish society is not willing to accept radical views. AgroUnia indeed has chances for success similar to that once achieved by Lepper’s Samoobrona. It has an extremely talkative leader [Michał Kołodziejczak], who uses modern mass media efficiently and knows how to maintain good direct contact with people. We do not know much about the group’s program yet; so far we have only seen a strongly accentuated desire to defend Polish farmers. The rest is unknown; this might be an opportunity or a danger. It is also difficult to say what chances AgroUnia has to strengthen its presence on the political scene. However, if PiS begins to lose its influence in the countryside, the PSL fails to rebuild its former position, and AgroUnia itself presents an attractive program and overcomes the opinion that it is a group controlled by Moscow, as some people allege, it may become a new dark horse, especially in the local but also in the parliamentary elections - particularly, as some people predict, if it forms an alliance with Konfederacja. Nonetheless, these will not be groups deciding about the Polish political scene. But they should be watched: the recent example of France proves that radicals are able to break through into the political mainstream.

POLITICS AND SOCIETY

get the impression that Hołownia keeps repeating himself, his statements do not captivate potential voters. The factor of being a political newcomer cannot work anymore, although one has to be honest and notice how much work Polska 2050 has done. It would also be good if some other prominent people appeared, of whom there are many in the party. Many of them obviously have some political heritage from previous parties, they are not people from nowhere. This also makes the argument of political novelty not entirely credible.

Michał Kołodziejczak

Summer 2022

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THERE WILL BE NO LENIENCY Jan Truszczyński, former Polish ambassador to the European Union (1996-2001), talks to Witold Żygulski.

T

he Polish government claims that the European Union has already accepted the National Recovery Plan (KPO) and that the inflow of EU money will take place at the end of the year; at the same time, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has stipulated that payment will only be possible after Warsaw fulfills the so-called milestones...

The content of the National Recovery Plan has been agreed.

The document is almost 500 pages long, devoted mainly to investments improving the competitiveness of the Polish economy and its resilience, and modernizing it. It is about keeping pace with the green revolution and the digital revolution. The agreement includes many commitments from Poland on ongoing reforms and their modification. One of these commitments is to act for greater independence of the courts and judges. These are three specific milestones that have been the focus of attention for the Polish opposition and public in recent weeks. The content of these commitments to be fulfilled by Poland is described quite precisely.

I am not sure how great the discrepancy is between what the Polish government commits to in the milestones and what

THE LEGAL AND STATUTORY OBLIGATIONS MUST BE FULFILLED BY THE END OF THE SECOND QUARTER OF THIS YEAR. IF THIS DOES NOT HAPPEN, THERE WILL BE NO MONEY 8

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is contained in the amendment to the Supreme Court Act abolishing the Disciplinary Chamber and creating a new disciplinary system in the Polish judiciary. What will count in the future is Poland’s fulfillment of the obligations contained in the KPO. If they are not fulfilled, there will be no money.

Either the first tranche of funds will be paid out, or the EC will wait until the milestones are met. This is the legal and factual situation today.

A few days after the EC’s decision conditionally accepting the Polish KPO (which, by the way, took place against the backdrop of opposition from several commissioners, which in itself was unique), its attitude was criticized by the European Parliament...

Indeed, it is difficult to find a similar example in the recent history of the functioning of the most important European institutions. It is understandable to me that some MEPs criticize the EC, believing, as do some critics in Poland, that we should have waited to agree on the final content of the KPO until we knew the final shape of the law abolishing the Disciplinary Chamber. I am not sure that this is the way to look at it. What is crucial is what the authorities in Warsaw have agreed to, i.e. the essence of the Polish commitments in the KPO plan, what the Polish side must do to receive the money under the first tranche. The legal and statutory obligations must be fulfilled by the end of the second quarter of this year. If this does not happen, there will be no money. If these obligations are only partially fulfilled, there will be no money either, until the milestones are fully met. Verification will be swift and precise. Of course, one can speculate today whether there is any margin for interpretation of these commitments; perhaps when the Polish government says that it has fulfilled 100 percent and the EC considers that, in its opinion, it is 96 percent, for example, it will agree to pay out the funds. So, I can imagine a scenario in which incomplete fulfillment of one of the milestones is nevertheless considThe Warsaw Voice

According to some politicians, Poland can now count on the EC turning a blind eye because of the role our country has played and continues to play in solving the problem of refugees from Ukraine; do you think this opinion is justified?

In my opinion, there is no question of any leniency, there will be no indulgence. Poland simply must implement everything that the EC demanded during the many months of negotiations. The demand to improve the independence of the judiciary was already formulated as a recommendation of all the EU member states for Poland starting in 2019.

Indeed, there is a lot of speculation today around a supposed softening of EU institutions’ stance toward Poland.

However, I am not aware of any public statement by any of the commissioners that would give sufficient grounds for such interpretations.

From the beginning of 2021, when the member states started sending Brussels the drafts of their national recovery plans, their ideas on how to use the money from the EU recovery fund, the EC ran them through 11 filters, assessing their coherence and realism, and whether the plans had a proper structure and adhered to legal standards. Individual elements of the national plans were given EU qualifications;

Zbigniew Ziobro

The Warsaw Voice

POLAND DRAGGED OUT THE NEGOTIATIONS ON ITS NATIONAL RECOVERY PLAN FOR ONE REASON, OBVIOUS TO ALL: ITS NAME IS ZBIGNIEW ZIOBRO

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

ered sufficient. But if we look at the provisions of pages 200206 of the annex to the KPO implementing decision, they seem to be precise enough for someone acting in good faith to give the EC an easy task in verifying their implementation.

In the future, the government in Warsaw must provide evidence of the implementation of all the milestones, not just the three I have just mentioned. As we know, the EC has up to two months to verify not only the paper but also its implementation in practice, to check to what extent Poland’s declarations conform to reality. It is no coincidence that several additional officials have been employed at the level of the local EC representative office, as I have heard in Warsaw, to handle cooperation within the KPO framework, i.e. to analyze whether Poland achieves the “target values”, namely the legal and actual status corresponding to the declarations included in the draft National Recovery Plan that was submitted and accepted. In short: it is by no means the case that the EC has thrown in the towel and told the Polish authorities “now do what you want.”

an A meant that everything was in order, a B that it was not perfect but could still be considered satisfactory, and a C that the element was only fit to be discarded. In the third case, the whole plan was returned for further work in the given member country. The cooperation with Poland did not differ from that with other countries applying for EU money.

The qualitative criteria were identical. Poland dragged out the negotiations on its national recovery plan for one reason, obvious to all: its name is Zbigniew Ziobro [Poland’s minister of justice and attorney general] and his party [junior coalitionist Solidarna Polska (United Poland)]. If there had not been this impossibilism in the bosom of the ruling socalled United Right, if Ziobro had not been handled with kid gloves, if they had simply said goodbye to him and his party many months ago [polls today show that Solidarna Polska would have received less than 1 percent of the vote if it had stood alone in the elections], the KPO would have been approved long ago. The deal would have been on track, the first tranche of EU funds from the recovery fund would already be in Poland, and if the talks had gone well and the negotiations had been finalized last year, we would have already received a 13-percent advance of EUR 4.7 billion. This would have been a powerful impulse for the economy. It did not happen, and the sole reason for this was the Polish government.

Today those in power very loudly accuse Polish MEPs from opposition parties of allegedly acting to the detriment of their own country in connection with voting against the acceptance of the Polish state of law or organizing debates in the EP about the state of the Polish rule of law; is this a typical occurrence in EU institutions?

It is no exaggeration to say that the European Parliament is the same as the Polish Sejm [lower house of parliament] or any other parliament of a member state. It is our parliament; if it discusses issues arising from the activities of a given country’s government, it is understandable that the point of view of the opposition parties may be radically different from that of the government. In disputes over what European law should look like, this difference is plain to see. Country representatives are in different groups, different factions of the EP. The situation we are talking about is therefore absolutely nothing new in the history of European parliamentarism. The accusations of the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) against opposition MEPs are therefore completely absurd. This is clumsily simplistic argumentation, a propaganda cannonade targeted at the party’s own supporters, at people who are guided by the instinctive impulse of “they are beating up our people, we need to close ranks.” I think Summer 2022

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Ursula von der Leyen with Mateusz Morawiecki

it is a typical feature of sovereigntists and nationalists, and PiS is a clinical example of such a party.

Poland has been in the EU since May 1, 2004. For many years it was treated as a reliable, rational partner, a member of the European community, accepting its ideas and aspirations; has this situation changed over the last seven years?

In my opinion, rebuilding trust in Poland will take much longer than it did following the previous period of rule by PiS and its coalition partners [2005-2007]. If the current Polish opposition parties win the next parliamentary elections [scheduled for autumn 2023] and form a sensible governing coalition, they will have to demonstrate a strategic vision and, what is more, their ability to translate that vision into the language of European diplomacy. They will have to put forward ideas and initiatives themselves, work on persuading representatives of other member states, build coalitions not against anything but for some proposal, modernization, or reform of the Europe-

I SEE NO POLITICAL CONFIGURATION IN WHICH POLAND GOVERNED BY PIS COULD SENSIBLY USE ITS NOT ALL THAT SMALL GEOPOLITICAL POTENTIAL AND ECONOMIC POTENTIAL BUILT DURING LAST 18 YEARS OF OUR EU MEMBERSHIP 10

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an Union. This will not be achieved in three months or six months, it requires strenuous and persistent work, proving not only the ability to come up with new ideas, but also the ability to present them to European partners and the ability to hold constructive discussions. This is how the EU works: nothing can be done on one’s own, you need to look for like-minded allies, and the more of them there are, the better. It is also necessary to be able to join – not just with one’s signature – in projects that others are developing and presenting. I would like to underline once again that none of this can be achieved just by changing the label from PiS to Civic Coalition (KO) or some other three- or four-party coalition of today’s opposition.

Any new government will have to prove itself.

To what extent do Poland’s current uneasy relations with the EU influence the smaller political alliances in the CEE region that have been promoted over the years? Do such institutions as the Weimar Triangle, the Visegrad Group, or the Three Seas Initiative actually exist?

