The Polish authorities unexpectedly changed the questions of the national referendum, which is scheduled to be held simultaneously with the parliamentary elections on October 15 this year.
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In Poland, simultaneously with the parliamentary elections next autumn, they intend to hold a referendum on the issue of accepting migrants under the European relocation program. Later it became known that the referendum also wants to raise the retirement age, the privatization of state-owned enterprises, the demolition of the fence on the Polish-Belarusian border.
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On Wednesday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki submitted a proposal to the Speaker of the Seimas, Elzbiete Vitek, to call a national referendum.
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Two of the four referendum questions contained in the prime minister’s proposal are significantly different from the questions that the leaders of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party voiced in their videos circulated on social networks.
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The first question was voiced on Friday by PiS chairman Jarosław Kaczynski. He said that the question would be: “Do you support the sale of state-owned enterprises?”. In the proposal submitted by the government to the Sejm, the content of the first question was changed: “Do you support the sale of state property to foreign entities, which leads to the loss of control of Poles and Poles over strategic sectors of the economy?”
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The second referendum question, announced on Saturday by ex-premier and MEP Beata Szydło, was: “Do you support raising the retirement age, which is currently 60 for women and 65 for men?” In the proposal submitted by the government, this question was changed to: “Do you support raising the retirement age, including restoring the retirement age to 67 for women and men?” Previously, the retirement age was raised in Poland, but then lowered again.
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The third and fourth referendum questions announced by Morawiecki and National Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak remained unchanged. However, they have been replaced.
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The third question is: “Do you support the acceptance of thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa in accordance with the forced resettlement mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy?”
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“Do you support the elimination of the barrier on the border of the Republic of Poland with the Republic of Belarus?” – this is how the last question submitted to the referendum is worded.
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Earlier, the Polish opposition announced that it would boycott the referendum, as it considers it part of the Rights and Justice campaign.
