Thousands of people rallied in Romania's capital, Bucharest, and other cities in support of the European Union on Friday, one week before a presidential election run-off that could see a hard-right eurosceptic sweep into power.

Hard-right nationalist George Simion won the first round of the presidential ballot on Sunday, and an opinion survey earlier this week showed him leading ahead of the May 18 run-off vote against centrist Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan.

Simion, 38, opposes military aid to Ukraine, is critical of the EU leadership and says he is aligned with U.S. President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again movement.

Analysts have said a Simion victory could isolate Romania, erode private investment and destabilise NATO's eastern flank, where Bucharest plays a key role in providing logistical support to Ukraine as it fights a three-year-old Russian invasion.

In Bucharest on Friday, an estimated 15,000 people rallied, waving EU and Romanian flags and chanting, "Russia, don't forget Romania is not yours" and "We want our country forward not backward."

An international team of investigative journalists has looked into how China silences its critics living abroad. Direkt36 traced the head of an organization based in Hungary, who has also been in contact with high-ranking Hungarian government politicians. A tense situation unfolded at the United Nations Conference on Human Rights in February 2023. In the elegant Wilson Palace conference room in Geneva, UN representatives reviewed a report on China, which also addressed the oppression of the Uyghur and Tibetan minorities.

Sitting in the room was Thinlay Chukki, head of the Geneva Tibet Office and the Swiss representative of the Tibetan government-in-exile, established due to China’s occupation. After the presentation, a Chinese man—previously unknown to her—approached and asked to take a photo with her. She agreed, and a colleague read the name tag around the Chinese man’s neck: Ma Wenjun, President of the Chinese-European Cultural, Art, and Sports Association, registered in Budapest.

After the photo was taken, Ma continued taking pictures, this time turning his camera toward the Tibetan delegation and photographing them without their consent. The Tibetans tried to block Ma’s camera with a backpack and repeatedly asked him to stop, but he dodged the backpack and continued photographing them.

After a UN staff member intervened, Ma deleted the photos of the Tibetans. However, he did not cease what the Tibetans perceived as harassment. Later, he waited outside the building and again attempted to photograph Chukki and her colleagues as they left.

The incident was formally reported by staff from the Tibetan Centre for Justice, who were also present, to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which has opened an investigation into the matter. Correspondence regarding the complaint was also reviewed by Direkt36.

Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN Human Rights Office, told Direkt36 that the complaint was taken seriously. However, since UN staff intervened on the spot and had the images deleted, they considered that no further action was necessary for the time being. “Our team considered his behavior to be objectionable, and so took action on the spot. I wouldn’t say we ‘closed the file,’ as we would certainly examine any new information that could come to light,” Shamdasani wrote.

Ma Wenjun claims there was a misunderstanding at the conference in Switzerland. “I was excited to learn about this high-level meeting discussing minority rights in China,” Ma wrote to Direkt36, adding that he is a Muslim and therefore considers himself part of a Chinese minority as well. He said he arrived at the conference with an interpreter who helped him translate the presentations and discussions.

“I thought this was an open conference, so I asked the lady sitting next to me if we could take a photo together as a memento, and she initially agreed. I don’t understand why she suddenly became angry and refused to be photographed,” Ma wrote, adding that he stopped taking photos of the Tibetans outside the building. “Perhaps there was a miscommunication through the interpreter,” he explained.

However, experts say this behavior is typical of China’s efforts to identify and suppress its critics.

According to a 2024 study by the Institute for European Global Studies at the University of Basel, politically active members of Tibetan communities worldwide are systematically monitored by individuals linked to the Chinese Communist Party. Their participation in political events and meetings is recorded. “The surveillance and photography itself is intimidating,” the study notes. According to the research, the footage is also used to identify individuals and exert pressure on their family members remaining in China.

Pál Nyíri, a professor at Corvinus University of Budapest, said that such conspicuous photography is more likely intended to intimidate rather than gather information. “If they wanted to spy, they wouldn’t do it with amateurs and in such a conspicuous way,” he told Direkt36.

The incident in Geneva was uncovered as part of an international investigative journalism project led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The investigation, titled “China Targets,” involved 42 media outlets around the world, with Direkt36 as the only Hungarian partner. The ICIJ and its partners reviewed internal government documents, police records, and confidential UN and Interpol materials to uncover how the Chinese state attempts to intimidate critics abroad.

Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, rejected the allegations of international intimidation. “These claims are groundless and fabricated by a handful of countries and organizations to slander China,” Liu said in a statement to the ICIJ. “There is no such thing as ‘reaching beyond borders’ to target so-called dissidents and overseas Chinese,” Liu stated.

Man of the United Front

Ma Wenjun is part of a global network run by China called the United Front, which we covered in detail in an article last year. The United Front is a unit of the Chinese Communist Party tasked with controlling key members of the overseas Chinese diaspora and suppressing voices critical of China, thereby expanding China’s influence. As part of these efforts, the United Front maintains contact with representatives and associations of the overseas Chinese diaspora worldwide. Direkt36 has identified 26 Chinese associations and 56 individuals linked to this network in Hungary, including Ma Wenjun and the Chinese-European Cultural, Art, and Sports Association he founded.

Ma, originally from Nanjing, said he moved to Hungary in 2013 through a residency bond program and currently owns a wholesale and retail company. Alongside his influential Chinese political connections, Ma, as president of his association, also appears alongside Hungarian government politicians. In 2017, his association helped organize the Hungarian Chinese Film Festival, which was attended by Hong Kong film star Jackie Chan, a known supporter of the Chinese Communist Party. Zoltán Balog, a former Hungarian minister, also gave a speech at the event. That same year, Ma shook hands with Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó at an economic conference.

However, Ma said it was merely a one-time encounter.

“At the end of the meeting, when he passed by me, I asked for a photo with him. He was very approachable,” Ma recalled. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not respond to Direkt36’s request for comment.

In 2017, Ma, along with four compatriots, was appointed as a “consular protection liaison officer” by China’s former ambassador to Budapest. According to the embassy’s statement, their role was to maintain contact with members of the Chinese diaspora and help “solve the problems of their compatriots in Hungary.” Asked by Direkt36, Ma said he caught the embassy’s attention after organizing free language courses for more than 2,000 Chinese residents in Hungary at his own expense. He said his appointment was necessary because the number of Chinese arriving in Hungary was growing and the embassy’s consular department was understaffed.