The Weimar Triangle does not actually exist. Its last document, drafted about a year and a half ago and signed in Paris during a summit with the participation of the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland, otherwise quite sensible, did not result in any further actions of the governments of the three countries in any significant areas. It did not have any positive consequences.

As for the Visegrad Group, we can all see what has been happening to it in recent months because of Budapest’s attitude toward Moscow’s policy. I see virtually no possibility of a revival as long as Hungary under Viktor Orban continues to act the way it does, as long as the Czech Republic and Slovakia remain distrustful of Warsaw and Budapest’s often-shared attitude on issues other than the war in Ukraine.

The Three Seas concept, in turn, boils down to mere infrastructural projects, some of which are needed and desirable, mostly implemented with European funds from the Connecting Europe Facility. If there was no political label involved, such as Poland has been trying to attach to these initiatives for The Warsaw Voice

How would you comment on the recent shocking words of former President Lech Wałęsa that the EU should be dissolved and founded again, but without Poland and Hungary?

These kinds of ideas, desperate ones indeed, have been circulating in academia and think tanks for a long time as one of the ways of dealing with countries that do not respect basic European principles and values, especially the rule of law.

It is impossible to get rid of them, because there is no way to expel them from the EU since there are no treaty mechanisms for this. One of the ideas on how to get out of this is to create a new organization next to the EU, duplicating the existing fundamental and secondary rights that are binding in the EU, even duplicating EU institutions, and then enrolling most current EU member states into this new organization.

Such ideas are theories only, and even then they are not dominating trends. In themselves, however, they are symptomatic; there is a feeling of helplessness about the behavior of Hungary and Poland within the EU, and from this feeling arises the thought that maybe it is possible to come up with a legal recipe to circumvent these countries acting to the detriment of all. However, I do not attach much importance to such thinking; there is not enough critical mass in the EU countries for such a solution, or even for such a discussion between the governments or political parties of the member states.

The Warsaw Voice

Once upon a time there was a lot of talk, and this topic keeps recurring, about the idea of a “two-speed Europe,” a situation in which the leading EU countries would speed up the transformation process while the others, reluctant to pursue further and deeper integration, would be left behind; if only because of its visible opposition to EU climate policy or its reluctance to introduce the euro, can Poland really find itself politically marginalized?

I think that first we should expect further strengthening of cooperation within the eurozone, which should grow from 19 to 20 countries in January, after the accession of Croatia.

This is undoubtedly a functioning zone of European integration, in which the countries remaining outside the common currency will be increasingly marginalized. This will not be a rapid or abrupt process, but it will progress. Secondly, there is a great deal of interest in taking advantage of the possibilities that already exist in EU law for groups of countries to act collectively under what is known as enhanced cooperation. This is an option that has existed for a long time, but so far has not been used much at all. I am not saying that it will suddenly start functioning with redoubled force, as part of building the EU’s strategic autonomy and its strength as a partner in international relations, but impulses of this kind might already appear in the second half of this year, using the achievements of the recently concluded conference on the future of Europe. I do not expect any revolutionary changes, any qualitative leaps, anything that would surprise us, but nevertheless I do expect a more energetic approach to broader cooperation within a group of fewer than 27 countries, in coalitions of countries willing to go faster and further. This has been talked about for a long time and, admittedly, there are no special effects, but I do not rule out that, under the influence of geopolitical changes that we have witnessed in recent years and especially in the last year, not only France, Germany, Italy or Spain, but also a number of other medium-sized countries will show an appetite for such action. If such a process starts to materialize, Poland under PiS rule may find itself on the margin, with all the consequences this implies. It is not out of the question.

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years, nothing would change, these projects would continue to be implemented, only without the Three Seas framework.

Without EU money this whole concept will become just an empty political idea without any practical consequences.

To sum up, I see no political configuration in which Poland governed by PiS could sensibly use its not all that small geopolitical potential and economic potential built during last 18 years of our EU membership. It would be good to use it wisely, effectively and farsightedly, to enable Poland to play in the European first division, as it did during the rule of the Civic Platform (PO) [2010-2014]. That is how things were then, but today Poland is far below its potential because of the parochial nationalism guiding today’s rulers from the United Right.

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ENERGY SECURITY FIRST AND FOREMOST Janusz Steinhoff, Poland’s deputy prime minister responsible for the economy from 1997 to 2001, talks to Witold Żygulski.

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he embargo imposed on hydrocarbon imports from Russia has brought the issue of Europe’s energy security to the top of the agenda; what is Poland’s situation in this respect today?

Similarly to all other European Union countries, we have found ourselves in a situation completely different from the one in which we functioned for many years. The Russians have always treated the supply of energy carriers, especially natural gas, as an important tool of their imperial foreign policy. Aware of this, Poland already made efforts to diversify its energy supply back in the 1990s. At that time, under the government of Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, we took steps to move away from the dominant position of Russia’s Gazprom; we launched talks with Norway and worked out a joint agreement concerning gas supplies from that direction. It is a pity that our successors from the left-wing government of Prime Minister Leszek Miller (2001-2005) rejected this project, arguing even today, completely unfoundedly, that our agreement was concluded as part of the election campaign, for political and populist reasons. If the agreement had been implemented, we would have saved a great deal of money; over the following decades, we paid rent to the Russian Federation for the lack of an alternative, in the form of higher prices for the gas supplied. The lack of an alternative resulted from the fact that we had no cross-border infrastructure for gas transmission from a direction other than Russia.

Today it can be argued that Poland prepared itself for the difficult times that have arrived. The Yamal contract for gas supplies from Russia was going to expire this year anyway, so its abandonment after the Russian side demanded pay12

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ments in rubles instead of dollars, and Poland rejected such a change, was not a surprise for the Polish administration.

Europeans and citizens of the world must prepare for significantly higher expenses stemming from the loss of energy carriers supplied to the European market by Russia as a result of the embargo. We will all experience serious increases of gas prices on European markets, and consequently also on world markets. Russia used to supply gas to Europe in the amount of about 150 billion cubic meters per year. It will be difficult to make up for this in a short time with deliveries from other countries. It should be emphasized that Poland, with its cross-border infrastructure developed in The Warsaw Voice

recent years, is in a much better position than some of the other EU countries.

Within what time might the gas market be normalized?

It is difficult to predict, everything depends on how fast Europe manages to develop the necessary infrastructure. If we are talking about the EU’s energy security, it is necessary, above all, to have a solidarity-based approach of all the member states. However, this is difficult today, considering the role of Hungary, which is openly breaking from the common position of the EU. The loss of the aforementioned 150 billion cubic meters supplied by Russia amounts to over 30 percent of natural gas consumption in the EU. We already have the United States’ declaration concerning the possibility of supplying an additional 20 or so billion cubic meters of liquefied gas this year. Next year there is to be more, and President Biden has announced the introduction of regulations which are to mobilize entrepreneurs with licenses to extract gas to be more active. The question is whether Europe will be able to absorb this gas. Given the problems with gas pipelines, especially between the west and east of Europe, that would enable American gas to be received at the western borders of Europe, today we have a problem with transporting this gas to the eastern part of Europe. The gas pipeline across the Pyrenees was abandoned in the past. I hope that Europe will now speed up its structural investments, which will improve the transmission of gas and thus ensure energy security for the whole continent.

The crisis caused by the war in Ukraine and the embargo which the EU has imposed on the Russian Federation, which is necessary and justified for ethical, moral and political reasons, today should also oblige EU countries to speed up all those changes in the energy sector which result from the climate policy that is being implemented. Energy security must be based to a large extent on power generation from RES. There should be no dilemma whether to build onshore and offshore wind farms or photovoltaic systems; in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, this is unquestionably the best solution. The use of hydrogen and biogas should also be developed. In the future, we in Europe will increasingly use nuclear power to stabilize power systems. The technology based on small modular reactors (SMRs) seems to be especially attractive. I hope that they will be widely used soon. Manufacturers have announced that it will happen soon, i.e. after The Warsaw Voice

You emphasize the need for European energy solidarity; however, there has recently been a lot of talk that not only Hungary but also the main EU players, France and Germany, are not entirely convinced about the idea of a full embargo on imports of energy resources from Russia. What is your take on this?

Perhaps I am being overly radical, but as a Pole and someone with experience of history, I believe that you cannot look for a compromise where there is none. Russia is the aggressor now, it has signed up as one of the countries that do not respect any of the principles that guide the democratic world, and it has placed itself on the political margin. By attacking Ukraine despite the guarantees of the inviolability of its territory that the world’s nuclear powers offered it in the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, President Putin has shown that he does not respect any principles. This is familiar from the history of the 1930s; then, too, compromises were sought with Nazi Germany. They turned out to be illusory and ended in the most tragic war in human history. It is therefore possible to be pragmatic today, but pragmatism cannot be replaced by behavior contrary to ethics and decency and a complete lack of imagination regarding the consequences.

Germany’s energy policy in recent years has been, I admit, difficult for me to understand. First, under pressure from the Greens, who are in a coalition with the SPD, nuclear power plants were abolished and the focus shifted to the development of RES and natural gas as a transition fuel. Most of the gas was supplied from Russia through the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines connecting Vyborg in Russia and Greifswald in Germany. Gas storage facilities were also sold to Russia’s Gazprom, which did not fill them as part of the preparations for the invasion of Ukraine. This policy has been an absolute failure. It did not consider the principle of Europe’s energy security, the principle of rational cooperation of EU countries in this area. Nordstream 1 and Nordstream 2 were built, both completely unjustified projects in economic terms, twice as expensive as the land-based versions. After all, there were no problems with transporting gas through the Yamal pipeline, nor with transporting crude oil to German refineries through the Druzhba pipeline running across Poland. For many years, the countries of Cen-

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2030. I think that nuclear energy, next to energy storage, will be an effective stabilizer of power systems dominated by RES.

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tral and Eastern Europe have suggested alternatives to this policy, warning of its long-term negative consequences. The Russians played this game perfectly with Europe for their own imperial interests. This colossal mistake should give much food for thought today. If we in the EU agree to a common policy on reducing carbon dioxide emissions and to an increasingly important role for renewable energy sources, we should also agree to greater coordination of other elements of energy policy. This coordination should involve the consistent creation of common, European, competitive markets for electricity and gas and - as proposed by Jacques Delors and Jerzy Buzek - joint purchases of energy carriers.

Jerzy Buzek (right) with Jacques Delors

What is the situation with oil, the second most serious instrument of Russia’s energy resource blackmail?

Oil is easier to compensate for. It is possible to substitute Russian oil with oil supplies of similar parameters from other directions. Of course, oil prices have also gone up, but not as much as the prices of coal or gas; today the price of a barrel of oil is around USD 120. We have seen such prices several times in history, which is not the case with today’s gas or coal prices. Oil importation, taking into account Poland’s infrastructure, will not be excessively complicated.

The Polish Naftoport’s capacity reaches 40-plus million tonnes annually. We also have pipeline infrastructure at our disposal, i.e. connections between Gdańsk and Płock. We are therefore able to ensure uninterrupted supplies to both of Poland’s refineries, as well as to the refineries in Mažeikiai in Lithuania and in the Czech Republic, which are operated by the Polish oil company PKN Orlen.

In recent weeks Poland has seen the beginnings of panic among coal buyers, caused by an exponential rise in coal prices and increasing problems with its availability; what caused this situation?

If someone talked about coal as a basic raw material for the power industry 40 years ago, they may have been right. But when President Andrzej Duda says that coal resources will last us 200 years and he will not allow mines to be closed, when former Prime Minister Beata Szydło said that coal will be the flywheel of the Polish economy, or when former PM and current opposition leader Donald Tusk assures that he 14

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will not close the mines, it is unjustified populism. It proves the erosion of the political class’s sense of responsibility.

Coal can only be mined if it is profitable. If not, we as an EU country have no legal possibility to subsidize this production.

The EU rules on state aid are precise here. We used to be a coal power: at the end of the 1980s we were mining about 200 million tonnes a year, now we are mining about 60 million tonnes. Most of the mines were unprofitable before the current price explosion, and we had a program to shut down all the mines in Upper Silesia by 2050. It was submitted to the European Commission, as the basis for granting public aid for the restructuring of the mining sector. Due to geological conditions and mining costs, underground mining has been practically eliminated in Europe, as it is uncompetitive.

The price of coal today has risen to over USD 300 per tonne. And in 1999-2001, when I was involved in the restructuring of the mining sector, it was below USD 50. In 2021 Russia’s coal exports to Europe accounted for about 54 percent of the demand. Poland was also importing more and more coal, about 12.5 million tonnes in 2021. Of that, 8 million came from the Russian Federation. Most of the Russian coal imported to Poland was delivered by rail, while from other countries it was by sea, which today, taking into account the consequences of the reorientation of imports, is increasingly difficult due to the limited capacity of Polish ports, estimated at only 8 million tonnes per year. After the introduction of the embargo on Russian coal, we will have to import at least several million tonnes per year.

As far as heating coal for municipal customers is concerned, we consume about 8-9 million tonnes. Today this coal is in short supply. The price proposed by Polskie Górnictwo Węglowe (PGG) in its online sale, i.e. about PLN 1,000 per tonne, or the price regulations proposed by the government to prevent coal “speculation”, are essentially actions running contrary to the rules of a free market. The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) should have a say in this matter. The problem is simply that with unchanged demand, we have reduced the supply by 8 million tonnes. Of course, we need to think about programs to support municipal consumers, but subsidies based on the income criterion should make their way directly to consumers and not to coal suppliers. We should use existing welfare assistance procedures and not put some producers or sellers in a privileged position by subsidizing them from the state coffers.

The Warsaw Voice

In the new Energy Strategy announced by the government some time ago, there is a lot of talk about renewable energy sources; meanwhile, many projects in this area, such as onshore wind power plants, are stagnating, among other things due to the current law that hinders such investments.

How do you assess the RES development prospects for the coming years?

The current government succeeded very well with the Mój Prąd (My Electricity) project, which supports photovoltaic systems. In a short period of time, we gained about 8 gigawatts of photovoltaic capacity, mostly in prosumer systems. Supported by the state and encouraged by favorable conditions for connecting the systems being built, people The Warsaw Voice

installed photovoltaic systems on the roofs of their houses with their own money. The resulting power output growth proves that the program was effective. Unfortunately, the development of onshore wind energy was blocked at the same time, which in my opinion was a big mistake on the part of the current governing coalition. The famous 10H regulation was introduced [banning the construction of wind turbines within a radius smaller than 10 times the height of the turbine], which made it practically impossible to build wind turbines in inhabited areas. As a result, instead of a capacity gain of 2-3 gigawatts per year, we had a gain of... four wind turbines per year. The Polish government proved to be unreliable in this respect towards many foreign as well as private investors. We have lost six to seven years of opportunities to develop this sector of renewable wind energy. If not for the 10H Act, we could have had about 8 gigawatts more capacity in recent years. According to the government, the law is meant to be amended, but such a promise was first made a year and a half ago.

Apparently things are about to speed up now: according to Minister of Climate and Environment Anna Moskwa, the amendment of the law is to be finalized before the end of the summer vacation.

A green light has already been given to offshore wind energy; its potential on the Baltic Sea is very high, exceeding a dozen or so GW. In the perspective of 2030, according to the assumptions of the national energy policy, we must obtain about 50 gigawatts of power from RES. The first competition for wind farm systems in the Polish economic zone of the Baltic Sea has already been resolved.

The private sector has also shown an interest in the offshore segment; the first company to develop two projects in this field was Polenergia, founded by Jan Kulczyk and developed by his heirs after his death. I think that the government should focus on regulatory issues, building effective support programs for the transformation of the Polish energy sector.

I do not assume that entities with State Treasury shareholding will have to play a dominant role in these processes. After all, it is entrepreneurs who are waiting for the green light to be turned on by the government; they are the ones who want to invest also in wind turbines on land and at sea, in photovoltaic farms, in hydrogen or biogas plants. As in the case of photovoltaic systems, it is necessary to build support mechanisms, programs that will result in rapid growth of RES power. This is an effective way to ensure national energy security.

One more remark, not directly related to the energy sector, concerning Polish public finances: I do not share the opinion often expressed by government representatives that things are going well. It would be good if the profitability of Polish bonds on international markets was low. It is very high. Today, we must pay over 7 percent for Polish 10-year bonds. Only Hungarian bonds are quoted higher in the EU. It is also alarming that, as a result, we are rapidly increasing the cost of servicing the Polish debt. So far, it was about PLN 30 billion a year, which accounted for 1-1.4 percent of GDP. This year these costs will exceed PLN 50 billion, or 1.7 percent of GDP, and in 2023 they are estimated at 2.1 percent of GDP, or PLN 68 billion. This is a massive burden on the budget. As we know, bond yields are a function of the state of the economy and public finances. Therefore, the risks arising from these facts cannot be ignored.

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The effectiveness of this mechanism seems very doubtful to me. There is also a fear of pathologies, for example that subsidized coal will be used for other purposes.

In addition, it should be stressed that the current fuel crisis in our country is not only the result of rising prices on the international market, but also the aftermath of the irrational macroeconomic policy pursued in Poland for at least several years. We are dealing with a very low PLN/ USD exchange rate; the price of crude oil on the global market was similar to the current one in 2008, but then gasoline cost about PLN 5.00 per liter while today it has already exceeded PLN 8.00. Similar consequences apply to natural gas and coal prices. The exchange rate of the zloty is influenced firstly by the Monetary Policy Council (RPP) and secondly by the government, which pursues a different fiscal policy. What is needed is coordination. Unfortunately, I am not optimistic about the effective fight against inflation announced by the government. Between 1998 and 2002, inflation was brought down to 1.8 percent from 14 percent, but there was a restrictive policy of the RPP in place then, and a responsible fiscal policy pursued by the government.

Everyone knows how inflation is fought: by raising interest rates and, among other things, by reducing social transfers and the budget deficit, i.e. reducing the flow of money into the market. Unfortunately, I do not see any cooperation between the National Bank of Poland (NBP) and the present government in the fight against inflation. Sadly, the political calendar and the low responsibility of the political class are not conducive to it.

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SPECTER OF FAMINE ON THE HORIZON The ruthless and cruel war that Russia is waging in Ukraine today is already having many tragic consequences. Soon to be added to that list, perhaps, is famine, which will fall on the inhabitants of the world’s poorest countries that depend on grain imports from Ukraine.

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efore Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, grain from both countries filled the bulk of the needs of many markets in the Middle East and Africa. Today, Russia is blocking Ukrainian grain exports.

In peacetime, Ukraine exported 90 percent of its harvest through its Black Sea ports. Today those ports are occupied or blockaded by the Russians, and access to Odessa has been mined. Swedish economist Anders Åslund calculates that if the Ukrainian grain supply fails, up to 47 million people will suffer starvation this year.

BOTH EU AND US PROPOSALS MAKE A GOOD RESPONSE, BUT IT IS NOT ENOUGH Putin has reached for another cruel tool that Joseph Stalin used in politics before him. In 1932-1933, the then Soviet dictator deliberately caused a famine to break the resistance of the Ukrainian countryside to communist management methods, including collectivization. Between 16

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3 and 10 million Ukrainians died of starvation at the time.

Today, Putin may be leading to an even greater, international disaster.

Admittedly, the Russian leader recently stated that he has no objection to Ukrainian grain being exported by sea. However, no one believes Putin anymore, so new speculations arise. Ukraine has reason to believe that this is a stratagem The Warsaw Voice

ECONOMY

and India, which have not condemned Russia’s aggression and aspire to the role of leaders of the developing countries, should join in. Turkey, the gatekeeper to the Black Sea, should play a key role. It previously closed the straits to warships. Now it should open them to provide a safe humanitarian corridor for grain. According to Ian Anthony of the Swedish institute SIPRI, the specter of civil unrest and famine gives Turkey the green light to open the straits to an international convoy.

Today, with all the diplomatic efforts, it is hard to even imagine that the export of Ukrainian grain could fail and the nightmare of an artificially induced famine might return.

Just like in the 1930s - used as a tool of Russia’s imperial policy, this time on an international scale.

Paweł Wojciechowski Prof. Paweł Wojciechowski is the European Coordinator of the Rhine-Alpine Corridor, one of the nine core network corridors in the EU. aimed at attacking Odessa after the waters surrounding that port are demined.

