Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski’s recent decision to remove religious symbols from City Hall has sparked widespread protests across the country, with PiS opposition leader Jarosław Kaczynski accusing the EPP of “destroying religion and people’s faith”.
On May 8 Trzaskowski issued a decree on standards of equal treatment at City Hall. The new decree prohibits the display of religious symbols on office walls and desks. However, employees can still wear symbols on their bodies and clothing.
In Poland, it is still customary to hang crosses along with the national emblem in public institutions, including public authorities and schools. There is even a cross over the door of the plenary chamber of the lower house of parliament. A few years ago, the Polish left favoured removing it, but the proposal did not gain widespread support.
Warsaw is the first city in Poland to officially ban religious symbols in offices in the interests of non-discrimination.
Society is outraged
Trzaskowski’s decision angered many conservative groups, as well as the opposition right-wing PiS (ECR) and Confederation parties, which linked the issue to the ongoing European election campaign, although Trzaskowski is not running for the European Parliament.
Trzaskowski is infringing on the freedom of belief and religion of the Polish people, argued Confederation deputies Michał Wawer and Roman Fritz. Wawer said:
“Not only a Catholic, but any civilised person cannot agree with such a decision (like Trzaskowski’s). Freedom of conscience and religion is part of our (Polish) cultural and civilisational heritage.”
PiS MP Małgorzata Gosiewska submitted a request to the administration of the Mazowieckie province, where Warsaw is located, asking it to recognise Trzaskowski’s decree as illegal. Meanwhile, the ultra-conservative legal institute Ordo Iuris filed a complaint against Trzaskowski for abuse of office.
In a statement published on its website, the institute cites the constitutional right to freedom of conscience and religion, including the right to express one’s religion in various forms, as well as a 2010 Senate resolution stating that “any attempt to ban the cross in schools, hospitals and public institutions strikes at Poland’s traditions, heritage and national pride.”
Ordo Iuris also cites the European Court of Human Rights’ 2011 judgement in the case of Lautsi v Italy, which said that displaying crucifixes in school classrooms does not violate the European Convention on Human Rights.
Is it destroying religion?
PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński accused Trzaskowski’s party and its European group of trying to remove religion from people’s lives. He said, referring to the European People’s Party:
“This European option is just that – (it wants) to destroy religion, destroy what people believe that they are more than just homo sapiens, that they are human beings who have a soul, that they are human beings made in the image and likeness of God.”
The EPP does not claim to have such goals and in its 2019 manifesto, the party states that it wants to “protect our European way of life by preserving our Christian values and fundamental principles.”
“What makes Europe unique in the world is our rich cultural heritage, our shared history and our common Judeo-Christian roots,” the manifesto reads.
No one intends to wage a battle against any religion, Mayor says
Trzaskowski defended his decision, insisting that the new rules were not intended to combat religion but to ensure the secular nature of the city. He wrote on X:
“Let’s not get crazy. No one intends to wage a battle against any religion in Warsaw. The capital will also always respect its traditions. (…) But Poland is a secular state and Warsaw is the capital of this state.”
He added that everyone has the right to their faith, including civil servants, but anyone who comes to the office on their own business has the right to feel that they are in a neutral office.
Trzaskowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, both members of the Civic Platform (PO, EPP), have repeatedly insisted that, like the vast majority of the Polish people, they are Catholic.
According to the 2021 census, 71.3 per cent of Poland’s 36.8 million inhabitants described themselves as Catholic.
