NEWSLETTER
From Poland with Love. September
Topic of the Month
A Permanent US Base in Poland?
The idea of a permanent US military base in Poland is suddenly back at the centre of a political tug-of-war. In June, the Polish government formally launched preparations for a permanent US base, including identifying a location and preparing the infrastructure and financing needed to host it. A shortlist of possible locations now exists, but no location has been publicly announced.
The timing remains uncertain. Poland expects the decision towards the end of 2026, after Washington completes its review of the US military posture in Europe, currently expected in November–December. The final decision belongs to Donald Trump. On October 1, in response to a question, Trump said: “We're looking at that and we have great respect for the president of Poland. So, we're looking at that and it could happen.” When asked why he had not made a final decision, he responded: “You don't know if I made it or not. I might have made it. I like Poland.”
There is also a very Polish political subplot: who gets to claim the credit? Trump explicitly credited President Karol Nawrocki for the progress. The government, however, points out that Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz formally presented the proposal to the Pentagon in June and that negotiations over infrastructure, location and financing are conducted by the Tusk administration. Some reports have suggested that the right would prefer the announcement to come later, so that it cannot be presented as a success of the current government ahead of the 2027 parliamentary elections. This remains political speculation rather than an established explanation for the timing.
The row intensified when Kosiniak-Kamysz's planned 23 September meeting with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was postponed at the American side's request. The official explanation was a scheduling conflict connected with Xi Jinping's visit to Washington; Polish officials say a new meeting could take place in mid-November. There has been speculation that the unresolved US review of forces in Europe also played a role, but this has not been confirmed. Instead of canceling all engagements, Poland's Deputy Defense Minister Paweł Zalewski and Chief of the General Staff Wiesław Kukuła proceeded to Washington to hold talks with U.S. officials and prepare upcoming agreements.
And there is already a name for the hypothetical base: “Fort Trump.” Nawrocki has floated the idea, while Kosiniak-Kamysz said recently that he would have “no problem” with the name, calling permanent US troops the “overriding goal”.
Politics
Kraków: A City Election with National Consequences
Kraków has just held an unusual, early election for mayor, triggered not by the normal electoral calendar, but by the removal of incumbent Aleksander Miszalski (KO) in a May referendum. The referendum was driven by criticism of his management of the city, including the introduction of the Clean Transport Zone, ticket price increases, relations with developers and accusations of chaotic decision-making. The referendum was narrowly above the turnout threshold: 29.99% participated, and 171,581 voted to remove Miszalski (read more in the May issue).
The September election attracted seven candidates, but quickly became a race between several political camps. Łukasz Gibała, leader of the local Kraków for Citizens movement and a former PO politician, ran as an independent for the fourth time. He had already come within 5,434 votes of winning against Miszalski in 2024. Monika Piątkowska, a lawyer, senator and former close associate of long-time Kraków mayor Jacek Majchrowski, was backed by KO and PSL and presented herself as a candidate “beyond divisions”.
Gibała won the first round with 36.38%, followed by Piątkowska with 29.91%. PiS candidate Michał Drewnicki came third with 17.50%. The second round will take place on 11 October.
But perhaps the most interesting story was further down the ballot. Razem (Together) and New Left ran separate candidates, turning Kraków into a test of the increasingly open rivalry between the two Polish lefts (pro- and anti-government). Razem's Aleksandra Owca received 6.91%, while Daria Gosek-Popiołek of New Left received 4.81%. The two women actually have a shared political history: both previously belonged to Razem. Owca is now one of the party's co-leaders, while Gosek-Popiołek left Razem and became a New Left MP supporting the Tusk majority in the Sejm.
The result therefore has significance beyond Kraków. For New Left, the stated minimum was to outperform Razem; instead, Gosek-Popiołek finished almost two points behind Owca. More left and anti-establishment Razem is presenting the result as evidence of its potential to compete with New Left for the left-wing electorate ahead of next year's parliamentary elections. Within New Left, meanwhile, there is already a debate about the campaign, including whether hiding the party label weakened its identity.
And then there is Confederation. Its original candidate, Bartosz Bocheńczak, failed to collect the required 3,000 signatures and was not registered. A candidate from the much smaller and radical Crown, Michał Klimek, did run — but received only 4.11%. The episode exposed the difficulties of translating the party's strong national presence into an organised local campaign.
Poland Begins to Recognise Same-Sex Marriages Concluded Abroad
Poland still does not allow same-sex couples to marry, but over the past year court rulings and administrative decisions have changed how the state treats couples who married elsewhere in the EU. By late September 2026, those couples have gained tax and social insurance rights that were previously out of reach.
