Today’s news round up in Poland

Start your day with a summary of today’s top stories from Poland’s leading news sites.

Wyborcza.pl – The newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza looked at why the governing Law and Justice party (PiS) backed away from plans to freeze the membership of the boards of some state-controlled companies. The plans, which would have made it much harder to remove government appointed board members, were laid out in legislation tabled by some PiS MPs. But on Wednesday it was withdrawn. Wyborcza wrote that a number of PiS MPs were unhappy with it, complaining that it would damage the party’s reputation at a time when it was struggling in the polls. It also played into the opposition’s hands, the MPs feared.

TVP.pl – Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, compared Vladimir Putin to a "drug dealer" owing to the way he distributed cheap gas, public broadcaster TVPInfo reported on Thursday. Citing an interview Morawiecki gave to the newspapers Bild and Fakt, the television station said the prime minister argued that once the countries were hooked on Russian gas they found it hard to give it up. He also reiterated Polish support for Ukrainian membership of the EU, saying that the country should not be allowed to fall under the influence of Russia or China.

TVN24.pl – The private news network TVN24 interviewed Adam Bielan, an MEP from the governing Law and Justice party. In the interview Bielan urged his party colleagues to be more "flexible" in their negotiations with the EU to unlock billions of euros in post-pandemic funding. Brussels has blocked Poland’s access to the funds due to a long-standing dispute over the rule of law. The MEP said that he was sometimes criticised for his stance, but also added that much of the blame for the impasse lay with the EU.

RP.pl – The newspaper Rzeczpospolita warned that another battle between Poland and the EU could break out, this time, over air quality. The European Commission has proposed tightening regulations on air quality, and this could put it on the path to conflict with Warsaw. Poland has some of the worst towns in Europe when it comes to air quality. In 2019, the European Commission pointed out, airborne pollution caused around 40,000 deaths in Poland, and that number shows little sign of dropping.