On 4 September, the Head of the Polish Government has once again talked over the phone with Prime Minister of Australia Scott Morrison. The main topic of conversation was cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic. In August, Poland provided Australia with 1 million vaccines, which were given, among others, to residents of Sydney. The call was also an opportunity to discuss the current international situation. Next year, our countries will be celebrating the 50th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations.

“It was the fact that factories, one after another, joined the demands that caused the entire Poland to become an arena for the insurrection led by the ‘Solidarity’ trade union. And it was an insurrection that the communist authorities could not extinguish,” said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during the celebrations commemorating the 41st anniversary of the Jastrzębie-Zdrój Agreement. In a special “time capsule”, the Head of the Government presented the letter of intent concerning the construction of the multi-functional Lech Kaczyński Pavilion of Agreement in Jastrzębie-Zdrój. He also took part in the ceremonial unveiling of reliefs by Jan Raszka in the Vestibule of the building of the Silesian Voivodeship Office.

Recently, the situation at the border between Poland and Belarus has become tense. The actions of Alexander Lukashenko’s regime are an attempt to destabilise the situation in Poland and an instrumental game played at the cost of the immigrants. We are responsible for the safety of Poles and the tightness of our borders. For this reason, at the request of the Council of Ministers, President Andrzej Duda has issued a regulation declaring a state of emergency in certain towns and villages in the Podlaskie and Lubelskie Voivodeships. The state of emergency has been declared for 30 days and concerns only an approx. 3-km-long strip along the border with Belarus.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has visited the Upper Silesia Medical Centre. Thanks to Government support, the Centre is to establish the Silesia Centre for Infectious Diseases at the cost of over PLN 43 million. The second major investment project for the Centre will be the Modernisation of the Department of Electrocardiology costing over PLN 10 million. These investment projects are a part of a comprehensive programme for improvement of healthcare in Poland, with the Government intending to allocate up to 7 percent of the GDP for healthcare financing within the next 6 years.

1 September is a special day for all students, parents and teachers. After the summer holidays and months of distance learning due to COVID-19 pandemic, children and young people are returning to their school desks. To ensure safe classroom learning for all, schools received such supplies as masks, gloves and thermometers. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki spent the first day of September in Branica Radzyńska in the Lublin Voivodeship. Together with students and teachers of a primary school, he ceremonially opened the new school year. For the children and young people of Branica Radzyńska, the new school year also means a completely new building where they will be gaining knowledge in the coming months and years. To help finance the new school, the government provided nearly PLN 1.8 million.

“Future of Europe” was the motto of this year’s Bled Strategic Forum, which was attended by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. The meeting was held on 1 September in Slovenia. Heads of countries, governments and international institutions discussed, among others, topics related to the gaps between the West and the East and the enlargement of the European Union. The visit in Slovenia was also an excellent opportunity for the Head of the Polish Government to meet with Prime Minister Janez Janša.

The Head of Government took part in the solemn celebrations in Gdańsk on the 82nd anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. The morning commemorations began with the sound of alarm sirens at 4.45 a.m. At this hour, on 1 September 1939, a German attack on Polish soldiers stationed at Westerplatte took place. As the Prime Minister recalled, the Poles made the greatest sacrifice during World War II.

“Poland’s road to solidarity and then to freedom was long. The ‘Solidarity’ trade union was formed through the great effort of those who fought on various barricades. The workers’ strikes of 1976 and the events that followed them provided the spark,” stated Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during the celebrations commemorating the 41st anniversary of the strikes of 1980 and the formation of the “Solidarity” trade union. The celebrations also included presentation of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity” scholarships for gifted young people.

The Government will allocate a total of approx. PLN 7 billion by 2029 towards modernisation of Polish hospitals. Improvement in the quality and availability of healthcare services through investments in healthcare infrastructure is the main assumption of the Subfund for Modernisation of Healthcare Entities. “The great hospital modernisation programme, which is a part of the Polish Order, will change the nature of Polish hospitals,” emphasised Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

The safe return of children and young people to schools is currently one of the most important tasks faced by the Government led by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Preparations for the new school year have begun before summer holidays. At the Cabinet Council meeting, the Head of the Government presented the prepared solutions for classroom learning. In cooperation with the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves, schools throughout Poland will receive preventive equipment, such as disinfection stations with temperature measurement function, masks and gloves. In addition, the Ministry of Education and Science has prepared sanitary guidelines, a set of recommendations and suggestions whose goal is safe organisation of lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic.