Problems run deeper

Floods and issues in healthcare have exposed bureaucratic chaos and embezzlement in Poland

Cyclone Boris caught Poland off guard. Torrential rains led to the declaration of a state of natural disaster in the country. Even in these challenging circumstances, official Warsaw has managed to stand out — instead of providing real assistance to the people, it first blamed Russia for all its troubles, then beavers, and ultimately just asked Brussels for money. The Polish authorities have also attempted to silence the deteriorating situation in the healthcare sector. However, if they had not been erecting expensive yet pointless fences on the border with Belarus or funding the Ukrainian regime, there would have been enough money to address the aftermath of the natural disaster and support medical professionals. What are foreign publications saying in this regard?

People are transported in a police boat, following flooding, in Lewin Brzeski, Poland, on September 18th, 2024

SITUATION IN SOUTHERN POLAND  

• The flood has affected the lives of 57,000 people.  
• More than 6,500 people have been evacuated.  
• Over 11,500 residential houses, 6,000 outbuildings, and 700 utility facilities have been flooded or damaged.

Where to find a billion?

According to the Polish TVP Info television news channel, Poland’s authorities have officially estimated the damage from the floods at $1bn — these figures are preliminary. What is more interesting is that while the entire country was busy combating the consequences of the flooding, Polish president Andrzej Duda whisked off to the United States. He explained his decision by saying he did not want to interfere with the work of the relevant services. Undoubtedly, Polish society experienced mixed feelings about such behaviour from their president. Even greater outrage was directed at the indifferent NATO troops. The publication Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny pointed out, 

“There are constantly around 20,000 NATO military in the country. This enormous contingent, funded by local taxpayers and provided with medics, equipment, and helicopters for evacuations, has not come to the aid of the Polish people. This shows that care for the citizens of the host country is not among their priorities.” 

The author of the material, Maciej Pakuła, posed a valid question, “Do ordinary citizens believe that the USA and NATO troops stationed on our land will stand firm for our freedom and independence?”
In a recent interview with the Polish Radio Zet commercial radio station, the Minister of Finance stated that budget revisions would be necessary due to the flooding, “This may lead to the government increasing taxes or cutting expenditures.”   
After reports of a budget deficit, another problem emerged — carried away by the enthusiasm to assist Ukraine, the Polish government had significantly cut funding for the health of its own citizens. Now the authorities are short by around $1.3bn to settle all debts to medical institutions. As a result, hospitals are forced to reduce planned procedures and postpone some until 2025. Doctors have started to resign due to insufficient funding and delays in payments for overtime. The chief doctor of the hospital in Żywiec, Wadim Kurpias, stated, “The situation is catastrophic. We have to cancel 6,000 procedures.”
The European Commission will still provide support to the countries affected by the flooding. Ursula von der Leyen even personally flew to Wrocław to announce this joyful news. 

Overall, Brussels will allocate €10bn: Slovakia will receive €1bn, Poland — €5bn, the Czech Republic — €2bn, Romania — €1.5bn, and Austria — €500m. One can only hope that this money will indeed reach ordinary Europeans and not end up in someone’s pockets.

EUROPE IS GOING UNDERWATER  

• The recent flooding has also affected cities in Austria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary.  
• At least 44 people have died across Europe.  
• In the Czech Republic, nearly 20,000 people have been evacuated, and 250,000 homes have been left without electricity.  
• In Romania, more than 5,000 homes have been damaged.  
• In Lower Austria, ten districts have been cut off from the outside world.

Beavers are made a scapegoat  

During a meeting of the crisis headquarters in the town of Głogów, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk named the main reason for the extensive consequences of the bad weather. The news portal Wrocław.Wyborcza noted that Tusk officially announced the start of a ‘war’ against beavers. He accused the animals of having destroyed the dams that were supposed to hold back the river floodplains. To be fair, the article also includes the opinion of zoologists who defend the beavers. Doctor of Biological Sciences and researcher Andrzej Czech remarked, “Beavers restore connections between waterways and their natural floodplains, creating small areas of wetland where water flows more slowly than in rivers and can be absorbed into the ground, which raises the groundwater level and prevents droughts.” Apparently, when the Polish authorities wanted to shift the blame for their mistakes onto someone else, these facts were overlooked.  
However, some media outlets see the root of the problem. The publication Myśl Polska directly states that the scale of the disaster would have been much smaller if the Polish authorities had allocated funds for preventive measures.  

“For more than two years, we have been spending hundreds of millions of złotys on maintaining the military conflict in Ukraine,” observed the author of the article, Arkadiusz Miksa. “Our pockets are empty, while those of arms companies are full. We have no money for reservoirs, no money for dams, but for military action and to help Ukrainians we have found them. Our governments are leading the country to ruin.   

I hope that thousands of Ukrainians, who have been enjoying themselves at our expense for the past two years, will now volunteer en masse to help Poles restore order after the flooding as a sign of solidarity and gratitude.”

A drone view of the Oder river, in Wrocław, Poland, on September 19th, 2024

Wave of distrust 

The Polish TVP Info television channel has drawn attention to yet another problem that has arisen after the flooding. The water has eroded cemeteries and animal burial sites, putting Poland on the brink of a sanitary-epidemiological disaster.  
In particular, this concerns the burial sites of those who died from dangerous diseases such as cholera, plague, smallpox, and anthrax. Polish journalists have counted around six such cemeteries across three voivodeships. To address the consequences, the authorities have enlisted the help of military chemists, yet it is still too early to judge the effectiveness of their assistance.  
The news portal Polsat quotes Donald Tusk, who stated that from his conversations with numerous victims of the flood, it was clear they felt unprotected by the police and other services. As a result, they refuse to evacuate from the danger zone. This is compounded by the increasing number of looters being caught. The Polish publication Onet.pl, citing law enforcement, has reported nine documented cases. At the same time, cybercriminals have become more active and set up 34 fake fundraising campaigns allegedly for the flood victims.  
All of these consequences could have been avoided had European officials taken the interests of ordinary citizens into account in their political decisions. The Polish authorities have not even made the simplest gesture — no one has apologised for the chaos that ensued after the natural disaster. Meteorologists had offered warnings in advance, but politicians simply dismissed them. Now, due to their indifference, money, efforts, and the lives of many flood victims have been wasted.

Graves are seen flooded at a cemetery in Brzeszcze, Poland, on September 15th, 2024 

Budget misappropriation  

If we recall one of the most high-profile scandals in Poland in recent times, much about the authorities’ response to the flooding becomes clear. They are deeply indifferent to the interests of their citizens. The only thing that has always concerned the elite is money. According to an audit initiated by a coalition led by Donald Tusk, corruption schemes have been uncovered at the highest levels of power. The Associated Press revealed that the previous government, headed by PiS (the Law and Justice party) leader Jarosław Kaczyński, illegally spent around zł100bn ($25bn), involving situations with the financing of election campaigns for Kaczyński’s associates, manipulations with state contracts, and even raider seizures of entire enterprises. Charges have been filed against 62 members of the former ‘ruling elite’.

By Yulia Demeshko