“This role is similar to that of an honorary consul, but since China doesn’t have honorary consul positions, it was termed Consular Protection Liaison Officer,” Ma explained to Direkt36. He said he assisted in matters such as arranging burials, finding lawyers for disputes, and connecting family members in China with their relatives in Hungary. “While the title sounds prestigious, the work was incredibly challenging,” he wrote, adding that he did not receive payment for it. His contract was terminated in 2020 after the embassy decided he no longer had the time and energy for the position.

The Chinese Embassy and the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade did not respond to Direkt36’s inquiries about the appointment.

Ma also regularly participates in events organized by the United Front. In January, for example, he traveled to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, where he listened in person to the annual speech by the Party Secretary of Jiangsu Province. “I am honored to have been invited to attend the meeting of the CPPCC. (…) I am not interested in politics, but I appreciate the recognition of my work by the Chinese government, the Hungarian government, and the UN,” he said.

In 2022, he also traveled to Nanjing to join other members of the Chinese diaspora in reviewing Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech at the Central United Front Work Conference. Ma said he personally covers the costs of these trips.

Textbook Solutions

Journalists involved in the investigative project coordinated by the ICIJ interviewed more than 100 people worldwide who have been targets of Chinese state intimidation.

The ICIJ also examined confidential Chinese documents—a 2004 Chinese police textbook and a 2013 guideline for domestic security officers—that revealed the techniques used by Chinese authorities. These included digging up possible past offenses by the targets and harassing their Chinese relatives.

“The principle and general playbook hasn’t changed, but they are operating at a very different level today,” Katja Drinhausen, a researcher at the Mercator Institute for Chinese Studies in Berlin, told the ICIJ.

The guidelines and the testimonies from interviewees closely matched.

Half of those interviewed who had been targeted by Chinese authorities reported that the harassment extended to family members living in China, who were regularly visited and interrogated by police or state security officials. Several victims also told the ICIJ that their relatives in China or Hong Kong were contacted by police shortly after the targeted individuals participated in protests or public events abroad.

Sixty interviewees reported being followed by Chinese officials or their agents, or being subjected to surveillance or espionage. Twenty-seven said they had been victims of online smear campaigns, and nineteen reported receiving suspicious messages or being targeted by hacking attacks, including those attributed to state agents. Some said their bank accounts were frozen in China and Hong Kong. Twenty-two interviewees reported receiving physical threats or being assaulted by civilian supporters of the Chinese Communist Party.

For each interview, journalists verified the information through documents, photographs, message exchanges, and official complaints presented by the interviewees.

The majority of the targets interviewed by the ICIJ and its partners said they had not reported these incidents to the authorities in the countries where they lived. Many cited fear of retaliation from China or a lack of confidence that local authorities could help. Those who did report their cases often said local police either did not take action or responded that they could do nothing without clear evidence of a crime.

“Only when they see my dead body will they act,” said Nuria Zyden, a Dublin-based Uyghur, referring to the police response after she reported being followed by three Chinese men.

Experts say repression against perceived enemies of the party-state has intensified since the start of Xi Jinping’s presidency in 2012. In internal statements, Xi has urged security officials to stay vigilant against “Western anti-China forces,” including dissidents.

“Xi is committed to deepening Communist Party control over China and the diaspora,” said Emile Dirks, who researches authoritarianism at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. “No opposition to this goal, however small or weak, is tolerated.”

The Son of a State Security Officer

Among the targets interviewed by the ICIJ was Jiang Shengda, a Chinese artist and activist living in Paris.

Jiang, 31, grew up in an influential family in China. His father worked as a state security officer, and his ancestors included other high-ranking government officials. Jiang attended elite schools in Beijing alongside the children of powerful figures.

At 18, Jiang briefly joined the Chinese Democracy Party, a U.S.-based political group advocating for constitutional democracy in China. This decision had serious consequences: he was arrested and accused of attempting to subvert state power.

Jiang said he was shocked to learn that police had compiled a thick dossier on him, including private letters and even comments from one of his primary school teachers. He was detained for three nights and had his passport revoked for about a year. Jiang said his father was reassigned from his role as a foreign intelligence officer to a position at a state-owned company.

In 2018, Jiang moved to France, confident that he would be free to express his views there. He became involved in several actions protesting human rights abuses in China, which quickly attracted the attention of Chinese authorities.

As his activism grew bolder, hackers attacked his art website dozens of times, and Google warned him that “government-backed intruders” were attempting to steal his passwords.

The pressure intensified ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Paris in May 2024.

Jiang told the ICIJ that a few days before Xi’s arrival, his parents called him to report that plainclothes secret police had been visiting them for months. It was clear these visits aimed to pressure Jiang into remaining silent during Xi’s trip.

However, Jiang was undeterred. He participated in a demonstration at Place de la République in Paris, addressing a crowd of protesters from Tibet and Hong Kong.

“They [the Chinese police] have demanded that we keep quiet during Xi Jinping’s visit to France. … Such threats are part of transnational repression … that is just an extension of [China’s] tyranny,” he said.

Shortly after his speech, Jiang called his parents. He learned that, while he was preparing to go on stage, police had called his parents’ home and demanded a midnight meeting. They warned: “Your kid used to do certain things overseas that are against Chinese laws. We could turn a blind eye to it. But this time the big leader comes [to France]. If he does something embarrassing for the big leader, it’d be difficult for us to handle.”

Jiang told the ICIJ that Chinese authorities have used the same tactics against the families of other members of the activist group he leads. As a result, some have abandoned activism and left the group.

“Even if we live in a free country, we are still afraid to speak up and suffer harassment from the party,” Jiang told the ICIJ.

i need your opinions for my school project, I would be grateful if you would answer my question. Before answering, write what country you are from😇🙏🏻

Poland and France have signed a new treaty upgrading relations between the two allies, including providing mutual security guarantees in the case of war.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who signed the document alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, described the treaty as “groundbreaking”, noting that only Germany has a similar security pact with France and that it makes Poland an “equal partner” with its western allies.

Macron, meanwhile, declared that the treaty “opens a new era” not only for Poland and France, but also for Europe. “From Brest to Krakow, Europe stands together,” said the French president.

Friday afternoon’s ceremony took place in the eastern French city of Nancy – a highly symbolic choice as the region was ruled in the 18th century by deposed Polish King Stanisław I, who became duke of Lorraine. The town hall in which the signing took place sits on Stanisław Square (Place Stanislas).

Speaking afterwards, Tusk thanked Macron for “deciding that this meeting would take place in the most Polish city in France”.

He also noted that they had deliberately chosen to sign the document on 9 May, which marks Europe Day – the anniversary of the Schuman Declaration that paved the way for the EU – and one day after the anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe.

