On Saturday, by the majority of one vote, the Sejm adopted the Senate's amendments concerning the so-called provisions on impunity of officials and entrepreneurs. The deputies also adopted a dozen other Senate amendments.
Act on aid for refugees signed by the president. Impunity denied
Published March 14, 2022 08:32
Fot: Andrzej Hrechorowicz; prezydent.pl
On Friday night, the Senate adopted a total of sixty amendments to the law on assistance to Ukrainian citizens in connection with an armed conflict in the territory of that state. On Saturday, the Sejm adopted a dozen of them, including those that deleted the provisions on the so-called impunity of public officials and entrepreneurs. The absolute majority needed to reject this amendment was 229 votes. 228 deputies voted against the amendment, 227 against, and one person abstained. It was crucial to vote together with the opposition of three PiS MPs and one Kukiz'15 MP, and to abstain from Paweł Kukiz. Impunity fell literally by a hair.
The provision on the so-called administrative impunity would mean decriminalization of violation of public finance discipline and violation of powers if the perpetrator committed such an act, acting in order to, inter alia, protect the life or health of many people during the war against Poland, or during military operations or occupation on the territory of the Republic of Poland, EU, NATO or other states bordering Poland. Many lawyers pointed out that although the Seym apparently agreed to the restriction (the state of the pandemic was deleted), the war in Ukraine has been going on since 2014. In the case of entrepreneurs, this would apply to mismanagement during the war, but also to the time in Poland, inter alia, state of emergency, state of epidemic threat or state of epidemic.
The special law guarantees the legality of stay for Ukrainian citizens, as well as for their spouses who do not have Ukrainian citizenship, who came from Ukraine to Poland from the beginning of the Russian invasion (from February 24). Under the special act, refugees from Ukraine will be able to, inter alia, receive a PESEL number. They will also be able to gain access to health care, education, will be entitled to benefits for bringing up children and other types of support, and they will be able to start work on a simplified basis.
Most of the provisions of the act do not apply to Ukrainians who resided legally in Poland before that date. For them, only the extension of the validity of their visas and residence permits until the end of 2022.
On March 12, Andrzej Duda signed the law of March 12, 2022 on helping Ukrainian citizens in connection with an armed conflict in the territory of that country.
