Protests in Poland - Supreme Coart is political now

[Jaga]

What is going on in Poland is ridiculous, but maybe this is a good teaching lessons. After collapse of communism we had several parties in the government. Almost all politicians played the games, which are play by lobbists in the US and many were corrupted. The parties were unable to provice enought reforms or success to satisfy the majority of people, so after one season - the ruling party was usually replaced by another party by "no" vote to the lack of progress rather than the support.

In a current situation Kaczynski, who is a bachelor and not in a hands of lobbyists, became a symbol of non-currupted person. Yes, he is non nice and he believes in conspiracy theory, but his party was able to support some of the poors and big families by offering a safety net, and +500 zl per child.

The problem is that they want too much, they own the media and they want to own the supreme court. They had enough power to overcome presidential veto, a veto from president Duda, who is a member of their own party.

Below is more from Washington Post:

Thousands protest in Poland against court reorganizations

WARSAW, Poland — Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Warsaw and towns across Poland on Thursday night to protest the ruling party’s drive to reorganize all levels of the judiciary, including contentious legislation that gives control of the nation’s Supreme Court to the president instead of to judges.

Poland’s prime minister appeared on national television to defend the changes as opponents of her government urged the president to reject the changes.

Opposition lawmakers and celebrities joined the crowd in front of the Presidential Palace in Warsaw as protesters held up candles, waved national and European Union flags and chanted “free courts” and “democracy.”

Warsaw police spokesman Mariusz Mrozek said some 14,000 participated, while city hall estimated the crowd at 50,000.

...
Critics say the Supreme Court legislation and two earlier bills destroy judicial independence and threaten democracy.
....

Earlier Thursday, a small group of protesters kicked metal barriers that separated them from the parliament, chanting “Shame!” to express their anger at the lawmakers.

The new law is part of the ruling party’s drive to reorganize all levels of Poland’s judiciary. The party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, also a lawyer, insists the justice system needs radical reform because, he says, it still works along communist-era lines — a claim judges dispute.

Party spokeswoman, Beata Mazurek, said Thursday that people in small towns across the country have a sense the justice system is not on their side and the party wants to change that.

[pieter]

Dear Jaga,

I hope that this teaching lessons don't take to long. It is true that after the collapse of communism Poland had several parties in the government and there was something we call the Polish landtag in the Netherlands. Political chaos, disunity and a fragmented political system with to many political parties and fractions. In that system unfortunately corruption, nepotism, fraud and favorism ruled. