Hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens took to the streets, on May 26th, in over a hundred cities, for the defense of the family and of life, thus taking part in the European campaign “One of us”.
According to the statement made by Marcin Przeciszewski, director of KAI (Polish Catholic news agency) «the exponential growth of the number of participants in these popular initiatives in recent years manifests the awakening of the civil society that demands the rights of the family».
The “Polish paradox”— Przeciszewski says —lies in the fact that «in a society that emphasizes the value of family and recognizes it as the main source of happiness, policies necessary to ensure the recognition of these values are not being promoted». Now, this is one of the reasons why there is no incentive for the choice of new life, in cases where a new birth can mean falling below the poverty line. Therefore, Poland is now facing the risk of what Przeciszewski defines as «a demographic and economic catastrophe». «The current total fertility rate (TFR of 1.3) puts Poland in 209th place among the 222 countries surveyed. In 2050, according to UN estimates, the number of Polish citizens will be reduced to 30 million, but the Polish society will be among the oldest of the continent».
The President of Poland, Bronisław Komorowski, has promoted a program of family policy that includes a Bill of Rights for large families, with the introduction of the so-called “family quotient,” among other things, with the lowering of taxes based on the number of children.