The process began on 25 November 2025, when the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that Poland must recognise same-sex marriages legally concluded in other member states. On 20 March 2026, Poland's Supreme Administrative Court implemented the judgment and obliged registry offices to transcribe such marriages into the Polish civil registry. The ruling did not introduce same-sex marriage into Polish law, but it opened a route for foreign marriages to enter the system.
Implementation followed quickly. Warsaw carried out the first transcription on 14 May. A government regulation allowing transcription nationwide came into force in August, and by the end of that month 84 couples had been entered in the registry.
Benefits were addressed next. The Social Insurance Institution (ZUS) said that couples with a transcribed certificate are entitled to full social benefits, including family allowance, social disability pension and funeral benefit. The National Health Fund (NFZ) confirmed that a spouse insured as a family member is fully entitled to NFZ-financed healthcare.
Taxation was settled most recently. The Ministry of Finance issued a general interpretation giving such spouses the same rights and obligations as other spouses. They can file joint income tax returns and use the preferential rules on inheritance and gift tax. They may also pay tax on behalf of a spouse and refuse to testify in proceedings concerning them, but they also become liable for their spouse's tax obligations. The finance minister estimated that the change affects several hundred people and has a minor effect on the budget.
The changes remain contested. On 28 July, the Constitutional Tribunal ruled that transcription is incompatible with the Constitution. Advocacy groups and the government dispute the ruling's authority, arguing that the Tribunal is improperly constituted. Right-wing politicians, including the head of President Karol Nawrocki's staff, have criticised the tax decision as unconstitutional.
The reforms also have clear limits. They cover marriages concluded abroad, not marriage in Poland, and same-sex parents are still not recognised, which affects the security of children. Advocates call the changes an important milestone, but not the final destination.
The Battle Over School Lunches
A new school food plan has become an unlikely political culture war. Since September, Polish schools have had to serve more vegetables, whole grains and legumes, while meat dishes are limited to twice a week. At least one lunch a week must be entirely plant-based and based on legumes.
The loudest opposition has come from parts of the right and the meat industry. Confederation MP Paweł Usiądek called the policy “ideology on a plate”, while former Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, sharply attacked the guidelines, calling them an "ideological madness" imposed on families without proper parental consultation. The meat industry argues that meat itself is not the problem and that the focus should instead be on the quality of school food.
There are also more practical objections. Some parents and schools report that children reject unfamiliar plant-based dishes, leading to food waste. A recent survey found 23% opposed any compulsory meat-free meals, while 26% thought one plant-based lunch a week was enough.
The government, however, says this is not about making children vegan. The Health Ministry describes the changes as disease prevention and a response to childhood obesity, noting that up to 80% of Polish children do not eat the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables. Education Minister Barbara Nowacka has strongly defended the changes, dismissing the political outrage as an overreaction that "defies common sense". She emphasized that the rules promote scientifically backed public health standards and help support local agricultural ecosystems rather than forcing children into strict veganism.
Security
Fire at Starlink Ground Station
On the evening of 23 September 2026, a fire broke out at a Starlink ground station in Wola Krobowska, a village less than 50 kilometres from Warsaw. Polish authorities say it was likely deliberate, though no suspect has been named and no one has been formally blamed.
The owner of the property where the equipment is located called emergency services after the antennas caught fire, and a power generator was also damaged. Firefighters extinguished the blaze and reported no injuries. The fire destroyed the distribution panel connecting to the station's antennas. Media reported that investigators found a bottle containing a flammable substance at the scene, which points to a homemade incendiary device.
The facility is operated by Exatel, a Polish state-owned telecommunications company. It is a ground gateway linking Starlink satellites to terrestrial networks and, together with a station near Kaunas in Lithuania, serves Central Europe and Ukraine. The damage caused the station to lose its internet connections, which disrupted access for several organizations, including the Ukrainian military.
Digital Affairs Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski said the circumstances point to a deliberate attempt to disable the station. He called the fire an element of hybrid warfare and said that "the modus operandi in this case is clearly Russian." Other officials were more cautious. A security services spokesman said it was too early to discuss causes or motives, though everything points to arson, and Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said sabotage was possible and could not be ruled out. Deputy Defence Minister Cezary Tomczyk said suspicious fires should by default be treated as possible sabotage. One alternative under consideration is a short circuit in the electrical system, and Polish authorities have not yet reported identifying a suspect or claimed that Russia was involved.
