Polish parties push parliament alcohol sales ban after reports of drunken MPs

Poland’s Left and Razem urged a ban on alcohol sales in the Polish lower house of the parliament, Sejm, as well as the MPs’ hotel, citing drunken behavior. 81% support a prohibition, a poll showed.

“At work you work, you don’t drink vodka,” Zandberg argued.Photo: Piotr Podlewski/Polskie Radio

Polish social-democrats Razem and the Left bloc will ask Speaker Szymon Hołownia to prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol in the Sejm restaurant and the parliamentary hotel, responding to complaints about lawmakers holding loud parties.

Razem co-leader Adrian Zandberg told Polish Radio that work and leisure must be kept separate in parliament, where laws affecting “millions of people” are adopted. He called intoxicated lawmakers “an insult” to voters.

Zandberg said he had seen “influential people in the state” roll into the chamber, struggle to reach the lectern and be steadied by colleagues. He criticized resistance to a ban, arguing that “at work you work, you don’t drink vodka.”

He highlighted easy access to alcohol on the premises, saying it is “50 steps” from a bar selling bottles of vodka to the Jacek Kuroń room where Sejm committees meet.

The push follows controversies over so-called “pathological MPs” who, according to the source text, organize noisy gatherings in the parliamentary hotel. Agriculture Minister Stefan Krajewski recently said he moved out of the hotel because of such behavior.

Public backing for a clampdown is strong: 81% of respondents want a total ban on alcohol sales in Sejm buildings, while 14% oppose it, according to an Opinia24 survey for TVN published on Thursday.

“Why should lawmakers operate by different standards?” Zandberg said, adding that in any other workplace employees would be dismissed for returning from lunch after buying “half a liter of vodka” at a company bar.

(jh)

Source: Polskie Radio 1