The European Union reacted promptly to the crisis surrounding the possibility of Ukrainian grain exports, proposing the creation of “solidarity corridors.” Of course, these would pass through EU and not Belarusian territory. The creation of such corridors would have to mean a sharp increase in the availability of rolling stock, ships and trucks, providing mobile grain loading equipment as well as streamlining customs and phytosanitary procedures. In order to enable quick contacts between the suppliers of agricultural goods and their distributors from the EU, the European Commission has established an intermediation platform enabling companies to register their participation in the initiative.

However, there is serious concern that this plan will only partially fulfil the hopes pinned on it. The problem lies in limited infrastructure capacity. Added to this are old, wellknown weaknesses such as the different track gauges in Ukraine and the EU as well as other operational and logistical problems. So what if we manage to abolish phytosanitary inspections at the border for goods in transit, when we cannot drastically improve the physical capacity of the railroad infrastructure in this part of Europe? A train’s passage will still account for less than 10 percent of the time needed for transport, the rest being wasted on obtaining permits for transit, reloading, changes of engines and cars. At this rate, it would take a year to export the grain. It is worth realizing that exporting grain from Ukraine would take either 300 large ships, 6,000 barges or 10,000 giant trains, each 600 meters long.

US President Joe Biden also attaches great importance to this problem. His proposal to build temporary silos on the Polish side of the border with Ukraine can be considered brilliant. There is, however, a significant “but”: such silos must take months to build and that, perhaps, is all the time we need to avoid famine.

Both EU and US proposals make a good response, but it is not enough. It is necessary to organize - preferably under the auspices of the UN - a naval convoy of international forces. More and more countries are declaring their participation in such an operation. Italy is ready to demine the waters. Canada has announced it would send ships. China The Warsaw Voice

Summer 2022

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OFFICE MARKET - BETWEEN PANDEMICS AND WAR It’s been a good, strong start to 2022 in Poland’s office market, which offers hope that a longawaited boom in demand is coming after a market slump. Companies have adapted to the new working conditions, and due to the easing of restrictions related to the covid-19 pandemic, they have launched a campaign to encourage employees back into offices. On the other hand, Warsaw and the eight largest regional markets, i.e., Kraków, Wrocław, Tricity, Katowice, Lódź, Poznan, Szczecin, and Lublin, may face a slowdown in new supply in the coming months.

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XI IMMO looks at the current trends after Q1 2022 in the office market and analyses what will influence its development in the following months of the year.

At the end of March, office developers in Poland delivered 22 projects with a total area of 336,900 sqm, which increased the total market resources to over 12.5 m sqm.

Most projects - 16 - were delivered in regional cities, among which noteworthy were KTW II (39,900 sqm, TDJ Estate) and Global Office Park A1 and A2 (27,300 sqm and 29,900 sqm, Cavatina) in Katowice and the office building Midpoint71 (36,200 sqm, Echo Investment) in Wrocław. In Warsaw, at the same time, occupancy permits were granted to the Forest Tower (51,500 sqm, HB Reavis) and another stage of the LIXA complex, building C (19,400 sqm, Yareal). In terms of total office stock, Warsaw (approx. 6.23 m

Bartosz Oleksak, Senior Negotiator, Office Agency, AXI IMMO.

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sqm) is traditionally ahead of the eight regional office markets, of which Kraków remains the leader (1.63 m sqm), followed by Wrocław (1.28m sqm) and Tricity (992,200 sqm). In terms of new supply at the end of Q1 2022, the top three were Katowice (approx. 116,300 sqm), ahead of Warsaw (93,400 sqm), and Wrocław (36,200 sqm). At the same time, the vacancy rate in the Polish office market indicated about 13.8% of the total stock, which sets availability at the level of about 1.73 m sqm. In Warsaw alone, it amounts to approx. 759,700 sqm (12.2%; -0.5 pp. quarter-on-quarter), while in the regions 970,100 sqm (15.5%; +1.4 pp. q/q). Tenants interested in new offices outside the capital should consider cities such as Kraków (approx. 255,000 sqm), Wrocław (approx. 200,000 sqm), or Tricity (approx.

140,000 sqm), where there was relatively most available space off the shelf.

“The office market in Poland has had to apply the handbrake hard in the last two years. As a result, in the perspective of the coming months, we will observe the so-called supply gap, which is a consequence of the pandemic, lower demand translating into reduced developer activity and in-

AT THE END OF MARCH, OFFICE DEVELOPERS IN POLAND DELIVERED 22 PROJECTS WITH A TOTAL AREA OF 336,900 SQM, WHICH INCREASED THE TOTAL MARKET RESOURCES TO OVER 12.5 M SQM The Warsaw Voice

THE BIG CHALLENGE FOR HR DEPARTMENTS WILL BE ENCOURAGING EMPLOYEES TO RETURN TO OFFICES AGAIN IN THE COMING MONTHS From January to March, demand for modern office space totaled 433,700 sqm, 273,200 sqm leased in Warsaw, and approx. 160,500 sqm in the regions. The most in transaction volume consisted of new deals (52% WAW; approx.

69% regions), before renegotiations and extensions (27% WAW; 21% regions) and expansions (13% WAW; 4.5% regions). The market is seeing a return to 3 and 5-year leases, with more prestigious buildings starting at 7 years and upwards. The revival in demand is reflected in the decisions of developers and owners, who are more cautious about providing non-standard incentives in the form of more rent exemptions or participation in office fit-out costs. Among the largest deals completed in Q1 2022 were PKO BP’s prelease in the SKYSAWA complex (34,500 sqm) and a confidential banking tenant move into the Forest Tower building (30,000 sqm prelease) signed in Warsaw. At the same time in the regions, PWC leased about 10,0000 sqm in the KTW II building and Keyword Studios signed a new lease for 9,300 sqm in the Global Office Park complex. Both transactions took place in Katowice.

“The first quarter of 2022 ended with a very good result regarding demand in the Warsaw office market. More than 273,000 sqm was let due to transactions closing as recently as last December and a gradually increasing number of new inquiries for office space. The loosening of further restrictions and the popularization of the hybrid work model make companies increasingly bold in their decision to increase their office presence. It is not yet a standard in all industries, but there is a clear rebound after the covid period,” says Potocki.

“On the demand side, it is impossible not to mention temporary tenants migrating from the East. Russia’s aggression in Ukraine at the end of February has contributed

to more inquiries for temporary space, which is quickly being absorbed by coworking offices. Clients are most often asking for offers for one or two years. We expect that the culmination of this trend will be even more evident after adding up the tenants’ activity from the first six or nine months of the year. On the other hand, with the prolonged war in Ukraine, some of these companies may decide to lease traditional office space, which in the long run should have an impact on reducing the vacancy rate,” adds Bartosz Oleksak, Senior Negotiator, Office Agency, AXI IMMO. The big challenge for HR departments will be encouraging employees to return to offices again in the coming months. We can expect that attractive space, both in terms of location and arrangement, will remain an essential argument in pursuing the best talent on the market. In a time of digital transformation, and with a new generation - Generation Z - entering the market, employers need to remember that even the best and most advanced digital tools are no substitute for a face-to-face conversation, free flow of ideas, or maintaining a mentoring relationship. The office will continue to be the basis for the relationship between employees, and its arrangement is expected to resemble the home, including smaller rooms for quiet work or areas designed for relaxation or integration.

“Over the last few years, a lot of effort has been placed into creating a balance and maintaining a good work-life balance, but the last two years seem to have severely disrupted it. The pandemic has proven that we can work from almost anywhere in the world, but this benefit is not necessarily effective in every company. We have gained time previously spent on commuting and the comfort of working from home, but we can assume that for every 100 people satisfied with remote work, we will also find 100 who did not like this type of work. There are several reasons for this, ranging from the lack of basic equipment, such as a comfortable chair or a desk allowing to keep a straight posture, the lack of silence caused by a neighbor doing renovations, to the involvement in various household duties, of which we were not aware so far. In addition, our working day has become extremely long, often dangerously encroaching on the time allocated to home or social life, the limit previously set by the presence in the office. The hybrid model seems to be a good solution introducing the expected balance and psychological comfort to employees,” explains Oleksak.

Jakub Potocki, Senior Negotiator, Office Agency, AXI IMMO

REAL ESTATE

creasing vacancy levels. Additional factors negatively influencing the start of new investments are the ever-increasing inflation rate, which translates into higher prices of materials and subsequently higher costs of contractor work.

After the commissioning of Varso Tower, HB Reavis, or P180, Skanska, no spectacular tower project will appear shortly. The supply gap impasse is estimated to be broken in 2023/2024 when Skanska plans to complete the Studio office building and Ghelamco - The Bridge. The expected impulse to start new investments would certainly be a continuation and maintenance of the high demand observed in the first quarter of 2022,” says Jakub Potocki, Senior Negotiator, Office Agency, AXI IMMO.

A STAR IS BORN Iga Świątek, a 21-year-old tennis player from Raszyn near Warsaw, became in the spring the first racket in the world in the World Tennis Association ranking.

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n early June, she won the French Open Grand Slam at Roland Garros in Paris for the second time in her career.

In 2020, the then 19-year-old Świątek became the first and only (among both women and men) Polish singles winner of the Grand Slam tournament - Roland Garros 2020. At the age of just 19, she accomplished the feat in style - without losing a set and beating Romanian Simona Halep, regarded as the world’s best on clay courts, 6:1, 6:2 along the way. Experts raved about her ultra-modern style, combining power with technique, excellent serve and powerful rotations (no wonder - her idol is Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal). They also pointed out her unprec-

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edented mental toughness, which is the result of cooperation with one of the best Polish sport psychologists Daria Abramowicz.

There was no shortage of voices in the world (Chris Evert, Mats Wilander), that in women’s tennis, which recently did not have such spectacular stars as the male “Musketeers” (Roger Federer, Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray), there may come a period of reign of the two Naomi Osaka Iga Świątek. According to the experts, the Japanese and the Pole are expected to decide between them the Grand Slam titles and the question of leading the world ranking in the coming years. Just like Martina Navratilova against Evert, Steffi Graf against Monica Seles or Serena Williams against Venus Williams.

