Poland’s interest rates are likely to remain unchanged until at least the end of 2021, Poland’s central bank chief has said. The head of the National Bank of Poland was speaking after the Polish the bank’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Council left interest rates unchanged despite Poland currently experiencing the highest growth in inflation in the entire EU bloc.

The base interest rate in Poland has remained at 1.5 percent for a little over four years.

An initiative launched by a group of citizens in Berlin nearly a year and a half ago to restart discussions for a memorial to honour the six million Poles who died during World War II is reaching a critical stage according to the German news-site, Deutsche Welle. At the end of 2017 the former president of the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning, appealed to German lawmakers and the public to build a memorial in the centre of Berlin to commemorate Polish victims of the German occupation.

Well-known politicians, scientists and others backed his call and the idea has been welcomed in Poland and by the German government.

However, some critics see the remembrance of victims by separate nations as problematic.

The final decision needs to be made by German lawmakers and the first discussion in parliament did not yield agreement.

A group of German politicians are now trying to win support in parliament for the memorial project. The Polish side would like to cement support for the idea of the monument by the September 1 anniversary of the start of WWII.

Poland’s biggest oil refiner PKN Orlen is likely to face an EU antitrust investigation into its planned takeover of rival Lotos and may even face a veto due to their combined market share according to a Reuters report quoting sources familiar with the deal.

State-run PKN said last year that it plans to buy at least a 53% stake in its rival Lotos.

PKN submitted a draft notification to the European Commission in November and said it expected approval by mid-2019 so that it could be completed by the end of the year.

However, the formal request for approval to the Commission only came this Wednesday and due to competition concerns PKN will likely face long and difficult talks with the Commission and analysts say it is unlikely to receive approval by the autumn when Poland holds a general election.

The deal might collapse if there is a government reshuffle after the vote, analysts said and there may be other hurdles related to political issues due to EU criticism of Poland on several topics.

The Gdansk Medical University’s lung transplant centre is celebrating its first year of operation and is already in second place in the country in terms of the number of operations carried out and their success rate. There have been 10 operations performed in its first year. 3 specialists from the leading hospital in Zabrze were hired at the start of the program and they have led the team to great success in such a short period of time.

In an interview with the latest patient to be treated by, a 52-year-old woman, the donor recipient admitted that she was overjoyed with the results of the operation. She stated, “There really is no comparison to what was before. I got a second life from God”.

AG/RGEN