Donald Tusk’s government has transformed the institute of Waclaw Felczak to support the Hungarian opposition, human rights and the fight against Russia. It provides new scholarships and grants.
The Polish-Hungarian Institute of Waclaw Felczak, founded in 2018 on the initiative of Party chairman and justice Jaroslaw Kaczyn and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, changed his orientation under the leadership of government Donald Tusk. After the announcement of the new stage, the Institute focused on the support of the Hungarian opposition and civil society. This is reported by Warsaw Newsletter TASR, who read it in Rzeczpospolita.
In June, the Institute publicly applied for the support of the participants of the Budapest March for LGBT rights and published a petition expressing solidarity with Ukraine, signed by 52,000 people. In the new mission, it declares the goal of promoting basic human freedoms, fighting the influences of Russia, helping the integration of Ukraine into Euro -Atlantic structures, defending the freedom of the media and strengthening the rule of law.
Prime Minister wanted to cancel the institute
During the Government of the PiS party, the institute was criticized by the opposition for politicization and inefficient management. The Supreme Audit Office recently re -drawn attention to the high cost of renting the national villa in the center of Warsaw, which in 2024 reached 655 000 zloty (about 154 000 euros). The current government inherited these treaties from the period before 2019.
Prime Minister Tusk originally planned to cancel the institute, but since the intention he retreated and in April he appointed former state secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Jakub Wišniewski. The Institute currently offers new scholarships and grants totaling almost 800,000 zlotys (EUR 190,000), and the conditions are set to support projects in accordance with the Polish Government’s policy.