A rain of awards has fallen for her unprecedented Paris success. President Andrzej Duda awarded her with the Golden Cross of Merit “for her sporting achievements and promotion of the country...” Readers in the prestigious poll of the daily “Przegląd Sportowy” for the 10 Best Sports People of the Year decided that better than her was only the best footballer in the world 2020 Robert Lewandowski. The WTA awarded her two of its annual titles: Fan Favorite (favorite player from the fans’ point of view) and Most Improved Player of the Year (for the one who has made the most progress in her level of play over the past season). Her coach Piotr Sierzputowski was named Coach of the Year.

In the following season, 2021, Swiatek established herself among the top players in world tennis. She won her first two WTA Tour titles in beautiful style (she was particularly impressive in the final of the prestigious tournament in Rome, where she defeated the former ranking leader Karolina Plíšková on a “tennis bike” - 6:0, 6:0). She was also the most consistent player of all the Grand Slam participants this year - in each of the four events she reached at least the fourth round. As a result, she was even ranked as high as No. 4 in the world for a few weeks, becoming the only Polish The Warsaw Voice

player besides Agnieszka Radwańska ranked in the world’s Top 10 in the Open era.

The next season started in the best way in Świątek’s career. With her new coach, the former Radwańska coach Tomasz Wiktorowski, she reached the semifinals of the Grand Slam Australian Open and won two titles in major WTA Tour tournaments (Doha and Indian Wells).

Iga crossed another barrier at the Miami 2022 tournament, becoming the first tennis player in history to win three consecutive WTA Tour 1000 titles in a single season, and the fourth - after Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka - to achieve the “Sunshine Double”, i.e., winning the tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami. With Australian Ashley Barty ending her career unexpectedly, it gave Świątek the first place in the WTA ranking. Thus, she became the first

The Warsaw Voice

Summer 2022

SPORTS

IGA’S JUNIOR RESULTS (IN THE UNDER-18 CATEGORY) ALREADY SHOWED THAT SHE IS DEVELOPING INTO A VERY SPECIAL TENNIS PLAYER

in the history of Polish tennis, both among women and men, world No. 1 in singles (in doubles it was Łukasz Kubot). At the end of April and in May, she won her fourth and fifth titles in a row in Stuttgart and Rome. At the beginning of June, she won Roland Garros for the second time in her career and her impressive 2022 singles record stands at 44-3.

Even more incredible and historic is her series of 35 matches without a defeat (since 15 February), which has not been achieved by any other tennis player in the 21st century.

Iga’s junior results (in the under-18 category) already showed that she is developing into a very special tennis player. Born on 31 May 2001 in Warsaw, Świątek reached the Australian Open doubles final at the age of less than 16 (together with Maja Chwalińska), and a year later she became the Wimbledon singles and Roland Garros doubles champion (with American Caty McNally) and the gold medalist of the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in girls’ doubles (paired with Slovenian Kaja Juvan). Although she could still compete as a junior player throughout the 2019 season, it was her performance in Buenos Aires that was her last in that age category. As she entered adulthood, she also began to fill her schedule more and more with “adult” (professional) tournaments. The effects came after only a few months - the final in Lugano and the 1/8 final of Roland Garros, reached after a spectacular victory over Olympic champion Mónica Puig. Unfortunately, due to a foot injury, Świątek had to end her 2019 season already in September. And it was already the second longer (several months) break in her

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career, which seems to be the only warning sign for the fans’ whetted appetites for more success. Świątek’s father, Tomasz, was also a professional sportsman - a rower, an Olympic medallist in Seoul 1988. Iga has a three year older sister Agata, whose example she followed as a child when she started playing tennis, because... she wanted to win with her. What is she like in her private life?

“Brave, having her own opinion [...], but also helpful and caring. A bit even introverted,” her sister told Eurosport in an interview. “To be honest, I don’t like comparisons of Iga to Agnieszka Radwańska. They don’t make sense because they are two completely different tennis players - Agnieszka was a master of tactics, she was great at defending. My daughter, on the other hand, likes to attack and dominate.

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The only thing they have in common is that they both won junior Wimbledon”, says her father.

Iga has become mentally stronger, physically stronger, and has improved her technique (she has shortened her swing) with her crowning stroke, the forehand. She has become an invincible dominator, a “winning machine”, behind whose back no rival can be seen, not even capable of defeating her, but at least to establish an equal fight or win a set. At the age of only 21 she is a great star of the world sport, and in the history of the Polish sport she can be compared only with the athlete Irena Kirszenstein-Szewińska, multiple Olympic champion. At the same ti,me she is still a nice “girl from the neighborhood”, intelligent and well-read, always having something original to say - also The Warsaw Voice

SPORTS

ACCORDING TO ESTIMATES, THE POLE HAS EARNED MORE THAN USD 11 MILLION IN HER CAREER TO DATE on the most difficult subjects: after each tournament she remembers the fighting Ukraine, and plays with a ribbon in its colors on her cap.

Half a year before her first major success at Roland Garros 2020, Świątek passed her high school final exams with very good results. She communicates freely in English, has a large vocabulary, although she still needs to polish up her speeches when receiving awards, as she herself commented with a wink. She is active in social media. She goes to the game with headphones in her ears to get herself fired up with Guns N’ Roses (“Welcome to the Jungle”) or Pink Floyd songs. Emotional and empathetic - she decided to donate her cash winnings for advancing to the 1/8 final of a major tournament in Indian Wells (USD 52,000) to charity. Earlier, she resigned from the Team 100 scholarship of the Polish National Foundation, asking that the money be given to more needy sportsmen.

According to estimates, the Pole has earned more than USD 11 million in her career to date.

Tomasz Wolfke The Warsaw Voice

The author is a sports editor and journalist with nearly 40 years of experience. He was the press director of the first Polish WTA and ATP Tour tournaments in Sopot and Warsaw. He has been one of Eurosport’s tennis commentators for a quarter of a century. He is the author of the book “Sto na sto” (“One hundred to one hundred”) presenting one hundred of the best tennis players in the history of Poland.

— TOM AS Z WOL F K E —

czyli 100 najlepszych tenisistek i tenisistów w 100-leciu Polskiego Związku Tenisowego

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THE

Rembrandt masterpiece

on show at Łazienki Park T

he Polish Rider,” a famous painting by the 17th-century Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn, is on show through Aug. 7.at the Palace on the Isle in the Royal Łazienki Park in Warsaw more than two hundred years after it left the King’s residence. The work is a part of the exhibition “The King’s Rembrandt. The Polish Rider from the Frick Collection in New York.”

The canvas depicts a young man in Polish dress, riding on horseback and armed with two swords, a war hammer, and a quiver of arrows. “Thanks to Rembrandt’s work, every military historian in the world is familiar with what a Polish nobleman looked like in the first half of the 17th century,” said Royal Łazienki Museum’s director, Zbigniew Wawer.

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However, it is not known whom exactly the painting depicts. “The mystery of the painting and its unusual, poetic mood” are among the main reasons for the artwork’s extraordinary popularity, the Warsaw museum said, adding that the painting represents Rembrandt’s masterful, mature style.

‘The Polish Rider’ was painted around 1655. In 1791, the painting was offered to the last Polish king, Stanislaw August, who decided to hang it in the Palace on the Isle in the Royal Łazienki Park, the monarch’s beloved summer residence, where he gathered the most valuable works from his collection of paintings.

After the king’s death, his heirs started to gradually sell off the royal collection. In 1910, the painting was bought by the American financier, industrialist, art patron and collector, Henry Clay Frick. After his death, his family residence was converted into a museum, today considered one of New York’s most important cultural institutions.

The Warsaw Voice

BUZZ Madonnas at the castle As part of a series of meetings with the masterpieces of European painting, Warsaw’s Royal Castle is hosting Madonna with Child, a painting by Paolo Uccello, one of the most prominent representatives of the Quattrocento art period. The painting is displayed in close proximity to works from the castle’s collection by four other Italian masters from the medieval and early Renaissance period.

representations of the world, suspended between realism and abstraction, exception and rule, disorder and order, Gothic and Renaissance.

Uccello worked in Florence, Venice, Bologna and Padua. The artist’s oeuvre includes frescoes and panel paintings, designed mosaics and marquetry. His work has influenced many famous painters such as Piero della Francesca, Albrecht Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci.

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These are Taddeo Gaddi’s Madonna and Child enthroned, surrounded by saints, Rossello di Jacopo Franchi’s Madonna and Child with Angels, Pietro Lorenzetti’s Madonna and Child enthroned, with St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. John the Baptist and Andrea di Nerio’s Madonna with Child.

In Uccello’s Madonna with Child, the sparse architectural planes of the throne contrast with the richness and complexity of the robes and the originality of the figures’ poses. This predilection for geometric abstraction, combined with influences from late Gothic art, is the artist’s hallmark.

The throne decoration is reminiscent of ornamentation popular in the Veneto region around 1400. It is therefore possible to assume that Madonna with Child was painted after Uccello’s return from Venice to Tuscany around 1430.

A student of Lorenzo Ghiberti and friend of Donatello, Uccello was renowned as a virtuoso of perspective. For him, it was one of the means by which he produced colorful and fantastic The Warsaw Voice

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Warsaw hosts Open-air Chopin Chopin and his concerts every Sunday Europe Festival Over 30 events - symphonic and chamber concerts, opera performances as well as piano and vocal recitals - are on the program of the 18th Chopin and his Europe Festival to be held in the Polish capital on August 14-31.

For more than six decades, Chopin Concerts held at the foot of the Fryderyk Chopin Monument in the Royal Łazienki Park have been a key event in the Polish capital’s summer cultural calendar.

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ighlights of the event include a recital by Bruce Liu, winner of the 2021 Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw.

Among featured orchestras and soloists billed in Warsaw are Basel Chamber, Collegium 1704, Europa Galante, European Union Youth Orchestra, Poland’s Sinfonia Varsovia, Maria Joao Pires, Cyprien Katsaris, Kristian Bezuidenhout, Barry Douglas, Leif Ove Andsnes, Francesco Piemontesi, Matthias Goerne, Olga Pasiecznik and Fabio Biondi.

