Former socialist PRL security officials barred from public service

President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, has signed an amendment to the law that prohibits the employment of officials and employees of the security organs of the socialist Polish People's Republic (PRL) in the civil service and state institutions.

This information was reported by TVN.

The Polish Sejm passed amendments to the law on civil service and certain other acts prepared by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration of Poland in April, overcoming a veto by the Sejm in May.

The Office of the President of Poland announced that Andrzej Duda signed the law on June 14.

The amendment introduces a ban on hiring individuals who worked in the state security organs or were employees of these organs from July 22, 1944, to July 31, 1990, in the civil service and state institutions.

Former employees of Soviet security forces who are still in public service or provided false information during employment will be automatically dismissed.

Civil servants born before August 1, 1972, who fail to submit a declaration of previous employment within 30 days from the effective date of the amendment will also be dismissed.

According to TVN, up to 40,000 civil servants in Poland may lose their jobs as a result.

The amendment also introduces new rules for the recruitment process, including changing the basic form of application from paper to electronic and simplifying the methods of announcing vacancies that can be applied for by foreigners. It also expands the catalog of working time systems in the civil service. In addition to the regular and equivalent systems, a shortened workweek system and a system that involves work only on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays will be introduced.

Furthermore, the law establishes the Day of Civil Service and the Order of Honor for Merit to the Civil Service. The Day of Civil Service will be celebrated on February 17, the anniversary of the adoption of the first Polish law on civil service in 1922.

The law will come into effect three months after its publication, while the provisions regarding the ban on hiring officers and employees of the PRL security services will take effect the day after the publication of the act's text.

Previously, graduates of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) were dismissed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland as part of a broader decommunization process.

As reported by The Gaze, Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, stated that Poland should pay Russia $750 billion, which the USSR allegedly spent on its reconstruction after World War II.

Relations between Poland and Russia have been tense for a long time, but they worsened significantly after Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of last year.

In March 2022, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland announced the expulsion of 45 Russian diplomats, suspecting them of espionage.