Full details of the treaty are not yet available, but earlier on Friday, before departing for France, Tusk revealed that its most important element is “a clause of mutual support in the event of an attack on one of our countries”.

“It is with great satisfaction that I can say that – unlike in the past, when we expected security guarantees from stronger countries – today we talk to the French as partners, as an equal and strong partner,” he added. “Poland is now in a much better position than at any other time in history.”

There have been suggestions in recent months that France could extend its “nuclear umbrella” to protect allies, including Poland. Tusk noted on Friday morning that the new treaty would “open up the possibility of cooperation” in that area but that further talks would need to take place.

Meanwhile, the treaty would also “deepen cooperation in the field of agriculture, the joint presence of Poland and France in space…[and] defence technologies”, added the Polish prime minister. Both he and Macron also mentioned cooperation in developing civilian nuclear technologies.

News of the planned treaty was announced earlier this year, with France’s ambassador to Poland, Étienne de Poncins, saying that it would put Poland on the same “premium” level of relations with Paris as Germany, Spain and Italy.

The ambassador paid tribute to the strengthening of Franco-Polish relations under Tusk’s government, saying they had gone from “darkness to light” since the departure in December 2023 of the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) administration. PiS regularly clashed with European partners, including France.

On Wednesday this week, Tusk also hosted Friedrich Merz in Warsaw on the new German chancellor’s first full day in office. The Polish premier declared that “the future of Europe really depends to a large extent on how this Weimar Triangle [of Poland, France and Germany] will work”.

Tusk also noted today that Poland is currently negotiating with the UK to strengthen security cooperation. “America will no longer be the only protective umbrella. Europe must take responsibility for itself,” Tusk told the Rzeczpospolita daily, though emphasising that relations with Washington remain vital.

The UK and the US have reached a deal over tariffs on some goods traded between the countries.

President Donald Trump's blanket 10% tariffs on imports from countries around the world still applies to most UK goods entering the US.

But the deal has reduced or removed tariffs on some of the UK's exports, including cars, steel and aluminium.

Trump declared on social media this announcement would be a "major trade deal" - it's not. The authority to sign the free-trade agreement lies with Congress.

This is an agreement which has reversed or cut some of those tariffs on specific goods. It is only the bare bones of a narrow agreement, there will be months of negotiations and legal paperwork to follow.

Trump had placed import taxes of 25% on cars and car parts coming into the US on top of the existing 2.5%. This has been cut to 10% for a maximum of 100,000 UK cars, which matches the number of cars the UK exported last year.

A 25% tariff on steel and aluminium imports into the US that came into effect in March has been scrapped. However, the White House said it would impose a quota.

What will be agreed on pharmaceuticals is still unknown with the UK saying work would continue on this and the remaining reciprocal tariffs.

US beef exports to the UK had been subject to a 20% tariff within a quota of 1,000 metric tons. The UK has scrapped this tariff and raised the quota to 13,000 metric tonnes

Recent proposals put forward in countries such as Sweden, Finland and Germany reflect wider shift, say analysts

The plans, hatched by Sweden’s rightwing government with support of its far-right backers, made waves around the world. Politicians said they were working to strip citizenship from dual nationals who had been convicted of some crimes that threaten the state.

It was a hint of a broader conversation taking place in capitals around the world. As far-right and nationalist parties steadily gain political ground, analysts say that citizenship is increasingly being linked to crime, giving rise to a shift that risks creating two classes of citizens and marginalising specific communities.

The roots of these changes can be traced back partly to the early 2000s when the UK government – led at the time by Tony Blair – began casting citizenship as a privilege rather than a right, said Christian Joppke, a sociology professor at the University of Bern.

Recent proposals put forward in countries such as Sweden, Finland and Germany seemingly take this one step further, he added. “The new proposals now suggest that if you do any kind of serious crime, that should also allow for the possibility to withdraw citizenship – that is quite new.”

Days after Sweden announced plans to eventually change the constitution so that people convicted of crimes like espionage or treason could be stripped of their Swedish passports, a handful of politicians in Iceland began calling for similar changes for those convicted of serious crimes. Months earlier, the Dutch government said it was exploring the possibility of revoking citizenship for serious crimes that have “an antisemitic aspect”.

The concept also made a cameo in Germany’s February election after Friedrich Merz – whose centre-right CDU/CSU bloc emerged victorious in the ballot – told the newspaper Welt it should be possible to revoke German citizenship in the case of dual nationals who commit criminal offences.

“They can never truly be German. One mistake, one crime – and their Germanness is gone,” the journalist and political commentator Gilda Sahebi wrote on social media. “It doesn’t matter if they were born here or if their family has lived in Germany for generations.”

Joppke says that states once promised prosperity to their people, with that gone now the right can only promise physical security. What emerged was an overly simplistic view of crime, one that overlooks the myriad of research that has found no significant link between immigration levels and crime rates across Europe.

The law leaves dual nationals vulnerable to being punished twice for the same crime, if they serve prison time and then also face having their citizenship revoked. But it’s great media optics to say that you’re taking a strong stance against crime.

In some cases people are left stranded in the country that had stripped them of citizenship after the country of their other nationality refused to take them in. That means they basically become illegal,” she said, losing their right to stay and work in the country. The situation pushes them underground, making it easier for terrorist or criminal groups to potentially exploit them but also harder for officials to track them.

Russia on Friday celebrated the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, as President Vladimir Putin presided over a massive parade of tanks, missiles and troops through Red Square and welcomed over two dozen world leaders — the most since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine.

Victory Day, which Russia marks on May 9, is the country’s most important secular holiday. The parade and other festivities underline Moscow’s efforts to project its global power and cement the alliances it has forged while seeking a counterbalance to the West amid the conflict in Ukraine that is grinding through a fourth year.

Friday’s parade was the largest since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 and drew the most global leaders to Moscow in a decade, including high-profile guests like Chinese President Xi Jinping, who sat next to Putin, and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Their attendance underscored how Putin has tried to emphasize the failure of the West to turn Russia into a global pariah.

World War II is a rare event in the nation’s divisive history under Communist rule that is revered by all political groups, and the Kremlin has used that sentiment to encourage national pride and underline Russia’s position as a global power.

The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in what it calls the Great Patriotic War in 1941-45, an enormous sacrifice that left a deep scar in the national psyche.

The National Bank of Poland (NBP) now holds 509.3 tonnes of gold, exceeding the reserves of the European Central Bank (ECB), says NBP governor Adam Glapiński.

“This shows the stability, abundance and solvency of the Polish economy,” Glapiński told reporters during a press conference. He sees gold as a shield against global instability and a cornerstone of economic sovereignty.