The central idea behind the international music festival, organized since 2005 by the Fryderyk Chopin Institute is to present European music within and related to the life and work of the Polish pianist, composer and teacher Fryderyk Chopin. The event focuses the Chopin’s oeuvre through the masterpieces of both historical and contemporary artists who were inspired by the music of the Polish composer.

To get as close to the original sound of Chopin’s music pianists will play on pianos from the Institute’s own collection; an extensive array from the great composer’s era: the famous Pleyel, Erard, Broadwood, as well as a copy of the Buchholtz piano (Chopin’s Warsaw instrument) and the Vienna Graf.

The event also promotes the works of Chopin’s friends, who remain little known internationally and whose music deserves a wider exposure such as Ignacy Feliks Dobrzyński, Józef Nowakowski, Franciszek Lessel, and Józef Krogulski.

For those who cannot be in Poland in August, selected concerts will be available to watch online on the Fryderyk Chopin Institute’s YouTube channel.

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very Sunday from mid-May until the end of September, eminent pianists perform concertos, nocturnes and other masterworks by the great romantic composer twice a day. Hugely popular with Warsaw residents and tourists alike, these concerts are a unique opportunity to listen to classical music while sitting on a blanket in the shade of a tree.

A statue to Poland’s most famous composer, Fryderyk Chopin, was unveiled in 1926 in the Royal Łazienki Park. Destroyed during World War II, it was rebuilt and again placed in the park in 1958. Since 1959 the Fryderyk Chopin Society and the Stołeczna Estrada have organized near Chopin’s statue concerts of his music which have featured many renowned performers over the decades.

This year’s 63rd Season of Chopin Concerts, which returns to Łazienki Park after a two-year break caused by the coronavirus pandemic, will feature recitals by some of the finest Polish and international pianists including Poland’s Karol Radziwonowicz, Kevin Kenner of the United States, Leonora Armelini of Italy, and Rinko Kobayashi of Japan.

The summer recitals by the Chopin Monument take place each Sunday at 12:00 noon and 4:00 p.m. Entrance is free.

Detailed program of the concerts can be found here: https://www.lazienki-krolewskie.pl/en/wydarzenia/koncert-chopinowski The Warsaw Voice

THE BUZZ

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he National Museum in Warsaw has unveiled to the public a collection of works by one of the most remarkable artists of the 20th century, Marc Chagall. The 14 pictures from the later period in Chagall’s life, were bought for the museum last December as part of the Polish government strategy to enrich the country’s art collections with important European pieces of art.

The purchased works joined two other prints by the Russian-French modernist at the gallery - illustrations for the autobiography Mein Leben and Nikolai Gogol’s Dead Souls. Before that, Polish museums could boast only a few of Chagall’s works, five prints at the National Museum in Kraków, southern Poland, and two in the eastern city of Lublin.

The works purchased by the National Museum in Warsaw include – characteristic for Chagall – scenes from the Old Testament, as well as vivid portrayals of

Chagall works premiere in Warsaw couples in love, bouquets of flowers and animals. Some of them refer to the artist’s own childhood.

The pictures, created in the 1960s and 1970s, during the heyday of drawing and graphic techniques in Western Europe, come from Chagall’s family’s collection and were bought from Kornfeld, a recognized Swiss auction house.

Chagall is known for his freedom in using various means of expression, combining gouache, tempera, crayon, pencil, and colored ink. The high quality of the materials and the perfect condition of all the works are also notable. His art has become recognizable because it has made it into the realm of popular culture on an unprecedented scale thanks to reproductions copied and presented on various media and in various contexts.

Chagall was born in 1887 into a Russian Hasidic family in Lozno near Vitebsk, in modern-day Belarus. He was a leading representative of cubism and internationalism in painting. In his later works, he repeatedly referred to childhood and memories from his youth spent in the borderlands of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In 1910, Chagall left for Paris, where he became associated with the milieu of avant-garde artists in the Montparnasse district.

In 1914, Chagall exhibited his works at the Der Sturm gallery in Berlin. In the same year he returned to Russia, where he stayed until 1922. He moved to Berlin in the 1920’s, and then to France, where he settled permanently. In 1941 he left for the USA, where he lived throughout the war years. After returning to France, his style changed and he departed from geometric forms, his later works included stained glass and wall paintings. In addition, Chagall created sets and costumes, sculptural pieces, ceramics, and lithography. He died in 1985 in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France.

“Chagall” at the National Museum in Warsaw is on view through July 24.

The Warsaw Voice

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Homelessness Tribute band through the eyes festival first of the artist time in Poland The exhibition of works by Karolina Balcer entitled Happy Family at the Zachęta Project Room addresses some serious social problems by placing them in a family context. The artist uses the language of visual arts to talk about homelessness and mental health issues.

The first edition of the Undercover Festival, featuring the world’s top tribute bands, will be held on August 13-14 in Warsaw in the park space around the building of the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art.

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ribute groups play the music of their idols, wellknown bands and solo artists, emulating their style.

“Thanks to them, we can travel in time to feel the extraordinary atmosphere of the most famous concerts in the world, recreated with incredible attention to detail”, say the organizers.

The popularity of tribute bands has grown significantly over the past 20 years with festivals organized for them in the United Kingdom, the United States and Spain.

The two-day event is the largest of its kind in Central Europe, it will take the audience on a journey through the greatest hits of old and former rock stars.

Tribute acts will be performed by Boot-Led-Zeppelin, Nirvana UK, tribute band Queen, Absolute Bowie, Coldplace, Young Elton, Oasish, Ed Sheeran Experience, Guns 2 Roses and Not The Rolling Stones.

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he starting point for Balcer’s project was the story of her older brother who was periodically homeless although nothing was lacking in their family home.

Though it is difficult to pinpoint the complex roots of homelessness it is often linked to social exclusion and stigmatization caused by mental illness or disorder, frequently undiagnosed. The problem is further exacerbated by lack of access to help or the inability to use it by the sick and their relatives.

Through personal experience, the artist attempts to break the taboo surrounding the subject of mental health. In her story, her brother is no longer just a family member but becomes a representative of society.

Referring to the harmful, though frequent practice of “sweeping problems under the rug,” the artist uses tufting and other textile techniques to create images and objects associated with the domestic space, such as carpets, doormats, lamps, towels, curtains or TV cabinets.

On view until July 24 28

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The Warsaw Voice

THE BUZZ

Polish fashion at its best in the communist era The new exhibition „Grażyna Hase. Always in fashion” at the Museum of Warsaw is a comprehensive presentation of the artistic achievements of a prominent Polish fashion designer in the late 20th century.

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the Polish fashion market of the PRL period and the political transformation, the activities of Warsaw institutions related to this industry, as well as the shaping of the status of a fashion designer in Poland,” says Karolina Ziębińska -Lewandowska, director of the Museum of Warsaw.

According to the exhibition’s curator, Agnieszka Dąbrowska, Hase’s designs perfectly reflect the atmosphere and spirit of their times. “The clothes she designed since 1967 were treated as an embodiment of the communist ‘small stabilization’, and in the 1980s, during the economic crisis, they were perceived as a whiff of luxury, whereas collections from the 90s document the designer’s creativity in the face of the fledgling Polish capitalism,” says Dąbrowska.

The city of Warsaw is the other subject of the exhibition being the background of numerous photo sessions and fashion shows, as well as home to the famous Grażyna Hase Art Gallery.

On view till September 11

he several sections of the exhibition lead through the career of Grazyna Hase, who revolutionized Poland’s fashion industry in the time of PRL (Polish People’s Republic under communist rule). At the end of the 1950s, she entered the world of fashion as a model and later became a successful designer with her own label, known both in Poland and abroad. She also hosted TV programs about fashion and wrote columns in the press, becoming a mentor for generations of Polish fashion designers.

The more than 200 exhibits presented include garments and accessories designed by Hase, as well as drawings, photographs, films and press clippings. But visitors to the exhibition will be able to learn not only about the designer’s work, but also about the changes taking place in the Polish fashion industry throughout her career.

“This collection shows the originality of the Hase style, but it is also great material for research on the specificity of The Warsaw Voice

Summer 2022

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1/ Menard TK - Touch of Kindness Menard, one of the leaders in innovative research in the field of cosmetology in Japan, has launched a new TK skincare line. The TK cosmetics focus on enhancing “the moisturizing power” or the skin’s ability to hold fresh moisture to condition its texture and lead to a soft, smooth touch. This is made possible thanks to Gardenia Extract SP, a Menard exclusive ingredient that was developed using a special heat treatment.

The TK family contains six innovative products.

Menard TK Washing Cream purifies pores, gently cleanses and repairs the skin, preventing its dehydration. It foams up into a rich lather that brings new life into dull skin, giving it a moist smooth finish and making it look younger.

Menard TK Lotion moisturizes skin while conditioning its texture thanks to two active ingredients that work together.

Hydrolyzed gardenia florida extract has antiseptic properties, triggers cell regeneration, soothes inflammation, supports skin barrier, and promotes firmness. Hyaluronic acid is a potent moisturizer that tones up skin and keeps its elastic.

Menard TK Cream is a highly effective moisturizer that prevents premature ag30

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ing, irritation and redness. It envelops and protects skin during sleep, stimulating the skin’s regeneration. Hyaluronic acid fights with dryness and maintains natural moisture level, leaving skin firm and tender.

Epiphyllum extract has a powerful anti-inflammatory effect, heals minor wounds and increases the skin’s immunity.

Menard TK Cleansing Cream is designed to provide the skin with oxygen, moisturize it and remove all impurities from its surface. It easily dissolves makeup, unclogs pores, and normalizes sebum.

A nourishing formula doesn’t dry out skin and leaves it feeling fresh and not tight.

Menard TK Milk Lotion contains natural active ingredients including Ceramide NG which improves the skin’s ability to retain water and prevents dryness and hyperpigmentation.

Menard TK Massage Cream maintains water balance, stimulates blood flow, strengthens blood vessel walls, provides an antioxidant effect, tones up the skin, improves complexion and stimulates cell regeneration.

2/ Summer Splash Delight Cruz del Sur II from Xerjoff, the Italian niche Perfume House, is a luxuriant journey into the tropical rainforests of South America.

