What's next for the Church Fund? The Minister gives the first date

One of the “100 specifics” announced by the Civic Coalition before the elections was the liquidation of the Church Fund. In January, Donald Tusk established a special team that is working on changes in this area. The Prime Minister announced that the work “will be aimed at a system of financial responsibility of the faithful for their churches.” Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk confirmed in an interview with Onet that the team will soon present the first effects of their work. – The concepts are to be ready by the end of March, from which a choice will then have to be made – explained the Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy.

– The prepared proposals will be submitted to the Council of Ministers, where we will conduct further discussions, based on which specific legislative solutions will be developed. They will, of course, also be the subject of consultations with the social side, as well as churches and religious associations, she said. – The work on the liquidation of the Church Fund will not be completed in the first quarter, but this is the work schedule planned from the beginning. The expectation expressed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk was that the Church Fund would cease to exist from next year, she added.

What's next for the Church Fund? “Positions are different”

However, the question remains whether all coalition parties agree that the fund should be liquidated and not reformed. – Positions vary, but I think that if there was no agreement in the government that something had to be done about it, our inter-ministerial team would not have been established. As part of it, I will propose mechanisms for liquidation, said Dziemianowicz-Bąk. – And in order to liquidate the Church Fund, you must first liquidate its expenses. That's 95 percent. funds for social security contributions for clergy. This is what we are currently working on in the ministry, she emphasized.

– The task that I see for myself is to find a formula that would simultaneously guarantee that citizens who are clergy or representatives of Churches will be able to exercise their rights under the Constitution and will not burden the state budget, as is currently the case, announced the minister.