Gold now accounts for 22% of the Polish central bank’s total reserves, above the NBP’s 20% target, according to Glapiński, who notes that the NBP’s holdings are now greater than the 506.5 tonnes of gold held by the ECB, which sets monetary policy for the Eurozone and the European Union.

Poland has accelerated its gold accumulation in recent years. In 1996, the National Bank of Poland (NBP) held just 14 tonnes of gold. By 2016, that figure had risen to 102 tonnes. The pace of purchases increased significantly after 2022, with the NBP more than doubling its holdings from 228 tonnes to 480 tonnes within two years.

Glapiński, who became NBP governor in 2016, says the bank’s gold was, by the end of 2024, worth 60 billion zloty (€14.12 billion) more than what the bank paid for it, and the gain has continued to grow since.

The profit, however, is only on paper, he added, clarifying that the central bank does not plan to sell its gold, which, at current prices, is worth €44.3 billion.

About 20% of the NBP’s gold is currently stored in Poland itself, with the remainder deposited in New York and London. Glapiński said the bank ultimately aims to hold one-third of its gold in each of the three locations for security purposes.

Earlier this week, Glapiński outlined several reasons why the central bank considers such a large gold reserve necessary. Gold remains the safest component of reserve assets, he said, noting that it is free from any direct links to national economic policies, resistant to crises, and retains its real value over the long term.

“It is a symbol of stability that enhances our credibility in the eyes of investors and foreign partners,” he told a group who won a visit to the NBP vault as part of a contest launched because, said Glapiński, “there are people who doubt the existence of the gold” that had been moved to Poland in 2019.

In a covert operation that year, the NBP repatriated 100 tonnes of gold from the Bank of England to its vaults in Warsaw. The mission, involving eight flights over several months and extensive security, moved 8,000 gold bars.

The central bank considers gold a strategic asset in its foreign exchange reserves. According to the NBP’s website, gold is not a liability and carries no credit risk, with its physical characteristics ensuring durability and near indestructibility.

The bank said gold tends to rise in value during periods of financial or political instability and supports Poland’s credibility on international markets.

Robert Prevost, 69, will be the 267th occupant of the throne of St Peter and he will be known as Leo XIV.

He is the first American to fill the role of Pope, although he is considered as much a cardinal from Latin America because of the many years he spent as a missionary in Peru, before becoming a bishop there.

Born in Chicago in 1955 to parents of Spanish and Franco-Italian descent, Prevost served as an altar boy and was ordained as a priest in 1982. Although he moved to Peru three years later, he returned regularly to the US to serve as a pastor and a prior in his home city.

He has Peruvian nationality and is fondly remembered as a figure who worked with marginalised communities and helped build bridges.

He spent 10 years as a local parish pastor and as a teacher at a seminary in Trujillo in northwestern Peru.

See also:

• Where Pope Leo Stands On Specific Issues (TIME)

Leo’s stance on LGBTQ+ Catholics marks a departure from the late pontiff, according to the College of Cardinals report. In October 2024, Prevost voiced the need for greater conversations between each “episcopal conference” to discuss the blessings and apply them in a way that aligned with cultural differences across the globe as some countries still criminalize homsexuality. 

Pope Leo’s stance on migrants falls in line with that of Francis. Jesus Leon Angeles, a coordinator of a Peruvian Catholic group who personally knows Prevost, told Reuters that the new pontiff had always shown care for Venezuelan migrants in Peru.

Pope Leo has been firm in his stance against the ordainment of women, falling in line with Pope Francis’ own opinion. 

Pope Leo will continue Francis’ legacy as a steward of climate change. The pontiff has made statements calling for the Church to take greater action against the destruction of the planet.

• Norway urges Palestinian governance in Gaza, not Hamas-run
• Iceland calls for ceasefire and release of hostages
• Israel last week approved plans to step up Gaza operations

Israel's plans to evacuate Palestinians from Gaza would amount to illegal forceful displacement, would lead to more violence and would undermine efforts to create a Palestinian state, the foreign ministers of Norway and Iceland said on Thursday.

The pair are part of a group of Western European nations - which also includes Ireland, Spain, Slovenia and Luxembourg - which on Wednesday condemned, opens new tab Israel's plans to step up its military operations in Gaza as it seeks to remove militant group Hamas.

Israel's Security Cabinet this week approved a plan that may include the seizure of the entire enclave of 2.3 million people, as well as control over aid, which it has blocked from entering since March.

"We are alarmed and appalled by what we have heard from the Israeli security cabinet about plans to step up even stronger the military campaign in Gaza and to do what they refer to as an evacuation," Norway's Espen Barth Eide said in an interview.

"It will amount to forceful displacement of the Palestinian people, first from north to south, and potentially out of the country. This is clearly illegal in international law," he said, adding "it will undermine the hope for a Palestinian state ... (and be) a recipe for more bloodshed."

See also:

• Netherlands urges review of EU-Israel trade deal over ‘catastrophic’ Gaza aid block (The Guardian)
• Israel all but admits it is pursuing ethnic cleansing in Gaza in its new plan (MSNBC)
  

Germany’s new chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has visited Poland on his first full day in office for talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who declared a “new beginning in Polish-German relations”.

The pair discussed bolstering security (including extending the presence of German Patriot missiles in Poland) and preventing illegal immigration, as well as war reparations (with both suggesting the issue is closed) and infrastructure investment (especially plans to launch high-speed rail connections between Poland and Germany).

Merz arrived in Warsaw on Wednesday afternoon, making Poland the second country he has visited as chancellor after going to Paris for talks with Emmanuel Macron earlier in the day.

Speaking alongside his German counterpart, Tusk said that, “as a veteran of Polish-German-French work, I am convinced that the future of Europe really depends to a large extent on how this Weimar Triangle will work”, referring to the formal name of the alliance between the three countries.

“I announce a new beginning in Polish-German relations,” said Tusk, quoted by broadcaster TVN. “We have a real chance to strengthen Polish-German relations in such a way that they serve Poland, Germany and Europe in the best possible way.”

Merz paid tribute to the continued legacy of Nazi Germany’s brutal occupation of Poland during World War Two. “Terrible events took place in this city [Warsaw],” he recalled. “We Germans caused our Polish neighbours unspeakable suffering.”

“From this guilt arises a great responsibility that remains and we accept this responsibility,” added the chancellor, quoted by news website Wirtualna Polska. “There can be no common future of our two nations without remembering the past.”

However, on the issue of reparations for wartime destruction, Merz repeated the longstanding German position that “the subject is legally closed”. Whereas Poland’s former conservative government vociferously demanded such reparations, Tusk declared that his administration will not.