Featuring an extraordinary blast of ripened mango and tangy pineapple with a pinch of apple blossom this gourmand fragrance opens into a heart of green leaves and floral bouquet. Earthy cedar wood and musk base notes add depth to this exotic fragrance.

The perfume is presented in a crystal flacon and enthroned in a leather box embedded with a piece of meteorite.

3/ Highly Seductive Elixir Freely inspired by oud wood from Laos, one of the most precious ingredients used in perfumery, the luxury fragrance house Maison Francis Kurkdjian created OUD satin mood in 2016 - an eau de parfum whose enveloping, sensual silage evokes the pleasure of nestling into a delicate piece of flowing satin.

Now, this seductive, mysterious creation is available in a concentrated extrait de parfum version where the woody, leathery accents of oud from Laos, personally selected by Francis Kurkdjian, blend with an abundance of roses and spices amid the delicacy of violet softened by a generous amber-vanilla accord.

This precious elixir also comes in a portable roll-on format.

All the products are available now on www.missala.pl The Warsaw Voice

Compiled by Marzena Robinson

BUTIK

GREAT GEAR Compiled by Bartosz Grzybiński

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1/ CWS T1 G.Gerlach CWS T1 is a designation for a legendary pre-war passenger car. Due to high level of technical sophistication of the project, uniqueness of the solutions and lack of preserved examples to this day - the car has become a legend of Polish engineering. Based on this legend designers of G. Gerlach watch company built a timepiece.

It is the author’s intention that the watch, in terms of design and engineering, should be as unique as its car namesake. In May this year four interesting models of CWS T1 watch by G.Gerlach were presented. www.odczasudoczasu.pl

2/ MIO MiVue C588T DUAL The Mio MiVue C588T camera set is a unique solution for recording video in both directions of driving. The main camera is the Mio MiVue C588T DUAL equipped with a sensor for recording images in motion produced by SONY Starvis. The matrix allows you to record video in Full HD 1080p resolution, and the recording angle is 140 degrees. The second camera mounted on an active bracket on The Warsaw Voice

the rear window is used to record the route from the rear of the vehicle. The camera offers a 130-degree viewing angle, bright glass with an f1.8 aperture and, like the front camera, Full HD recording.

The 2-inch color display allows you to conveniently manage DVR functions, as well as use it as a viewfinder for filming, shooting, as well as reviewing the collected footage from both cameras.

The Mio MiVue 588T DUAL camera is equipped with a GPS module, allowing you to use it to detect our geographical position to inform us when we are approaching a speed camera and sectional speed measurement. The Mio Smart Alert function works throughout Europe and updating the database is free of charge. In case of speed measurement, the driver is informed about the speed limit and the average speed of the vehicle over the measured distance. www.mio.com/pl

3/ Garett Elegance RT Although smartwatches have a growing number of followers, there are still many people who prefer traditional watches.

Some of them do not need technological innovations. There are also those for whom design is important - the watch should be elegant, classic and complement the image. For such people smartwatches with modern, sporty look are not attractive. To meet the needs of such users, the Garett brand introduced the Garett Elegance RT smartwatch a smart watch with a classic look, which gives you a choice of bracelet or strap, and thus works well on both female and male hands.

Garett Lady/Men Elegance RT provides the wearer with comfort, class and functionality, and the IP67 waterproof rating guarantees protection against water, dust and other contaminants.

For sports lovers and healthy lifestyle enthusiasts, the smartwatch is equipped with sports modes: running, volleyball, swimming, yoga, basketball, walking or skipping. Health and sports progress can be monitored thanks to Da Fit application, operating on devices with Android and iOS. wwww.garett.com.pl Summer 2022

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A REAL

EYE-CATCHER Renault Arkana E-Tech Hybrid, techno Story and photos by Bartosz Grzybiński

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enault Arkana E-Tech Hybrid combines an attractive exterior, a comfortable and well-equipped interior with an advanced hybrid drive system for economical and environmentally responsible driving.

At the beginning of June, readers of one of the biggest internet portals in Poland were choosing “Car of the Year 2022”. One of the categories was beauty and appearance of a car. The Arkana model by Renault won the title of the most beautiful car. This is one of the many awards it has received since its market debut in the spring of last year and looking at this car - probably not the last.

The styling is a strong point and a great asset. After all, everyone first judges a car by its appearance, and the Arkana is a real eye-catcher. With a length of 4.57 m and a wheelbase of 2.72 m, the model in the SUV segment has a trendy coupe shape with a gently sloping roof. The compact body, with a slightly raised body and 20 centimeters of ground clearance, mounted on 18-inch rims is very attractive indeed, and that the side line resembles some of the luxury SUV models of the German brands? Well, in this case it’s not a complaint, because firstly the car looks more expensive than it really is (which is probably not a problem for the owner?) and secondly Renault has managed to retain its own unique style. With its distinctive “burly” C-shaped headlights and narrow rear lamps running the full width of the trunk - everyone will recognize it.

The interior is spacious and seats five adult passengers. It is only when the front seats are pushed back 32

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as far as possible that the rear seat occupants can be cramped, not only for their legs but also for their heads - due to the drooping roof. The luggage compartment has a capacity of 480 liters. It is spacious and has a regular shape. A small disadvantage may

The Warsaw Voice

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be high loading threshold (81 cm). The elegant and clear cockpit is borrowed from the Capture model.

The three-spoke multifunction steering wheel sits well in the hands. And the multi-adjustable seat and steering column help you find the perfect driving position.

Visibility in all directions is very good. Large exterior mirrors and a rearview camera make maneuvering easier. The dashboard is dominated by a 9.3-inch central multimedia touchscreen. Its operation is uncomplicated and intuitive. The car has classic climate control. It can also be equipped with a wireless smartphone charger. Of course, there is also a keyless entry system (Hands Free). It works not only on the doors, but also on starting and stopping the drive unit. The test Arkana also had a lane keeping system and active cruise control. The car is safe - it has as many as 14 driver assistance systems, including pedestrian and cyclist detection and brake assist when these vulnerable road users are detected.

The powertrain uses the already well-known series-parallel hybrid system, which consists of a four-cylThe Warsaw Voice

inder naturally aspirated 1.6-liter gasoline engine with an output of 94 hp. and two electric motors, one of which is responsible for wheel drive, while the other acts as a gearbox synchronizer. The total output of the system is 143 hp. How does the hybrid work? In the simplest terms, the idea of a hybrid drive system is that Summer 2022

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an internal combustion engine and an electric motor work together. The electric motor or motors support the combustion engine and their “electric” power stored in the battery is used to put the car in motion and help it accelerate. With four gears for the internal combustion engine and two for the electric motor, the Arkana’s automated multi-mode transmission (MMT) operates in up to 15 forward modes. There are three transmission and drive modes to choose from: Individual, Sport and Economy; and Electric Vehicle (EV) mode which, due to its low battery capacity, can only be used for short distances. Gently operating the gas or recovering energy and forcing the car to run on battery power allows you to save a lot of money, but this is a game for enthusiasts of ecological and economical driving. During normal use, everything happens without the driver’s participation, who can only observe the operation of the entire system on the 34

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cockpit clocks. The driver can only watch the cockpit clocks and hear which engine is running when. Drive is transmitted to the front axle. Hybrid Arkana is not, to put it mildly, the most dynamic car. Acceleration to 100 takes over ten seconds (10.8 seconds) and the top speed is 172 km/h. Compensation is very low fuel consumption. During the test, after driving almost a thousand kilometers, average fuel consumption was just over 6 l./100 km. (according to the technical data average consumption is 4.9-5 l.100 / km.) Considering the dimensions of the car, its weight (1435 kg) and the fact that during the test I did not use the advantages of economical driving that gives a hybrid - it is really not much.

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Renault Arkana E-Tech is an interesting, unusual car. Attractive styling goes hand in hand with driving comfort and safety, and a fuel-efficient drive train.

High position behind the wheel, good visibility, and high ground clearance work well in the city. The car allows you to easily negotiate city curbs or drive off paved roads, although due to the lack of 4x4 drive you must be careful, because you may end up buried in sand as during test drives and photo shoots. The Arkana Hybrid is more at home on city streets and boulevards, where it can move quietly and stately, givThe Warsaw Voice

ing you a chance to admire its beauty. On highways, it feels less confident and comfortable - especially at highway speeds where it lacks power and is prone to crosswinds and increased cabin noise. The Arkana hybrid is available in several trim levels: equilibre, techno, R.S. Line and E-Tech engineered. The cheapest version of hybrid Arkana, with equilibre equipment package costs about PLN 130,000, the most expensive E-Tech engineered almost PLN 155,000.

The presented techno version is an expense of about PLN 140,000.

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GREEN DRIVING WITH THE RIGHT TIRES Choosing the right tires can have a significant impact on your vehicle’s emissions and fuel consumption.

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onsidering the differences in product features, or materials used by the manufacturer can help reduce the carbon footprint when purchasing new tires and contribute to environmental protection.

Choosing the right tires can help reduce a vehicle’s emissions and fuel consumption. The most direct impact comes from differences in rolling resistance, which represent the energy lost when a tire moves. The lower the rolling resistance, the less energy is lost and the less fuel is required. Greater fuel economy has a positive impact on the driver’s carbon footprint through lower CO2 emissions. For electric vehicles, lower rolling resistance translates into a longer driving range.

“Rolling resistance has a huge impact on fuel consumption. A-class tires in the EU tire labelling system with correct pressure can save up to half a liter of fuel per 100 kilometers compared to the lowest performing tires,” says Matti Morri, Technical Customer Service Manager at Nokian Tyres.

The EU tire labelling system makes it easy to compare differences in fuel efficiency, wet grip, and external rolling noise. Adopting an economical driving style plays an

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equally important role in reducing the environmental impact of driving. Avoiding idling, taking advantage of engine downtime, anticipating traffic and pre-heating your vehicle in cold weather can reduce fuel consumption by up to 20%. Maintaining proper tire pressure is equally important.

“An economical driving style allows tires to last longer.

The money spent on tires and regular car care will pay for itself as fuel consumption will be minimal,” Morri says.

