Europe’s conservative leaders to meet in Madrid
Europe’s politically conservative and right-leaning leaders are meeting this weekend for a summit in Madrid. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is among a number of leaders to attend including Marine Le Pen, who leads France’s National Rally party, as well as conservative and rightist leaders from Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria and Lithuania. Hosted by the leader of Spain’s rightist Vox party, Santiago Abascal, the meeting began with an official dinner on Friday evening before two working sessions which are being held today. The get-together, entitled „Defending Europe”, will focus on issues such as combating depopulation and protecting energy sovereignty as well as defence cooperation in the face of current threats, including those from the East, and the situation of the European manufacturing sector in a global context.
Source – Polskie Radio
Ukraine crisis no threat to Poland, president tells security council
Poland’s president Andrzej Duda told a Friday sitting of the country’s National Security Council that the Russia-Ukraine crisis poses no direct military threats to Poland. Duda, who called the sitting in connection with the mounting Ukraine-Russia crisis, said that the situation around Ukraine did not endanger Poland whilst admitting that the country had not seen a similar situation since 1989 when Poland began its transition from communist to democratic rule. Duda also said that he was pleased to see that all political forces in Poland were showing a responsible attitude in the situation. Russia, which has been deploying large military forces on its border with Ukraine, has said it will withdraw them only under US and Nato guarantees that Ukraine will not become a Nato member, and has threatened military steps should the demands remain unmet.
Source – Polish Associated Press
Polish banking sentiment remains weak
Poland’s banking outlook has taken a turn for the worse this month with a continued negative outlook in the coming months according to a study. The „Pengab” index, which measures banking sentiment in the country, went down by 1 point to 17.4 in January, according to the Polish Bank Association and market researcher Kantar TNS. The data indicates that bankers are currently pessimistic about lending activities including household loads and expect an increase in customer interest in deposits. The survey includes data from 90 bank outlets nationwide. In April 2020, banking sentiment fell to its lowest level on record during the course of the pandemic.
Source – Polskie Radio
Storm force winds forecast for Gdansk on Saturday into Sunday
And finally, residents of the Three Cities can expect very strong winds to blow tonight and into Sunday. Forecasts show that a low pressure system coming from Norway will bring strong winds of up to 100 km/h and gusts of up to 125 km/h on the open sea. The strong winds will drop later into Sunday but may still blow strongly until Monday evening.
Source – Radio Gdańsk
Weather
As we just mentioned in the main bulletin, today will a cloudy and windy day with winds becoming very strong into the evening and night with temperatures of 6 degrees centigrade (43 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day and 2 degrees overnight. It will stay windy tomorrow with sunny spells and rain and sleet showers and temperatures of 5 degrees during the day and -1 degrees overnight.
Martin Caren/aKa
