Polish president signs budget

The Chancellor’s office of the President confirmed on Friday that President Andrzej Duda signed the budget for 2017, in spite of the PLN 59 billion budget deficit forecast. Marek Magierowski, the spokesperson for the office, said that Duda had said that there were no formal obstacles presenting him from signing it. He was speaking directly to the press on Friday. “The president came to the conclusion, after hearing the opinions, explanations, both Sejm speaker Marek Kuchciński, as well as the speaker of the Senate, that the vote December 16, 2016, was legitimate. Budget law was in accordance with the rules and in accordance with the rules of the Sejm, no standards were violated, “said Magierowski. He acknowledged that President Duda did not at this time comment on the words of Grzegorz Schetyna of the main opposition Civic Platform (PO) party. Schetyna had said on Thursday evening that the circumstances of the vote meant that, in effect, Duda had signed an illegal budget. Out of the 33 opposition (PO party members) senators, 32 of them refused to participate in Wednesday’s vote which saw the majority of Senators approve the budget’s passing. Those 32 opposition members maintained that the budget was passed illegally.