Democracy Digest: The Price Is Right in Poland

In early January, as part of efforts to contain inflation, which is at a two-decade high and running at one of the fastest rates in the EU, the Polish government announced it would introduce zero VAT on basic food items, natural gas and petrol. The move is part of efforts to relaunch the party ahead of the 2023 election as the one that looks after the interests of the working class.

Indeed, on February 9 protests by farmers, a key constituency of PiS, took place around the country. Under the slogan "We will not die in silence", the demonstrations were organised by the AGROunion conservative agrarian political movement, which seeks to influence government policy on agriculture, and were aimed at curbing rising fertiliser prices, reducing cheap food imports and passing on more of the profits of rising food prices to farmers.

The Polish government's anti-inflation measures have also got the attention of citizens in the rest of the region, who - like those in Poland - are suffering the effects of inflation, principally rising fuel and food costs.

Czech and Slovaks have been crossing the Polish border to buy petrol to such an extent that the Czech authorities are now seeking to stamp out the fuel tourism across its northern border. The country's customs office warned on Tuesday that anyone carrying more than 20 litres of fuel into the country need to make a tax declaration. Failure to respect the rules, it tut-tutted, could see fuel and even vehicles seized.

But Czechs aren't only flooding across the border to stock up on cheap fuel. They also have groceries on their shopping list. Adding to the temptations to the north is the weakness of the zloty and strength of the koruna - the result of differing speeds of monetary policy tightening...