On 8 May, the president of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, issued order No. 822/2024, introducing "standards of equal treatment" in Warsaw offices. 1 of these standards is the ban on the vulnerability of the Cross and spiritual symbols: “No symbols related to a peculiar religion or religion are displayed in the buildings of the office and during events organised by the office (e.g. walls, desks)”. The inhabitants of Warsaw and the full of Poland protested against the order in a mass manner, recognising it as a violation of the rule of freedom of religion and its expression, as guaranteed in Article 53 of the Polish Constitution, and as contrary to the case law of the ultimate Court, the European Court of Human Rights and the resolutions of the Sejm and the Senate. The Ordo Iuris Institute prepared a model complaint against the presidential order, which any resident could fill, sign and send to the City Hall. The complaints besides contained detailed questions submitted in the form of a request for access to public information. The Capital City Office of Warsaw began to respond to these requests on 3 June, on the last day of the 14-day deadline provided for by Article 13(1) of the Act on Access to Public Information.

President's Answer

The Warsaw City Hall responded to mass complaints against the order of president Rafał Trzaskowski concerning the ban on the display of spiritual symbols in the capital offices.

In response, it was found that the "standards" established by the order of Rafał Trzaskowski were prepared by an external entity – the foundation "Institute of Human Rights" (KRS: 0000787152). According to Order No. 1000/2023 of June 12, 2023, the foundation received PLN 129,910 from the city. However, the process of establishing the foundation as a contractor raises serious doubts.

The competition for the improvement of “standards” was announced by the president of Warsaw by Order No 669/2023 of 5 April 2023. Meanwhile, according to the papers available in the National Court registry maintained by the Gdańsk-North territory Court in Gdańsk (VII economical Division of the KRS), little than a period earlier, on 8 March 2023, the foundation changed its name from "Open Ideas" to "Institute of the City of Human Rights". She besides added, for statutory purposes, "supporting the process of creating and implementing interior policies of institutions and organisations" – so even before the competition was announced, she changed her parameters to perfectly meet the criteria for the organisation that prepares interior papers for the city.

Moreover, before announcing the results of the competition, Katarzyna Wilkołaska joined the board of directors of the foundation, who from 6 June 2019 to 14 October 2021 served in the Warsaw City Hall as a typical of Rafał Trzaskowski for women, and then from 2021 to 1923 she was assistant to the utmost left-wing Euro MP Sylwia Spurek, with whom she had previously worked in the office of the Ombudsman, erstwhile Adam Bodnar, the current Minister of Justice, served.

Marta Abramowicz and Anna Arrowkowska – LGBT+ activists surviving in a homosexual concubine, known for their many speeches calling for the demolition of the Catholic Church, besides sit on the foundation board since 2023. Marta Abramowicz served as president of the Association of run Against Homophobia as the successor to Robert Biedron – the current Euro MP of the Left. She is besides the author of a book published by the utmost left-wing “Political Criticism”, entitled “Ireland gets up off its knees”. It is simply a case survey of dechristianization of the Catholic state, which the author would like to conduct in Poland.

"There is serious uncertainty that both the name of the foundation and its statutory objectives were changed just before the competition was announced, which gives the impression that the foundation's activists knew in advance that the competition would be organised. It is hard to recognise that the task performed after specified a competition deserves support of nearly PLN 130 1000 from the public money of the Warsawians" - emphasizes Adj. Nikodem Bernaciak, elder analyst of the Ordo Iuris investigation and Analysis Centre.

Criticism of the Trzask0wski Decision

The ban on exposing the Cross raised clear opposition in Polish society. According to investigation conducted by investigation Partner, 45% of Poles argue this ban, with 39% support. In turn, IBRiS studies indicate that as many as 56% of Poles are against the ban, while 35.2% support it.

Rafał Trzaskowski's decision met with criticism not only from the spokesperson of the Warsaw Archdiocese, the metropolitan of Warsaw cardinal. Kazimierz Nycz and the Łódź Cardinal. Grzegorz Rysia, and the Council of the Polish Conference of the Polish Episcopal for Social Affairs, but besides from the Marshal of the Sejm Simon Holownia and the Marshal of elder Marek Sawicki.

The order of Trzaskowski is besides in contradiction with the key programming paper of his own political organization – the Krakow Declaration of 18 May 2003, in which the Civic Platform declared: "we will defend the rights of religion, household and conventional customs, due to the fact that these values are peculiarly needed by modern Europe".

Even an American billionaire, 1 of the richest people in the world, Elon Musk, showed contempt for the idea. In his entry on the X, he called Trzaskovsky's actions pathetic and stated that he was “a shameless copy of stupid things from the USA”.

"It is no wonder that the order is so radically anti-clerical, which reconciles the rights of believers and those attached to the Cross and spiritual symbolism, since, thanks to the information obtained from the Warsaw Capital City Office at the request of the sympathizers of the Ordo Iuris Institute, it is now clear that it has been prepared by an external entity – the foundation of highly left-wing activists" - comments president Nicodem Bernaciak.

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