Local police are investigating, with the Internal Security Agency (ABW) and the Central Police Investigation Bureau (CBŚP) notified. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the fire service, police and prosecutor's office would take part.
The incident comes as Poland warns of growing hybrid threats. Gawkowski has said Poland faces between 2,000 and 3,000 cyberattacks on its infrastructure every day, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last week that intelligence assessments point to Russia preparing more hybrid attacks against countries backing Kyiv.
Poland and Lithuania: Would Poland Fight?
A growing political row concerns what Poland would do if Russia attacked Lithuania or another Baltic state. Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz has taken an unequivocal position: Poland should be among the first to seek the activation of NATO Article 5, and Polish forces would participate in the response. “If I were defence minister then, I would [...] propose that Poland be the first to come to their aid,” he said. He later put it even more bluntly: “100 per cent, Polish soldiers will take action” if another NATO ally is attacked.
That position has been challenged from the right. Mariusz Błaszczak, former defence minister and PiS leader in parliament, said that in the event of a Russian attack on Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania, “Polish soldiers should defend Poland.” He added that Poland should be strong within its alliances and stressed the country's own exposed geographical position. He did not reject NATO's Article 5, but questioned whether Polish troops should be sent to fight in the Baltic states.
The disagreement is particularly striking because Poland itself has troops stationed in Latvia as part of the NATO presence there. Kosiniak-Kamysz argues that if Poland expects allies to defend it, it cannot simultaneously signal that it might not defend them: “If we question whether we will help our closest neighbours, how can we expect anyone to help us?”
The government has also said that Poland would help evacuate Lithuanian civilians in the event of an attack. Kosiniak-Kamysz called this a matter of “decency and humanity”, pointing to Poland's experience of receiving Ukrainian refugees after Russia's 2022 invasion.
86,000 Shelters
Poland has begun marking around 86,000 designated shelters and places of temporary protection across the country with a new, standardised sign. The campaign is part of the government's effort to make civil-protection infrastructure easier to identify in an emergency. “This will allow citizens to easily and quickly identify locations providing basic protection in threat situations, such as an air attack, terrorist attack or sudden weather phenomena,” the interior ministry stressed.
The move comes as Poland rebuilds its civil-defence system after years of limited investment, with Russia’s war against Ukraine putting preparedness and civilian protection firmly back on the political agenda.
Last December, Poland’s interior ministry rolled out the Gdzie się ukryć (“Where to hide”) app and website, which provide an interactive map of shelter points and directions to them. They include tunnels, metro stations and underground garages, which are intended to provide protection in emergencies, including severe weather and air-attack threats.
Culture
Two Lalkas, One Polish Classic
There are few books in Poland that carry the cultural weight of Lalka. Bolesław Prus's 1889 novel is ostensibly a story about the impossible love between the merchant Stanisław Wokulski and the aristocrat Izabela Łęcka. But it is also a novel about class, social mobility, money, modernisation, inequality and a society caught between an old order and a new one. That is why, more than 140 years later, Lalka remains one of the central texts of Polish culture, and why every new generation seems to want to reinterpret it.
This autumn, Poland has something unusual: two new Lalkas at almost exactly the same time. One is a six-part Netflix series directed by Paweł Maślona, starring Tomasz Schuchardt as Wokulski and Sandra Drzymalska as Izabela. It premiered on 16 September. The other is a nearly three-hour cinema production directed by Maciej Kawalski, with Marcin Dorociński and Kamila Urzędowska in the leading roles. It opened in cinemas at the end of September.
This is not the first time Lalka has reached the screen. Wojciech Jerzy Has made a feature film in 1968. Ten years later, Ryszard Ber directed the much-loved nine-episode television series. The 1977 production in particular became a reference point for generations of Polish viewers.
The two new productions could hardly have chosen more different approaches. Kawalski's film is an ambitious, traditional cinematic adaptation: enormous sets, period costumes and one of the most star-studded casts assembled in recent Polish cinema. It aims to bring as much of Prus's world as possible to the screen. Critics have praised its scale, visual execution and fidelity, although some have argued that its ambition to retain so much of the novel makes the film crowded and occasionally episodic.
Maślona's Lalka goes in the opposite direction. Together with writers Paweł Demirski and Jagoda Dutkiewicz, he treats Prus as material for a contemporary reinterpretation rather than a text that must be reproduced faithfully. The series introduces new elements, sharper humour and grotesque, and puts the destructive relationship between Wokulski and Łęcka at its centre. Some critics have welcomed precisely this freedom, while others have pointed to uneven pacing and the decision to abandon or radically reshape some of the novel's themes and characters.
