Klaudia Jachira wants major changes in Polish passports. There is a reaction from the Ministry of Interior and Administration

In 2018, changes were made to Polish passports. New passport document designs were introduced – the motto “God, Honor, Fatherland” appeared on one of the pages of the document.

Klaudia Jachira wants a small revolution in passports

Klaudia Jachira became interested in the passport issue. The Civic Coalition MP submitted a parliamentary interpellation to the Minister of the Interior and Administration, in which she stated that “the clear intention of the then authorities was to impose a slogan of a religious nature on all citizens of the Republic of Poland, which was clearly associated with a specific, right-wing-nationalist model of patriotism”. In the opinion of the MP, “the use of this slogan is blatantly contrary to the principle of the ideological impartiality of state authorities”.

The parliamentarian explained that anyone can apply for a passport, regardless of their worldview and religion. “The passport design should therefore be as neutral as possible, supporting the identification of citizens of different worldviews with their country, or at least provide for the possibility for the person applying for such a document to choose the graphic and textual setting in which their image should be presented,” she wrote in the interpellation.

The KO MP wanted to find out from the Ministry of Interior and Administration whether there will be an option to choose the document design or a chance to return to the form of passports that was in force before 2018.

The Ministry of Interior and Administration responded to Klaudia Jachira

In response, the Ministry of Internal Affairs emphasized that no work is currently being done on this matter. The Ministry also emphasized that “due to the need to ensure document security, it is not advisable to use different forms of the same passport document in circulation.”

“This could cause problems for citizens during document verification by authorized border services. Both passport documents issued before and after November 5, 2018 meet the technical and IT requirements related to confirming the identity of passport holders,” it was explained.