Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda and Polish President Andrzej Duda will gather today to commemorate the historic Battle of Grunwald, widely considered to be one of the most significant military victories in Polish history.
Fought on July 15, 1410, an alliance of Polish and Lithuanian forces led by Polish King Władysław Jagiełło crushed the Knights of the Teutonic Order, a force which had previously been regarded as invincible.

As well as attending ceremonies and unveiling a monument at the site of the battle, Duda and Nausėda will hold talks on bilateral relations, the coronavirus crisis, and regional cooperation.

The annual reenactment of the medieval battle, the largest of its kind in Poland and one of the largest in Europe, was cancelled by organisers this year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Radio Poland, PolandIN

The European Commission gave the green light yesterday for a merger of Poland’s two largest fuel firms, PKN Orlen and Lotos, provided certain conditions are met.

PKN Orlen, Poland’s largest oil refiner, formally asked the European Commission last year to greenlight its acquisition of the Lotos group, Poland’s No. 2 refining company.

The Commission had previously expressed concerns that the merger could reduce competition in fuel and related markets for Poland and neighboring countries. Yesterday, however, the Commission reversed course and announced it had approved the move, providing that Orlen meets a number of conditions, including selling 30 percent of its shares in Lotos refineries.

CEO of PKN Orlen Daniel Obajtek celebrated the Commission’s decision, saying the merger was necessary for Orlen, Lotos, and the Polish economy as a whole.

Source: Radio Poland

Polish author Olga Tokarczuk’s Nobel Prize lecture has been named Emerging Europe’s Artistic Achievement for 2020.

Tokarczuk delivered the lecture in December of last year upon being awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in literature. Andrew Wrobel, a founding partner of Emerging Europe, described Tokarczuk’s Nobel Prize lecture as „an acute analysis of the state of miscommunication in the modern world.”

„It was thought that the internet, in providing universal access to all knowledge, would not only bring people happiness, well-being, health, and wealth, but would also create an equal and just society,” Wrobel explains. „Instead, we suffer from isolation, fragmentation, a cacophony of sounds, disinformation, fake news. The world is dying, and we are failing to notice.”

Tokarczuk’s literary works have garnered international praise from critics and have also proved popular with the reading public. Tokarczuk’s lecture in Polish (with a written translation in English) is available at the official website of the Nobel Prize.

Previous Nobel Prize winners from Poland include literary heavyweights Wisława Szymborska (1996), Czesław Miłosz (1980), Wladyslaw Reymont (1924) and Henryk Sienkiewicz (1905).

Source: Radio Poland, nobelprize.org

There are new complications in the case of a  Polish man who absconded with his beloved pet mountain lion.

The man, Polish veteran Kamil Stanek, originally fled into the forest with his pet puma after refusing to turn her over to authorities. Legal regulations in Poland forbid keeping dangerous animals as pets, and the man was ordered to surrender the puma to a zoo in Poznań.

After being on the run for some six months, Stanek, agreed this week to surrender the animal to a zoo in Chorzów, close to his home in the region of Silesia. The move sparked a new controversy, however, as another zoo is still claiming rightful ownership of the animal.

In a press conference earlier this week, Stanek said he is now focused on “working to put the legal status right” which promises to be a complex and time-consuming process. „There’s no use crying over spilt milk,” he explains, „the mess just needs to be cleaned up.”

The puma in question, known as „Nubia,” will now be in quarantine for 30 days at the zoo in Chorzow; the animal is reportedly in good condition.

Source: Radio Poland

Weather

Today will be partly cloudy with a light breeze coming in from the southeast and a slight chance of rain in the early afternoon. Temperatures will peak around a high of 24°C, or 75°F, dropping overnight to 14°C or 58°F.  Clouds will begin to gather later in the day, with rain showers expected overnight and throughout the day tomorrow.

EP/am