From 1 January 2022, the map of Poland will include ten more places with the city status. After the changes, our country will consist of 964 cities. The city status provides a chance for development, faster progress and better infrastructure. It is also an opportunity to attract new investors. The Prime Minister noted that most of these towns regained city rights that they had lost, among other things, as a result of tsarist repressions after the January Uprising.

The head of the Polish government took part in the gala summarising four competitions relating to the life and work of Cyprian Kamil Norwid. The year 2021 was declared the year of this outstanding poet, an accomplished and versatile author, by the Sejm. The competitions provided an opportunity to present Norwid’s work.

This year, Christmas Eve is very special for the people who are serving on our eastern border - dedicated to protecting their country and far away from their loved ones. During a meeting with soldiers and officers, the Head of the Polish government wished them a peaceful and quiet Christmas Eve thanked them for their commitment to defending the security, not only of the territory of the Republic of Poland but of the entire European Union.

The head of the Polish government, in a very special way, addressed this year's wishes to the services that care for the health and life of Poles on a daily basis. Christmas is a very important time for us. For many, it is a time of respite and meetings with people who are important to us, whom we have often not seen for a long time. Thanks to the work of our services, we can spend this time safely.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited the Pszczyna county, where the No. 933 regional road has recently been made available to drivers. Thanks to this, the Śląskie Voivodeship has gained yet another new road section. Road infrastructure modernisation contributes to the improvement of travel conditions by shortening the travel time between towns. The No. 933 regional road is bound to further increase resident safety and attract new investors. It is in no small part thanks to Poland’s expanding road network that more and more regions can benefit from faster economic growth.

The Transformation 3.0 programme that is currently being prepared aims to bring post-industrial changes to create new jobs for Voivodeship inhabitants. To that end, it takes into account solutions that have proved successful in the Programme for Silesia in such fields as infrastructure, environmental protection, health care, education and local government official activity, comprising tens of billions in invested funding. Yet the government still strives to bring better perspectives, including innovative projects and future coal, gas, nuclear and hydrogen, as well as wind and sun technologies. Such solutions can help Silesia to fully capitalise on its potential.

We are working on connecting roads to ensure an appropriate communication architecture throughout Poland. To that end, we created more than 400 km of new roads across the country in 2021 alone. By no means is this the end of our development efforts – Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has awarded PLN 4.5 billion in subsidies for the construction of 51 new ring roads as part of the Government Road Construction Fund (GRCF). The new road infrastructure will supplement the current regional roads to reduce traffic in many localities and improve the safety of their residents. Moreover, the ring roads will make it possible to reroute traffic away from congested city centres. The ring road construction project was announced during the opening of the No. 933 regional road in the Silesian Voivodeship.

On 20 December, the Prime Minister attended the opening of the longest tunnel in Poland, which is part of a 4.6-kilometer-long section of the Warsaw Southern Bypass. The investment is located near Warsaw's Ursynów on the S2 route. On the same day, the road from the Puławska junction to the Warszawa Wilanów junction was made available to drivers. The government is working to connect roads that will provide adequate traffic architecture throughout Poland. In 2021 alone, more than 400 km of new arteries were built in our country.

All government programmes are guided by the main goal – the prosperity and comfort of the lives of Poles. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki visited the Single Mothers’ Home at the Archdiocese of Kraków, where, thanks to a targeted grant from the state budget, reconstruction and renovation is underway. The investment will enable adapting the home to the needs of the women and their children who live there, increase the number of places available and create an office for counselling and psychological support.

On 16 December, the head of the Polish government took part in a meeting of the European Council (EC) in Brussels. Its agenda focused on problems related to the migration crisis and the defence of the European Union's eastern border. It also addressed issues concerning the ETS system and high prices of energy and gas.