A QUICK GUIDE TO BUYING TIRES RESPONSIBLY

• Before buying new tires, compare rolling resistance and other key features. The EU’s tire labeling system makes it easy to compare tires.

• Adopt an economical driving style. Avoid idling, use engine braking, anticipate traffic and pre-heat your vehicle in cold weather.

• Check and maintain tire pressure at least once a month. Under-inflation shortens tire life.

• Recycle old tires according to recycling regulations.

The Warsaw Voice

SOCIETY

HELPING REFUGEES A REPORT AFTER THREE MONTHS OF CRISIS How many Ukrainian citizens have passed through Warsaw since the beginning of the war, and how many are currently staying there? What has the city’s assistance been like for refugees arriving from abroad, and what challenges does Warsaw now face because of their presence in the capital? The city presented on June 21 a report on the first three months of the refugee crisis that answers these questions.

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etween February 24 and May 31, the period covered by the Warsaw report, 800,000 refugees passed through the capital. That’s about 40 percent of Warsaw’s total population. At its peak, about 300,000 people stayed in the city and had to be assisted: from simple information to hospital care. ”Three months ago, the war started and from the very beginning Warsaw helped as much as it could our neighbors from Ukraine. One thing worries me - I hear that this crisis is slowly coming to an end. We have a completely different impression that, in a way, it is only just beginning, because long-term and long-lasting actions are necessary.

Today we must define what the needs will be in the future, because our guests will stay with us for longer”, said Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw.

Assistance to refugees in the capital is entering a new phase - after a period of emergency aid, then stabilization, the time for integration has come. Here, too, Warsaw is acting comprehensively. The city’s assistance covers all the

Rafał Trzaskowski, Mayor of Warsaw

The Warsaw Voice

important aspects of life: social integration, education, culture and help in entering the job market.

“Today we are thinking about the future, about integration programs to integrate our guests into social life in Warsaw in such a way that whole families are as independent as possible and can freely use all city services. At the same time, all of us: Warsaw residents, are part of this process”, said Aldona Machnowska-Góra, Deputy Mayor of Warsaw.

TODAY WE ARE THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE, ABOUT INTEGRATION PROGRAMS TO INTEGRATE OUR GUESTS INTO SOCIAL LIFE IN WARSAW Another huge challenge for the city in connection with the ongoing situation is how to integrate the new residents, who constitute about 10 percent of the city’s population, and at the same time maintain the current quality of services? This problem affects all areas of Warsaw’s functioning: from urban transport to education to public safety. For example, the school infrastructure is at its limits. Finding and hiring hundreds of new teachers and expanding or building dozens of new institutions are activities that require time and enormous resources.

“The necessary systemic solutions are still missing. If we fail today in integrating Ukrainian society into life in our city, certain processes will be irreversible. What we can do at the local government level, we are already doing - on many levels. But we need systemic solutions,” said Renata Kaznowska, Deputy Mayor of Warsaw.

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IN BRIEF

Compiled by Bartosz Grzybiński 38

10 YEARS OF VOLKSWAGEN GROUP POLSKA In June 2012 Volkswagen Group Polska was established. It has been the leader of the new passenger car market in Poland for 10 years. Today, Volkswagen Group Polska represents 7 brands: Volkswagen, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Škoda, SEAT, Cupra, Audi and Porsche. Last year, over 115,000 new cars supplied by Volkswagen Group Polska were registered in Poland. The share in the passenger car market amounted to almost 25 per cent. Since the establishment of Volkswagen Group Polska over 10 years, more than 1.1 million new cars of the Volkswagen Group brands were registered in Poland.

“Volkswagen Group Polska has been the leader of the new car market in Poland for 10 years. Last year, every fourth new car drove on Polish roads from one of the Volkswagen Group showrooms. In total, we have already delivered over 1.1 million cars to the Polish drivers. I would like to thank them all for their trust, I would also like to express my gratitude to our employees and our partners - dealers for their excellent work. This tenth anniversary is not only a time for taking stock, but also the beginning of a new path in many areas. We are modifying and creating new business processes to respond quickly and flexibly to customer needs and market changes. Today, we

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are devoting a lot of attention to electric mobility. At the same time, we are looking further into the future, with electric cars, the changing automobile is being shaped by new technologies and digitization. Soon, cars will not only be electric, but also autonomous.

I am convinced that in the coming years Volkswagen Group Polska will shape individual mobility in Poland to an even greater extent”, said Pavel Šolc, President of the Board, Volkswagen Group Polska.

Volkswagen Group Polska has been awarded many times for the development of electromobility in Poland. The company sets an example and inspires change towards emission-free vehicles.

Volkswagen Group Polska is powered exclusively by green energy, on the grounds of the company there are 50 charging points installed, the company is decisively changing its fleet of cars to electric and plug-in hybrid cars. Volkswagen Group Polska together with its brands and dealer network is also developing the public charging infrastructure.

In addition to Volkswagen Group Polska, the largest distributor of new cars in our country, the Volkswagen Group in Poland also includes Volkswagen Financial Services and 9 production plants, including Volkswagen Poznań, the largest car manufacturer in Poland.

NISSAN LEAF 2022 Nissan has unveiled a refreshed version of the world’s first mass-market electric car. For 2022, the iconic LEAF gets more striking styling and innovative technologies.

The refreshed exterior design of the 2022 model Nissan LEAF is intriguing in its details, while the design of the optional light-alloy wheels and the dynamic aesthetics of the entire body are in line with the new brand identity.

The popular model for the 2022 is equipped with a suite of proven advanced driver assistance features, such as the ProPILOT system, which is now available in more versions. The NissanConnect in-cab entertainment system will keep you entertained and connected to the world.

The refreshed LEAF arrived in showrooms in April and will form the basis of a strong product offensive that will see the entire model range electrified by this autumn.

“Nissan LEAF has always been a model that makes the advanced technology and excitement of driving an electric car accessible to everyone.

This is reflected in more than 577,000 customers worldwide. LEAF has been designed with the needs of families in mind to offer seamless connectivity and an efficient powertrain”, said Arnaud Charpentier, Vice President, Product Strategy and Pricing, Nissan AMIEO Region.

The Warsaw Voice

The travel industry, including the hotel industry, is very sensitive to external factors. It was one of the hardest hit segments during the pandemic, and the war in Ukraine and the resulting reduction in foreign tourism has slowed the industry’s recovery.

The situation is different for business hotels, and different for leisure establishments that benefit from the Polish Tourist Voucher program.

Globally, tourist traffic is estimated to have declined by as much as 70% because of the pandemic. In 2021 more than 24% more tourists used tourist accommodation facilities in Poland than in 2020. This upward trend can also be seen every month in 2022. According to a survey by the Economic Chamber of Polish Hotel Industry (IGHP), in April more than half of hotels achieved a satisfactory occupancy level of more than 50% (in March it was 40%), including 12% of facilities exceeding 70%. In the first months business hotels did better than leisure hotels.

“Looking at the first months of 2022, business hotels can be satisfied with the results. Business tourism is

slowly returning, although still business travel has been severely curtailed due to the popularity of online meetings.

Event organizers and corporations are catching up and organizing backlogged concerts and conferences that were repeatedly postponed due to the pandemic,” admitted Anna Olszyńska, regional director of Vienna House and general manager of Vienna House Andel’s Lodz, which has been the leader on the Łódź tourism market for 13 years.

“Unfortunately, this positive trend may be halted by two factors. One is galloping inflation, especially rising energy, and fuel prices. The other is the war in Ukraine. Unfortunately, travel and hotel stays may become a luxury good over time”, Olszyńska added.

Holiday forecasts for the industry are weak. In the IGHP survey, 65% of hotels admitted to having bookings below 30% occupancy for July. “In 2021, more than 60% of reservations were made between 7 and 1 day before arrival. This year, the phenomenon of the short booking window is continuing”, admitted Tomasz Piórkowski, regional director of Vienna House. “We see an ever-increasing in-

IN BRIEF

SLOW REBOUND OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY terest in family travel, which is why we diversify our offer of city hotels, focusing specifically on families with children in the summer season”, he said.

An incentive to use hotels during the holiday season may be the extended Polish Tourist Voucher program, which runs through September 30 and has PLN 2 billion left to use. The Polish Tourist Organization has launched the #MiastoTurystyka campaign promoting Polish urban tourism. It encourages weekend family trips to cities that allow you to combine relaxation with participation in cultural events.

FAST CHARGING ON THE A1 FREEWAY The number of electric vehicles in Poland is growing faster than the number of charging stations - the country’s electromobility requires a significant acceleration in the pace of fast charging infrastructure development. Siemens, together with Stacjeladowania.com, has launched the first fast charging station in the public network on the Silesian section of the A1 freeway. SICHARGE D is at the same time the hundredth station of the operator NOXO Energy, the first - ultra-fast. Devices supporting fast and ultrafast direct current (DC) charging are the future of electromobility. They allow a vehicle to be fully charged in a time several times shorter than with slow AC chargers (with a capacity of 22 kW or less).

“In many locations of the NOXO. network you can find Siemens SIThe Warsaw Voice

CHARGE AC22 stations, which are highly praised for their faultlessness and interesting design. The AC stations fit perfectly into the concept of a network of so-called destination locations, where drivers stay for a longer period and can safely recharge their car for the next journey. This time, as a part of launching our 100th location, thanks to cooperation with Elocity and owners of Shell Bełk station, we provide our clients with another 4 charging stations for electric cars, including two ultra-fast ones”, commented Jakub Bańkowski, CEO of NOXO ENERGY. In a few years, the electric passenger car fleet in Poland has increased almost eight times, while the network of publicly available charging stations only three times. The European Com-

mission estimated that by 2030 at least 3 million additional charging points for electric cars will be needed in the whole EU. Each new station will densify infrastructure network and contribute to promotion of electromobility in Poland. For electric cars users this translates into increased availability and accessibility of charging. Ultrafast stations allow to shorten charging time even to several minutes.

“Polish electric vehicle market is growing more and more dynamically.

However, popularization of electromobility requires significant acceleration of fast charging infrastructure development, so that it ultimately resembles the current network of petrol stations”, explained Maciej Zieliński, President of the Management Board of Siemens Polska.

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