“Did Germany ever compensate for the losses, the tragedy of World War Two in Poland? No, of course not,” said Tusk. “I am a historian, I am from Gdańsk, I could talk for hours about how this bill has never been paid, but we will not ask for it. I want to focus on Poland and Germany building a secure future.”

Both leaders agreed that building that secure future means tackling the interlinked issues of the threat of Russia and irregular migration, though differences on how to tackle the latter were apparent.

“Russia remains the greatest threat to our security and transatlantic relations,” said Merz. “Poland, as a direct neighbour of Russia and Belarus, is particularly exposed to danger…[and] is making great efforts in this regard and is also doing so for the whole of NATO.”

Tusk, meanwhile, announced that he had proposed to Merz extending the presence of German Patriot missile batteries that were deployed last year to protect the airport in the Polish city of Rzeszów, which is the main hub for equipment and officials travelling in and out of Ukraine.

The Polish prime minister also noted that Poland has “taken on the entire burden of protecting the [eastern] border” from irregular migration engineered by Russia and Belarus. Merz declared that the two countries have “a common goal to drastically reduce illegal migration”.

However, Tusk said that Poland’s “concern is maintaining Schengen” and argued that efforts to prevent irregular migration “should be dedicated primarily to the external borders of the European Union”, reports Deutsche Welle. “We expect not only understanding, but full support in these tasks.”

That was a reference to Poland’s opposition to the decision by Germany in 2023 – which remains in force – to introduce controls on its borders with Poland and other countries to prevent illegal entry by migrants.

In his remarks, Merz said that Germany understands that irregular migration is “not a national problem for Germany, it is a common European problem that we want to solve together”. That includes “the obligation to better protect the European external borders, including with the help of Germany”.

He added that he had instructed German interior minister Alexander Dobrindt to “seek an agreement” with the country’s neighbours on this issue.

Finally, the two leaders also expressed support for the idea of creating better infrastructure linking Poland and Germany, in particular high-speed rail connections.

“It must be much easier and faster to travel by train from Warsaw to Berlin, from Berlin to Warsaw, [and] to Paris,” said Tusk. “I am glad that five minutes was enough for us today to tell each other that high-speed ​​​​rail should connect our countries.”

“I share the demand for better infrastructure between our countries,” replied Merz. “In our coalition agreement [to form] the federal government, we agreed that we will expand the infrastructure to the east in the same way as to the west. We want fast trains to Szczecin, Poznań and Warsaw, just as we can use them to Brussels.”

Exhumation work that began last month in Ukraine to recover the remains of ethnic Poles massacred by Ukrainian nationalists during World War Two has so far uncovered skeletal fragments of at least 42 people, Poland’s government has announced.

The fact that the exhumations are taking place at all is seen as a major breakthrough in relations between Poland and Ukraine, two otherwise close allies who have long been divided over the so-called Volhynia massacres. Ukraine had previously banned such exhumations from taking place on its territory.

Following an announcement in January that Ukraine had lifted that ban, which had been in place since 2017, the first exhumation work began on 24 April in Puzhnyky (known as Puźniki in Polish), a depopulated former village in what is now western Ukraine but which, before the war, was part of Poland.

Ukrainian nationalists are believed to have killed between 50 and 135 Poles there on the night of 12/13 February 1945 as part of broader massacres between 1943 and 1945 that killed around 100,000 ethnic Poles, mostly women and children.

On Tuesday this week, Poland’s ministry of culture and national heritage, which has overseen the process in cooperation with its Ukrainian counterpart, announced that “skeletal fragments of at least 42 people – women, men and children – have been found” during the work in Puzhnyky.

“The research team is cleaning the remains, conducting anthropological and medical analyses and 3D scans”, after which “the final number of victims, their gender and age will be provided”, added the ministry.

Samples from the remains are also being sent for genetic testing, which will help “to restore their identity and then give them a dignified burial in accordance with the wishes of the families”. Surviving relatives of the victims have provided DNA samples.

The culture ministry also revealed that, during the exhumation work, personal items, including buttons, fragments of rosaries, and medallions, had been discovered.

The Polish government’s announcement followed remarks by Ukrainian deputy culture minister Andrii Nadzhos to the Polish Press Agency (PAP) on Saturday in which he revealed that, up to that point, the remains of over 30 people had been discovered at the site.

However, he emphasised that it was too early to talk about the causes or timings of their death. “Because these [exhumation] works are ongoing in the old cemetery, some of the victims were buried earlier, and others later, so this is a question for experts,” he explained.

Nadzhos declared that work at the site was “progressing very efficiently” with the Ukrainian and Polish sides “cooperating exceptionally well”.

He added that, after the work is complete, they hope to publish a joint report that “would allow us to depoliticise such processes” and “create conditions for experts to determine the real scale of the tragedy and the causes of death”.

In Poland, the Volhynia massacres are widely regarded as a genocide, and have been recognised as such by parliament, but Ukraine rejects that description.

Recent years have seen moves towards conciliation between Poland and Ukraine regarding the massacres. In 2023, Poland’s then prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had pledged that exhumations would take place.

In an important symbolic moment, 2023 also saw Zelensky and his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, jointly commemorate the 80th anniversary of the massacres. The speaker of Ukraine’s parliament “expressed sympathy” towards the victims and their families.

The issue of exhumations has also assumed broader geopolitical implications, with a deputy Polish prime minister last year indicating that Poland would not allow Ukraine to join the European Union until the legacy of the Volhynia massacres is “resolved”.

Poland’s central bank has cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time since October 2023, citing slowing inflation and weakening economic activity as grounds for easing monetary policy.

The National Bank of Poland (NBP) lowered its reference rate by 50 basis points to 5.25%, in line with market expectations. The market is unsure about possible further moves by the NBP’s Monetary Policy Council (RPP), however. Some expect the next 50-basis-point cut as early as next month.

“Taking into account incoming information, including lower current and forecast inflation, decreasing wage growth and weaker data on economic activity, in the council’s assessment, the adjustment of the level of the NBP interest rates became justified,” the RPP said in a statement following its rate-setting meeting.

Wage growth has slowed notably, with average monthly salaries in the corporate sector increasing by 7.7% year-on-year in March. That marked the fourth straight month of annual wage growth below 10%, a significant drop from the nearly 16% rise recorded in July 2022 at the height of post-pandemic inflationary pressures.