And perhaps that is what makes the double premiere so interesting. The question is not simply which Lalka is better. The two productions reveal two different ways of approaching cultural heritage: preserve the classic as faithfully as possible, or take it apart and see what it can say to us now.
In 2026, Lalka is still recognisable because the questions Prus asked have not disappeared. Who gets to belong to the elite? Can money buy social acceptance? What happens when social ambition becomes an obsession? And what does it mean to live in a society undergoing rapid change?
Society
Knife Attack at a Benedictine Abbey
On the morning of Thursday, 24 September 2026, a priest was killed and four other people were wounded in a knife rampage at a Catholic abbey complex in Jarosław, in south-eastern Poland. The attacker was a 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen, and all five victims, four men (three of them priests) and one woman, were hospitalized. One of the priests later died.
According to prosecutors, the suspect, identified as Ihor M., entered Poland from Germany on the night of 23 September and wanted to cross into Ukraine at the Korczowa checkpoint, but his vehicle lacked mandatory insurance. The Ukrainian ambassador to Poland said he lived in Germany and was refused entry for that reason. He then travelled to the abbey. Investigators are still establishing how he got from Korczowa to the abbey and why he chose it.
Prosecutors have charged him. The charges are murder, attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm, and he faces life imprisonment. The surviving victims are in stable condition.
The reaction was swift. President Karol Nawrocki wrote that the attack demands a decisive response from the state, which must act swiftly and uncompromisingly to enforce the law, and that Poland's principles and values must be respected by everyone present in the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the person responsible must be held fully accountable and called for a swift and thorough investigation.
Train Drivers Slow Down Poland's Railways After Fatal Crossing Crash
On 9 September 2026, an Intercity train travelling from Lublin to Szczecin hit a concrete mixer at a level crossing near Sokolniki Suche in central Poland. Several carriages derailed, a passenger died and others were injured, including both drivers. Initial findings suggest the truck entered the tracks while the red warning lights were flashing, and the crossing had no barriers. Prosecutors are investigating on suspicion of negligently causing a rail disaster, which carries up to eight years in prison. The crash came a week after a train hit a lorry in Gdańsk that had been trapped by descending barriers, injuring only the train driver.
Two days later the train drivers' union called on drivers to cross every level crossing in the country at 20 km/h, the safe speed set by the railway rules. Its president, Leszek Miętek, admitted this would cause delays, but said a day of delays was better than more deaths on the railways. Around 90% of PKP Intercity's long-distance services were delayed by an average of 30 minutes on Friday morning, and the action was shortened to end at noon. The union described it as an act of desperation and said the fundamental issue is ensuring consequences for drivers who cross on a red light. It said it had long warned about the danger, and that it had succeeded in drawing politicians' attention to the issue.
The government reacted quickly. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called for a radical tightening of the rules, arguing that earlier appeals to drivers had failed. The government approved a draft bill under which drivers would face an automatic three-month licence suspension for entering a crossing on a red light, driving around lowered barriers, or entering without enough space to clear the tracks. Under current law, a red-light violation already carries a fine of at least PLN 2,000 (ca. EUR 450). The scale of the problem is considerable: PKP PLK counted 130 accidents and collisions at level and pedestrian crossings in the first eight months of 2026, six more than a year earlier.
Stricter penalties are one part of the answer, but the union's position is that the state also has to fix the infrastructure. Polish crossings are graded by protection level. According to one report, the union's demands include upgrading or grade-separating the most dangerous crossings, mandatory barriers wherever signals are used without them, and CCTV monitoring of crossings, so that violations can be enforced. Reports say around 2,000 crossings still have no barriers.
The most effective fix is to remove the crossing altogether. Poland is already replacing the most dangerous crossings with overpasses or tunnels, funded partly by EU money, and upgrading the crossings that remain with modern barriers, lights and remote monitoring. The rules already allow radar, thermal imaging or infrared sensors to detect vehicles stuck on the tracks, along with variable message signs, speed bumps and coloured road surfaces at crossings.
International Affairs
Poland and Belarus Hold First Foreign Minister Talks in a Decade
The foreign ministers of Poland and Belarus met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, in what is reported to be the first meeting at that level since 2016. Poland's Radosław Sikorski sat down with his Belarusian counterpart, Maksim Ryzhenkov. Sikorski said the initiative came from the Belarusian side and that the talks took place on the UN's neutral territory.
