PiS and Confederation block the “chain law”. There were not enough votes to override the veto
2025-12-17 17:08, updated 2025-12-17 20:16
publication
2025-12-17 17:08
update
2025-12-17 20:16
On Wednesday, the Sejm did not reject President Karol Nawrocki's veto against the so-called Chain Act. 192 MPs voted against rejection, including MPs from Law and Justice and Confederation. PiS president Jarosław Kaczyński did not take part in the vote.
The Sejm voted on Wednesday to reject President Karol Nawrocki's veto on the amendment to the Animal Protection Act, the so-called the Chain Act, which introduced a ban on keeping dogs on tethers.
246 MPs voted for rejection, 192 were against and none abstained. According to the regulations, a 3/5 majority of votes was needed to re-adopt the bill and at the same time override the president's veto – in this case 263 votes.
22 MPs did not take part in the vote, including PiS president Jarosław Kaczyński.
155 MPs from KO, 31 from PSL, 31 from Polska 2050, 21 from the Left, four from Raz and four unaffiliated people voted to reject the veto. 175 MPs from PiS, 10 from the Confederation, four from the Republicans, two from the Confederation of the Crown of Poland and one non-affiliated member voted against.
The vetoed regulations introduced the definition of a kennel – a place where a dog is kept in a limited space outside a residential premises and from which an untied dog cannot leave on its own, located in a fenced or unfenced area.
An owner keeping a dog in a pen would have to provide it with a mostly hardened and roofed pen, with an area of not less than 10 square meters. in the case of a dog weighing less than 20 kg, 15 sq m. for a dog weighing 20 to 30 kg and 20 sq m. for a dog weighing over 30 kg. In addition, the pen would be enlarged with the number of dogs staying in it.
The regulations assumed that the pens were to be no less than 1.7 m high and introduced requirements regarding their construction.
The amendment also provided for exemptions from the ban on keeping dogs on tethers – only outside the dog's permanent residence. It would be possible, among others: keeping the dog on a leash or tying it up for a walk, transport or for a short period of time under specific conditions indicated by the owner – in a way that does not harm the animal's well-being (e.g. while shopping). (PAP)
“And what did the dogs do to you?”
If I wanted to be malicious, I would ask whose chain you were a dozen or so years ago – the head of the KPRP, Zbigniew Bogucki, asked Prime Minister Donald Tusk before the vote on the presidential veto. – “PiS meekly tucked its tail in and upheld the president's veto,” Tusk wrote after the vote.
The head of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, Zbigniew Bogucki, speaking in the Sejm on Wednesday about the rejection of the veto regarding the so-called Chain Act assessed that it was not about animal welfare. – If it was about animal welfare, we would take up the presidential project – he added.
Bogucki referred to Prime Minister Donald Tusk's entry on Platform X, which referred to the president's veto on the so-called Chain Act wrote: “And what did the dogs do to you?”
– I could ask today: what is the fault of patients who cannot see a doctor? What have you done wrong with children, pregnant women and the elderly, whom you want to deprive of mostly free medicines? What did those court employees who put up a banner here asking for raises do to you? Finally, what did your voters do to you that made you unable to fulfill your promises – asked the head of the KPRP from the podium.
Bogucki also recalled Donald Tusk's entry, which was published on Facebook on December 8: “They love dogs and Poland. Chained. PiS, Nawrocki, Konfederacja.”
– What is this, Mr. Prime Minister, if not meanness – said Bogucki. – If I wanted to be malicious, I would ask whose chain you were a dozen or so years ago? Whose chain were you on when they called you their man in Warsaw? Russian propaganda. When you said that you and Prime Minister Putin would make sure not to throw dirt into the wheels, whose side were you on, whose chain were you on – he said.
Donald Tusk commented on the vote on platform (PAP)
mchom/ agz/ mhr/
kblu/ agz/ mhr/ moss