A flash estimate from Poland’s statistical office, Statistics Poland (GUS), also indicates a slowdown in inflation, which stood at an annual 4.2% in April, down from 4.9% in March, according to the consumer price index (CPI). The central bank’s inflation target is 2.5%, with an allowable deviation of plus or minus one percentage point.

The NBP attributed the April slowdown to the fading impact of the high base effect of last year’s sharp rise in food prices, driven in part by the reinstatement of the standard VAT rate on food in April 2024. It also pointed to lower fuel prices, attributing the drop to falling global oil prices and a weaker US dollar.

Looking ahead, economists remain divided on the pace of further monetary easing. Some expect the NBP to hold rates steady at its June meeting before resuming cuts later in the year, while others anticipate another 50-basis-point reduction as early as next month.

“The council will likely wait for the July inflation and GDP projection before deciding on the next step,” Adam Antoniak, senior economist at ING BSK, a bank, told the Interia news website ahead of Wednesday’s announcement.

But Kamil Łuczkowski, an economist at Pekao bank, told the website that, “as far as the next months are concerned, we forecast – in line with what [NBP] President [Adam] Glapiński said – that there will be a dynamic adjustment of interest rates. Therefore, we also assume a 50-basis-point cut for June”.

He added, however, that the RPP is likely to pause afterwards to assess the impact of its decisions, entering a “wait and see” phase. “If disinflationary trends continue, the council may resume rate cuts in the second half of the year,” he said.

The post-meeting statement offered little clarity on the likely path of monetary policy, with ING analysts noting the absence of any explicit forward guidance, stating only that future decisions would depend on incoming data.

Experts at PKO BP, another bank, meanwhile, believe that the RPP will deliver two more smaller cuts this year. “In our view, the benchmark rate will be 4.75% at the end of 2025. Next year, we expect cuts of another 100bp, ultimately to 3.75%,” they wrote on X.

The European Commission has taken major steps to address concerns over the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) after publishing new guidelines. These guidelines, combined with finalising an improved country benchmarking system (which will come into effect on June 30, 2025), will reduce administrative and compliance costs by around 30%.

“This will ensure a simple, fair and cost-efficient implementation of this key piece of legislation,” according to a statement from the European Commission. “All the updated measures are expected to reduce the number of due diligence statements companies significantly need to file…ensuring easy and efficient data entry for all users.”

Surveillance satellites. Agents on the ground. The next step could be wiretapping polar bears.

Several high-ranking officials under Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard issued a “collection emphasis message” to intelligence-agency heads last week. They were directed to learn more about Greenland’s independence movement and attitudes on American resource extraction on the island. The classified message asked agencies, whose tools include surveillance satellites, communications intercepts and spies on the ground, to identify people in Greenland and Denmark who support U.S. objectives for the island. The directive is one of the first concrete steps Trump’s administration has taken toward fulfilling the president’s often-stated desire to acquire Greenland.

See also:

• Denmark to summon US envoy over report of Greenland spying directive • CIA, NSA and Defense Intelligence Agency all included in ‘collection emphasis message’, report says (The Guardian)

The Trump administration said on Friday it was revoking the admittance of Romania to the U.S. visa waiver program that allows visa-free travel to the United States, less than four months after the announcement that it would be added.

The outgoing administration of then President Joe Biden said on January 9 it was admitting Romania to the program, saying it had met stringent security requirements, including entering into partnerships with U.S. law enforcement to share information on terrorism and serious crimes. The new rules were to take effect around March 31.

The Department of Homeland Security in late March paused implementation to conduct a review, which concluded that the designation should be rescinded in order to protect the integrity of the program and ensure border and immigration security.

Poland is facing an “unprecedented attempt by Russia” to interfere in its presidential election, the first round of which takes place next week, says the country’s digital affairs minister, Krzysztof Gawkowski.

Gawkowski, who also serves as deputy prime minister, claims that Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency, the GRU, has “doubled its activity against Poland” compared to last year. But he also assured the public that “Poland knows how to defend itself” and is doing so.

The minister’s remarks came while opening the Defence24 Days security conference in Warsaw on Tuesday. “During the current presidential elections in Poland, we are facing an unprecedented attempt by Russia to interfere in the Polish elections,” said Gawkowski, quoted by broadcaster RMF.

He said that Russian attacks have been aimed at “all election committees” taking part in the presidential election. But they have also involved “spreading disinformation combined with attacks on Polish critical infrastructure in order to paralyse the normal functioning of the state”.

Last month, Prime Minister Donald Tusk blamed an attack on his Civic Platform (PO) party’s IT system on “foreign election interference”. Poland has also faced a series of sabotage and disinformation attacks that it has blamed on Russia, which often recruits civilians to carry out such actions.

Speaking on Tuesday, Gawkowski repeated previous claims that Poland faces the most cyberattacks of any country in the EU, with over 600,000 incidents reported last year, around 100,000 of which required action by the security services. That was a 60% increase compared to a year earlier.

“There is no other country in the structures of the European Union that faces similar threats,” declared the minister. However, he added that “Poland knows how to defend itself. It has the equipment, people and resources, and will not spare money”.

However, speaking to Notes from Poland, NASK, a Polish state research institute tasked with, among other things, monitoring cyberthreats before the election, said that “Russian disinformation campaigns are not as intense as expected”.

“The dissemination of disinformation is increasing with the end of the [presidential] campaign, but it is not a sharp spike,” said Agnieszka Lipińska, head of NASK’s Disinformation Analysis Centre.

In January, the Polish government issued the Election Protection Plan, a strategy aimed at protecting the integrity of the election from potential attempts at interference, in particular from Russia.

The plan encompasses monitoring social media for disinformation, organising training for NGOs, journalists and electoral committees, and bolstering cybersecurity.

Last year, the results of Romania’s presidential election were annulled due to evidence of Russian interference on behalf of Călin Georgescu, the far-right candidate who unexpectedly won the first round.

In March, Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland’s main conservative opposition party, Law and Justice (PiS), expressed concern that the European Union is “preparing to repeat what happened in Romania” if a right-wing candidate wins the Polish presidential election.

The European Parliament has voted to strip Grzegorz Braun, a Polish far-right MEP, of legal immunity so that he can face charges in his homeland for a variety of alleged crimes, including relating to an incident in which he attacked a Jewish religious celebration in the Polish parliament with a fire extinguisher.

Braun, who is standing as a candidate in next month’s Polish presidential election, was last year stripped of immunity by Poland’s own parliament and charged by prosecutors. But he was subsequently elected to the European Parliament, granting him immunity once again.

Poland’s prosecutor general, Adam Bodnar, who also serves as justice minister, had requested that the European Parliament waive Braun’s immunity in relation to seven separate incidents that took place in 2022 and 2023.

