With many tricks for opening: Poland's gastronomy doesn't care about bans

Saturday February 13th 2021

With many tricks for opening
Poland's gastronomy doesn't care about bans

Hundreds of restaurants and pubs in Poland have started the "We're opening" campaign out of fear for jobs and income. Sometimes more, sometimes less laboriously, they circumvent the applicable corona measures, the shaky legal situation plays into their cards.

In the bar "PiwPaw" in the center of Warsaw, the guests crowd at eight in the evening. Small groups of young people stand together by candlelight, the bartenders at the bar tap beer after beer, waiters whiz back and forth. "We have 40 different types of beer," says one of them proudly. He doesn't wear a mask – just like the guests. "PiwPaw" on Zurawia Street is one of many pubs and restaurants in Poland that are resisting the government-ordered lockdown. The catering establishments are actually only allowed to offer their food and drinks outside the home.

Michal Maciag doesn't care. "You have to live somehow," says the owner of the "PiwPaw". He lost several million zlotys through the lockdown, and he might get 300,000 zlotys from the government's rescue package – the equivalent of around 70,000 euros. "I had a very well-functioning company. This company no longer exists," says Maciag in frustration.

The pub owner Maciag is not alone. "Otwieramy" (We open) is the name of a campaign by restaurant operators and other entrepreneurs who are calling for an end to the lockdown. "We expect the government to allow us to work normally and that it does not destroy jobs for no reason. We want bars and restaurants to be able to open," says Michal Wojciechowski from the initiative "Strike of the entrepreneurs – Poland without division" who is in charge of the action. Several hundred restaurants and pubs are involved, according to him.

Excursion to the "Museum for Bottle Caps"

There are certainly easing steps in other areas in Poland. The corona numbers have recently fallen sharply: the Ministry of Health reported just under 7,000 new infections and 360 deaths within 24 hours on Wednesday. At peak times it was up to 28,000 a day. Hotels, museums, cinemas and theaters are allowed to reopen from Friday – but restaurants are not.

In Warsaw, things are not as open everywhere as in "PiwPaw". The steak house "Whiskey in the Jar" on Marszalkowska Street has dimmed its lights on the ground floor, a lonely waiter is watching the bar. But from outside you can see people sitting on the first floor. Inside, jackets and coats hang on the cloakroom, meat sizzles in the kitchen, plates are decorated. A request makes the waiter suspicious. "We're holding job interviews here today," he says, pointing the visitor to the exit.

The Poles are full of ideas when trying to cover up the illegal opening more or less makeshiftly. "Staff training," murmurs the waitress in a cocktail bar and hastily draws the curtains on a back room. Couples sit there by candlelight. Some restaurants give their guests a unilateral contract, after which they take part in a "test dinner". Others hold "food workshops". The "PiwPaw" has rather jokingly declared itself the "Museum for Bottle Caps". The co-owner of a wine bar that is also open does not want to talk to the German press. Their reason: The "mainstream media" in Poland's neighboring country would report negatively about corona skeptics.

Government does not want to impose a state of emergency

The health authorities and the police have tightened their controls in the bars and restaurants. But that doesn't really scare many in Poland. Because the legal situation for the corona restrictions is quite shaky. The restaurateurs get support from experts like the lawyer Piotr Wodkowski from Torun, who founded the initiative "Lawyers for restaurateurs". If there is a check in a restaurant, the initiative sends a lawyer over. "We make sure that the controls run correctly and point out any legal violations, if necessary," says Wodkowski. Meanwhile, lawyers from many cities would participate. The controls are not announced in advance. Most of the time, however, the restaurants announce their opening on social media – the controls then come in the first few days.

So far, the courts in Poland have often ruled in favor of the citizens and lifted fines for violating the corona protective measures. "The regulation is problematic. According to the Polish constitution, a state of emergency must be declared so that such extensive restrictions can be imposed and commercial activity is de facto prohibited," explains lawyer Wodkowski.

But the national-conservative PiS government has so far shied away from imposing a state of emergency and a state of emergency. Because then the entrepreneurs would be entitled to high compensation. There were also controls in the "PiwPaw", says bar owner Michal Maciag. Fines, legal proceedings – as an entrepreneur, he has "no time" to take care of all of this. It sounds like he doesn't care either.