The Sejm will begin a two-day meeting on Wednesday in which it will consider, among other things, a request for a nationwide referendum. The delegates will also consider the Senate’s amendments to the law on shields for power engineers and lignite miners and continue work on the “Let’s protect children” project.
The government asked the Sejm to organize a nationwide referendum. The application contains four questions.
The first reads: “Do you support the sale of state assets to foreign entities, causing Polish women and men to lose control of strategic sectors of the economy?” Second: “Are you in favor of raising the retirement age, including reinstating the increased retirement age to 67 for men and women?” Third: “Do you support the removal of the barrier on the border between the Republic of Poland and the Republic of Belarus?”. Fourth: “Do you support the admission of thousands of illegal immigrants from the Middle East and Africa under the forced relocation mechanism imposed by the European bureaucracy?”
According to the provisional agenda, the Sejm will consider the government’s motion on Thursday morning. A vote will then take place. Under the Rules of Procedure, the Sejm passes a resolution on the adoption of a motion by an absolute majority of votes in the presence of at least half of the statutory number of deputies.
If the motion passes, the Sejm will refer it to the Legislative Committee, which must prepare a draft resolution on the organization of a referendum. According to the plans, the first reading of the motion for a resolution will take place on Thursday afternoon. The Sejm passes a resolution to hold a referendum by an absolute majority of votes in the presence of at least half the statutory number of deputies.
The referendum will take place on 15 October at the same time as the parliamentary elections.
According to the preliminary schedule, the Sejm will have to deal with, among other things: a resolution from the senate on the rejection of the amendment to the law on the national referendum, which should ensure that the referendum can be held on the same day as the parliamentary elections, the president or the European Parliament, by mainly standardizing voting hours, i.e. from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
The rapporteur of the joint Senate committees, Krzysztof Kwiatkowski (independent), pointed to the comments of the Legislative Bureau, according to which the provisions do not serve to make it easier for voters, because they extend the hours of elections and referendum in general. He stressed that leaving open the possibility of holding referenda at different times would not help voter and referendum turnout. He also cited other concerns of the Bureau: the exceptionally fast law enforcement and failure to take into account the fact that the combination of this year’s parliamentary elections with the referendum will lead to a situation where the distinction between referendum and election will be difficult . expenditure.
The Sejm will also consider the amendments of the Senate to the amendment of the Special Solutions for the Protection of Electricity Consumers Act in 2023 in connection with the situation on the electricity market. One of these concerns the solidarity contribution from extraordinary profits from coal mining and coke production in 2022 – it must only be paid by companies employing more than 3,000 people. employees, ie only Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa. However, four other entities would be exempted, including Koksownia Częstochowa Nowa, belonging to the private Zarmen Group, and Victoria Coking Plant in Wałbrzych, belonging to the state-owned TF Silesia. This amendment was supported by the government.
The Sejm also has to deal with the Senate amendments to the shields law for power engineers and lignite miners. The main changes concern the possibility to apply for coverage even before the coverage program has been notified by the European Commission and the provision of resources to ZUS to support the coverage process.
The deputies must also continue to work on a civil draft to amend the education law, the so-called Let’s protect the children. The draft provides for the exclusion of associations and organizations that “want to promote issues related to the sexualization of children” in kindergartens and primary schools. At the end of July, the Sejm rejected the opposition’s motion to reject the “Let’s protect children” project. The regulation was thus forwarded to the Committee on Education, Science and Youth.
kk/PAP
Source: wPolityce