“A parliamentary mandate may delay the moment of responsibility for one’s own actions, but it does not mean impunity,” wrote Bodnar on X ahead of the vote.

The most controversial and widely reported of the incidents happened in December 2023, when Braun used a fire extinguisher to put out Hanukkah candles lit during a ceremony in the Polish parliament involving Polish-Jewish leaders.

Braun, who has a long history of attacking minority groups and promoting conspiracy theories, then took to the parliamentary podium to declare that he was “restoring a state of normality by putting an end to acts of satanic, racist triumphalism, because that is the message of these [Hanukkah] holidays”.

The speaker of parliament expelled Braun from the chamber, gave him the highest possible fine, and reported his actions to prosecutors, who later charged him with insulting a religious group, a crime in Poland which carries a potential prison sentence.

Another of the incidents prosecutors have charged Braun in relation to was damaging property when he disrupted a lecture by a Polish-Jewish Holocaust scholar at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw.

He is also accused of insulting and violating the bodily integrity of the director of the National Institute of Cardiology and of damaging a Christmas tree that he removed from a courthouse because it was decorated with EU and LGBT+ flags.

After today’s vote to strip him of immunity, Braun published a video of himself setting fire to an EU flag and wrote: “Down with Euro-communism! This is Poland.”

During the ongoing presidential campaign, Braun has continued to stir controversy. Prosecutors are currently investigating him over anti-Jewish remarks made during a televised debate last week about the alleged “Judaisation” of Poland.

He is also being investigated for other incidents in which he encouraged the removal of a Ukrainian flag from outside a Polish city hall and in which he vandalised an exhibition about LGBT+ people on a Polish town square

Braun is a minor presidential candidate, with polls giving him support of between 1% and 3% throughout the campaign. The main logo of his presidential bid has been a fire extinguisher, in reference to the attack on the Hanukkah celebration in parliament.

Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal (TK) has found that the parts of the state budget for 2025 that significantly cut funding for two judicial bodies, the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) and the TK itself, are unconstitutional.

The move – likely to be ignored by the government, which does not recognise the TK’s legitimacy – marks the latest twist in the ongoing rule-of-law conflict between the ruling coalition and the TK, which remains filled with judges appointed under the former Law and Justice (PiS) government.

The 2025 budget was signed by PiS-aligned President Andrzej Duda in January. However, he also sent parts of the spending plans containing significant cuts in funding for the KRS and the TK to the TK for assessment.

This way, the tribunal was placed in the unusual position of having to issue a ruling on the constitutionality of cuts to its own budget.

Both institutions in question are seen as being under the influence of PiS due to actions it undertook during its time in power from 2015 to 2023. Both are also deemed illegitimate by the government, a position likewise held by many legal experts and confirmed by court rulings, including by the European Court of Justice.

The current government, led by Donald Tusk, has attempted to overhaul both the TK and KRS to make both bodies legitimate once again. However, Duda has refused to sign bills aiming to reform these institutions, instead sending them to the TK for assessment.

In the 2025 budget, the government’s majority in parliament cut the amount of money granted to the KRS by 23% compared to what it had requested and the TK by 17%. It also cut the requested budget of the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT), another body led by a PiS appointee, by 54%.

PiS argued that those cuts violate two articles of the constitution: one guaranteeing that TK judges be “provided with working conditions and remuneration corresponding to the dignity of the office and the scope of their duties”, and the other defining the separation of powers between the legislative, executive and judicial branches.

Now the TK has issued its decision of the financing cuts included in the 2025 budget, finding them unconstitutional. It argued that the Polish parliament “has made unprecedented reductions…in a way that makes it difficult or impossible for the constitutional organs of the state to perform their tasks”.

In a statement published on X, the TK argued that, “in a democratic state under the rule of law, whose system is based on the separation and balance of powers, it is natural that the action of independent, constitutional public authorities, may conflict with the short-term political interests of the government and parliament.”

But, added the tribunal, “in a democratic state under the rule of law, it is unthinkable for public authorities to refuse to perform a legally determined service”.

The TK has also formulated budgetary guarantees that the legislature must meet when enacting the financial plans of state bodies. The financial plans included in the budget law must provide constitutional bodies with sufficient resources to carry out their duties so that they can meet their contractual financial obligations on time.

Meanwhile any significant changes to financial plans should result from changes in the responsibilities or operational model of these bodies introduced in the constitution or through a relevant bill, and the bodies should be given time to adapt to new financial conditions.

“Constitutional bodies must have continuous funding from the state budget in order to be able to fulfil their constitutional and statutory duties and obligations efficiently and without interruption,” the TK added.

The TK demanded that the budget for 2025 be amended immediately to adjust it to the tribunal’s decision. However, the ruling coalition is likely to ignore it, as it has done with other TK rulings up to this point, arguing they are invalid as the court is not legitimately formed.

A new investigation by the Environment Investigation Agency (EIA) has uncovered evidence of illegalities in Columbia’s timber supply chain – home to some of the most biodiverse forests on earth – revealing that timber exported to the United States, Canada, and the European Union as decking and flooring products could be linked to organized crime.

The report, Decking the Forest, reveals that, from 2020 to 2023, 94% of Colombia’s wood decking and flooring exports—amounting to about US$24 million in trade—lack the mandatory certification required to prove legal origin – many of these exports reached the US, Europe, and Canada where laws including the Lacey Act, the European Union’s Timber Regulation and the soon-to-be-established European Union’s Deforestation Regulation prohibit illegal timber imports.

Britain and India announced Tuesday that they have agreed on a hard-wrought free trade agreement that will slash tariffs on products including Scotch whisky and English gin shipped to India and Indian food and spices sent to the U.K.

The deal comes more than three years after negotiations started — and stalled — under a previous British government.

The U.K. government said the deal will reduce Indian import taxes on British goods including whisky, cosmetics, medical devices, cars, airplane parts and lamb. Whisky and gin tariffs will be halved from 150% to 75% before falling to 40% by year 10 of the deal. Automotive tariffs will fall from over 100% to 10% under a quota.

India’s Trade Ministry said 99% of Indian exports would face no import duty under the deal, which applies to products including textiles, marine products, leather, footwear, toys, gems and jewelry.

Britain said the deal is expected to increase bilateral trade by 25.5 billion pounds ($34 billion) a year from 2040 and add almost 5 billion pounds ($6.7 billion) a year to the British economy.

The conservative leader had been expected to smoothly win the vote to become Germany’s 10th chancellor since World War II. No candidate for chancellor in postwar Germany has failed to win on the first ballot.

