For years, deputies could drink in the Sejm at prices far below Warsaw market levels, buying vodka miniatures for PLN 7 (EUR 1,65) and beer for PLN 8 (EUR 1,89) in the “Bar za Kratą” inside the parliamentary complex.
The venue was subsidized through low rents, allowing a catering operator to offer what critics called “dumping” prices.
The decision by Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty shuts down what opponents branded a “parliamentary alcohol discount store” and addresses a long-running ethical question: why lawmakers could drink at work while ordinary workers risked dismissal for the same behavior.
Attempts to introduce sobriety checks repeatedly failed. A 2016 proposal by the Kukiz’15 movement to let the Sejm Guard breathalyze deputies suspected of being drunk was blocked by Sejm lawyers, who argued it would violate parliamentary immunity and the dignity of the chamber. As a result, parliament effectively excluded itself from standard workplace rules, with drinking treated as a disciplinary issue at most.
Financial data from Sejm catering outlets show alcohol spending rose steadily over two decades and then jumped in the current, 10th term. Annual sales climbed from around PLN 154,000 (EUR 36,400) in 2019 to PLN 157,205 (EUR 37,160) in 2022 and PLN 218,893 (EUR 51,742) in 2024, a record and a 42% increase from the previous peak.
The rise in revenue between 2022 and 2024 reflects an estimated 34.5% increase in the volume of alcohol sold, to about 27,308 servings. Assuming, for illustration, that all of it was consumed by the 460 deputies on roughly 60 sitting days in 2024, the average would be almost one serving per lawmaker per working day.
Sales data also suggest a shift from vodka to wine over time, but with more than 2,500 servings estimated to have been miniature bottles or shots in 2024, indicating a group of deputies preferring quick, discreet consumption of strong alcohol.
Czarzasty’s November 2025 order came as parliament worked on draft laws from the Left and Poland 2050 parties aimed at sharply restricting alcohol availability for the wider public, including possible night-time sales bans at petrol stations and tighter advertising rules.
High alcohol consumption inside the Sejm sits against the backdrop of the broader social and economic costs of drinking in Poland. Excessive alcohol use is estimated to cost the economy PLN 185 billion (EUR 44 billion) a year, roughly comparable to the annual budget of the National Health Fund.
The social insurance system pays about PLN 53 million (EUR 12.5 million) annually in so-called “alcohol pensions” for people unable to work due to alcoholism, with the average recipient aged just 51.
Critics say the ban ends a glaring contradiction: while the state bears huge healthcare and social costs from alcohol, its political elite enjoyed cheap drinks at the workplace.
Lawmakers who still wish to drink must now buy their miniature bottles at regular retail prices outside the parliament, like other citizens.
(jh)
Source: Polskie Radio 24