Tag: Poland

Is the new mechanism to protect the rule of law in the EU a revolutionary weapon or paper tiger?

Is the regulation that makes access to European funds conditional on respect for the rule of law and other EU values a revolutionary weapon or paper tiger?

“The problem of SLAPPs against journalists, activists, and human rights defenders must be addressed on the EU level. Legislative action is needed. The EU anti-SLAPP Directive and Council of Europe Recommendations are fundamental to raise awareness about SLAPPs dangers and to lead to a change ” – argue lawyers and researchers of the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom

‘Advertising ‘contributions’ will mean the weakening or even liquidation of some media operating in Poland,’ write media publishers in Poland in a letter to the authorities. The government wants to introduce a new levy under the pretext of fighting the Covid pandemic.

In 2021, the term of office of the Polish judge on the European Court of Human Rights will end. The Foreign Ministry does not want to reveal who has entered the competition. What are the stakes of this choice? Prof. Lech Garlicki, a former judge on the Constitutional Tribunal of Poland and the EtCHR, explains

This is the second decision by the Higher National Court in Karlsruhe to suspend the execution of a EAW to Poland, directly motivated by concerns over the rule of law, resulting from changes in the judiciary after 2015

Sticking firmly to the adopted tactics and casting a veto to the EU budget and Recovery Fund would also imply Poland’s creeping departure from the Union, up to an implicit Polexit. That scenario is disapproved by over 80% of Polish citizens! Mr. Prime Minister! We call on the Government to change their position in this regard.

The Law and Justice (PiS) party will want to change the legal consequences of the Constitutional Tribunal’s judgment on abortion. In order for this to be possible, however, the Tribunal’s judges have to leave such room for interpretation in the written justification, as, according to Onet’s information, the politicians in the ruling camp have requested.

It is still not too late. We call on the Law and Justice government to come to its senses. They have driven to the brink of the abyss. Will they have the common sense to step back? Or will they jump, taking the whole country with them?

The Hungarian and Polish governments are united in defending their autocratizing political models, whatever it takes politically. However, there is also a significant difference between Poland and Hungary. While Poland is largely free from large-scale, systemic corruption plaguing EU funds, the Hungarian regime’s political-economic model is based on state-led, centralized corruption structures and the deliberate misuse of EU funds.