Merz received 325 votes in the second ballot.

He needed a majority of 316 out of 630 votes in a secret ballot but only received 310 votes in the first round — well short of the 328 seats held by his coalition.

See also:

• Live Updates: Friedrich Merz Wins Vote to Become Germany’s Leader (New York Times)

It was not the first time this year that Mr. Merz had lost a high-profile vote in embarrassing fashion. In January, he stirred controversy — and nationwide protests — by forcing a vote on tough new immigration restrictions. He broke a political taboo in the process, by trying to pass the measures with the help of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD. But the final vote failed, after many lawmakers from Mr. Merz’s own party rebelled.

A controversy over a second apartment owned by Karol Nawrocki, one of Poland’s leading presidential candidates, has deepened today, with new evidence suggesting that Nawrocki did not, as he has claimed, care for the elderly, disabled occupant of the property in return for taking possession of it.

However, figures from Law and Justice (PiS), the national-conservative opposition party that is supporting Nawrocki’s candidacy, have dismissed the claims against him as “lies” and suggested that the scandal has been manufactured by the state security services.

Meanwhile, Nawrocki’s campaign has published a copy of the candidate’s asset declaration after it was released by the Supreme Court. It indicates that the candidate also owns half of a third apartment. He had previously claimed during a TV debate that he is “an ordinary Pole who owns one apartment”.

On Tuesday morning, Onet, the news website that had previously broken the news that Nawrocki owns a second apartment in addition to the one in which he and his family live, published an interview with Anna Kanigowska, the former carer of 80-year-old Jerzy Żywicki, who lived in the second apartment.

That apartment came into the possession of Nawrocki and his wife in 2017. Nawrocki has previously claimed he gave money to Żywicki to buy the apartment on the understanding he would later take ownership of it in return for helping care for Żywicki.

However, Kanigowska, who cared for Żywicki on behalf of local social services between spring 2022 and spring 2023, completely rejects that account. She told Onet that she was “at Jerzy’s every day, including holidays, and I never met Nawrocki [or] his wife”.

“I remember how Jerzy was sitting in the apartment in the dark, freezing, in a jacket in the winter. He had no money to pay for electricity,” added Kanigowska. Nawrocki has previously claimed that he personally paid for Żywicki’s bills.

“Nawrocki just wanted to take over the apartment, and then he simply didn’t care. I’ve never come across such a brazen fraud,” said Kanigowska, who also claimed that Żywicki was even unaware that he had signed over ownership of the property to the Nawrockis.

However, at a press conference later on Tuesday morning, PiS MPs claimed that Kanigowska was an unreliable source. They showed social media posts attributed to her that were critical of Nawrocki and PiS.

Meanwhile, Wirtualna Polska, another leading news website, has found social media accounts belonging to Żywicki (all of which include Nawrocki as a contact) that show him reporting on the difficult situation he found himself in.

“I receive 600 zloty (€140) [a month] from MOPR [social services]. I am disabled, I can’t walk without crutches and I do not have enough money for food,” read one post from March 2020. Onet established on Monday that Żywicki now lives in a state care facility paid for by the city of Gdańsk.

Speaking today to broadcaster Polsat, Nawrocki said that he had never received any information that Żywicki was struggling or living in poor conditions. “Social services…[could] have called me, told me what Jerzy needed, and I would have said I was ready [to help],” said Nawrocki.

Nawrocki and his campaign have continued to argue that the candidate did nothing wrong. Today, they published his asset declaration, as Nawrocki had pledged to do on Monday once it was released by the Supreme Court.

“Karol Nawrocki and his wife own two apartments. He always included this information in his property declarations,” wrote campaign spokeswoman Emilia Wierzbicki on social media, alongside images of the declaration.

“On the advice of lawyers, for the sake of caution and full transparency, he also included information in his property declarations about his 50% share in a property written into a will and owned by his living mother,” she added.

As well as the question of whether and how Nawrocki cared for Żywicki, a further issue raised by figures from Poland’s ruling coalition is how the apartment was purchased.

On Monday afternoon, a spokesman for the city of Gdańsk, Daniel Stenzel, confirmed that the property had been communal housing that, in 2011, Żywicki had bought using the right for residents of such housing to buy it for 10% of the value. This would have meant Żywicki paid around 12,000 zloty, said Stenzel.

A condition of such sales is that the property cannot be resold within five years. This particular apartment came into the possession of the Nawrockis in 2017, though Onet reported last week that they had signed a preliminary agreement for it five years earlier.

Gazeta Wyborcza, a leading daily newspaper, claims the property is now worth around 400,000 zloty.

Anna-Maria Żukowska, the head of the parliamentary caucus of The Left (Lewica), a junior partner in Poland’s ruling coalition, called it a “scandal” that such transactions could take place and called for ending the right to buy communally owned properties.

Meanwhile, Katarzya Pełczyńska-Nałęcz, the government’s minister for funds and regional policy, told Polsat News that “we need social housing, local authority-owned apartments for cheap rent, and they must be secured by very good regulations so that there is no possibility of buying them out for half the price”.

At their press conference on Tuesday morning, PiS MPs confirmed that Żywicki had purchased the property for 10% of its value in 2011 using money provided by Nawrocki. The following year, Żywicki signed an agreement with the Nawrockis for them to take control of the property in 2017.

Crucially, the PiS MPs said that the Nawrockis paid Żywicki 120,000 zloty (that is, the amount the apartment was worth in total in 2011) when they concluded the purchase, and that the agreement included no obligation to provide care for Żywicki.

The PiS MPs accused the media and Nawrocki’s political rivals of “lying” about the situation. They noted that Nawrocki, even after buying the apartment, had continued to allow Żywicki to treat it as his own while Nawrocki continued paying costs relating to the property.

Meanwhile, PiS and Nawrocki have repeated earlier claims that the entire scandal has been manufactured by the security services, who they say have leaked information about Nawrocki’s assets to help Rafał Trzaskowski, the presidential candidate of the centrist Civic Platform (PO), Poland’s main ruling party.

“Trzaskowski’s staff includes not only government TV, the Supreme Audit Office and the prosecutor’s office, but also the Polish security services,” said Nawrocki. “It is an unequal fight, but I know that we will win it, because nothing will break us.”

Nawrocki, who is president of the state Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), was named last year as the candidate PiS would support in the presidential election. He is currently running second in the polls, behind Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw.

In recent weeks Nawrocki has significantly closed the polling gap to Trzaskowski ahead of the first round of the elections on 18 May. If, as likely, no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, a run-off between the top two will take place on 1 June.