Today’s news round-up in Poland

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

Rp.pl - The newspaper Rzeczpospolita wrote that government plans to abolish tolls on state-owned motorways, and, eventually, stretches operated by private firms, could end up costing the state billions of zloty. The lack of revenue from tolls, for example, will deprive the National Road Fund of income for the construction and maintenance of roads, and the budget shortfall will have to be found from other sources, such as an increase in the tax on vehicle fuel. More money will also have to be found to compensate firms that now operate concessions.

Wyborcza.pl – Mariusz Blaszczak, the defence minister, is under pressure for his handling of the affair surrounding the finding of an apparent foreign missile in a forest near Bydgoszcz, the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza wrote. President Duda has sided with the military top brass in the affair, the paper reported, and there is criticism of the defence minister from within the ranks of his own party, Law and Justice. The criticism comes despite Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Law and Justice president, publically backing Blaszczak.

TVN24.pl - In an interview for the TVN24 news channel, Boguslaw Grabowski, an economist and a former member of the Monetary Policy Council (RPP), the body which sets interest rates in Poland, said that the RPP has become politicised. He added that in his day it was "not an agency for a political party." Grabowski was mainly referring to the RPP blaming high inflation in Poland on the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, while blaming the government is the "Kremlin's narrative."

TVPInfo.pl – Police launched 'Operation Speed' on Friday in a bid to crack down on drivers, or so-called "road pirates," breaking the speed limit. Extra officers will be deployed on the roads, especially in positions that need "extra monitoring" such as intersections, pedestrian crossings and cyclist crossings. Last year, failure to adjust the speed of a vehicle to match traffic conditions was the cause of 23.1 percent of road accidents.