Relations had been essentially frozen for years over political repression in Belarus, a migrant crisis at the border and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Sikorski gave two reasons the meeting became possible. The first was a more normalised situation on the border, where Belarus has since 2021 helped tens of thousands of migrants, mainly from Asia and Africa, cross into Poland. Poland has since installed physical and electronic barriers, deployed thousands of armed officers and banned asylum claims by irregular crossers, and attempted crossings have fallen sharply this year. The second was the release of political prisoners, including Poles. The meeting also comes as the Trump administration has reopened dialogue with Minsk, easing some sanctions in exchange for prisoner releases.
Sikorski called it a first, introductory meeting, adding that contacts are also taking place at other levels. He said Poland will soon open a new embassy building in Minsk, and that when a neighbour wishes to thaw relations, Poland is always first to agree. Asked whether the talks signalled recognition of the government in Minsk, he answered that Poland recognises states rather than governments. Belarus's foreign ministry said the talks assessed the state of ties and paths for their development. Using a metaphor from Sikorski, who had said a snowdrop can bloom if the weather is favorable, it called the meeting "snowdrop diplomacy" and a nice restart, adding that Minsk is ready to host the next round.
Much of the change traces back to Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist and leading figure of Belarus's Polish minority. He was arrested in March 2021 and sentenced in 2023 to eight years in a penal colony on charges widely condemned as politically motivated. On 28 April 2026, he was released in a US-brokered prisoner exchange, mediated by US envoy John Coale, and taken to Poland (read more in the April issue).
He said almost immediately that he wanted to go back. On 8 September he crossed the border into Belarus on a week-long visit to his hometown of Grodno, his first trip since his release. He met his family, friends and former political prisoners, and received a hero's welcome from ethnic Poles, and the Union of Poles in Belarus said the visit went smoothly. He returned to Poland on 15 September, before travelling to the United States and Canada for meetings. Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya called his decision an act of extraordinary courage, but stressed that it is not a sign of thaw, as arrests and intimidation continue in Belarus.
The talks are best seen as a cautious probe rather than a breakthrough. Warsaw is testing how much room Minsk has to manoeuvre in Moscow's shadow, while keeping its distance from any endorsement of Lukashenko's government.
Economy
Moody’s Downgrades Poland
Moody’s has cut Poland’s sovereign credit rating from A2 to A3, the first downgrade by one of the major rating agencies since 2016. The agency points to a sustained weakening of Poland’s public finances, including large budget deficits, rising government debt and increasing debt-servicing costs. The outlook was changed from negative to stable.
The downgrade is a reminder that Poland’s strong economic growth is increasingly being accompanied by a difficult fiscal picture, particularly as defence spending and other public expenditure remain very high.
Poland & Germany
Cape Pomerania Clearing Its Way
Poland’s plans for a EUR 2.3 billion deepwater container terminal in Świnoujście have cleared another major legal hurdle, after the country’s Supreme Administrative Court rejected an appeal by a German environmental group.
The ruling leaves the project’s environmental decision legally binding and removes a significant obstacle to construction. The planned terminal, known as Cape Pomerania, is one of Poland’s biggest maritime infrastructure projects. Construction began in June and involves reclaiming around 186 hectares of land from the Baltic, alongside the construction of almost three kilometres of quays and a deepwater basin capable of handling some of the world’s largest container ships. The terminal is expected to be operational around 2029–2030.
The project has drawn opposition from across the border, particularly on the German side of the island of Usedom. German environmental organisation Lebensraum Vorpommern, backed by environmental groups in Poland and the municipality of Heringsdorf, has raised concerns about the impact of dredging and construction on the Baltic ecosystem. Critics have also pointed to protected areas and the possibility of unexploded wartime ammunition remaining on the seabed.
The latest court decision does not necessarily end every avenue of opposition, but it gives the Polish government a clearer path to continue with the investment.
Warsaw sees the terminal as more than a port expansion. The government argues that a major deepwater facility in Świnoujście could strengthen Poland’s position in Baltic and Central European logistics, attract new cargo flows and reduce dependence on ports outside the country.
For its opponents, the central question remains environmental: whether the expected economic and strategic benefits justify such a large intervention in a sensitive coastal area.
Polls & Trends
Party Support
IBRiS for Rzeczpospolita, 18-19.09.2026
Civic Coalition 30,9%
PiS 17,3%
Confederation 15,3%
Left 7,7%
Development+ 6,4%
PSL 4,4%
Together 3,1%
Poland 2050 0,2%