As reported by Polskie Radio Wrocław, among those travelling to Italy were eight councillors and Mayor Robert Relich. The minutes of the meeting of the Municipal Council Committee in Nowogrodziec, held on 19 February this year, show that the cost of the pilgrimage per person was PLN 1,450. At the committee meeting, the mayor said that he “would like two-thirds of [kosztów wyjazdu – przyp. red.] to be financed from budget funds and one-third from their own funds”. The councillors, meanwhile, proposed that “the total cost of the pilgrimage be financed 100% from the municipality’s budget funds”. The proposal was adopted; only one person voted against it.

The intention is for the pilgrimage to promote the town and municipality of Nowogrodziec (the dignitaries are accompanied by the local Harmonia choir). The councillors and the mayor will visit, among other places, Rome, Venice, Assisi, Vatican City and Padua. The entire undertaking is connected with efforts to grant Nowogrodziec—following the example of Bolesławiec—the patronage of a saint.

According to PRW, the trip for the eight councillors will cost taxpayers PLN 8,000 (the councillors were supposed to cover one-third of the costs from their own funds). We were unable to confirm this information. Robert Relich did not answer the phone, and officials at Nowogrodziec Town Hall did not want to comment on the matter. “Please do not treat me as a source of information,” Bogusław Szeffs, the deputy mayor, told us. “Please ask those who went on the trip about the costs. Please wait with your questions until they return.”

“I cannot say anything about the matter. The organiser of the trip is the Municipal Cultural and Sports Centre. We would know more if this matter had been organised by us,” says Nowogrodziec secretary Kazimierz Orlef. We received no information from the GCKiS. The institution’s director also went on the pilgrimage.

The councillors and the mayor will return to Poland on Sunday. Perhaps they will then answer how much their trip cost and what the promotion of the town in Italy, paid for with public money, involved.

(ii report)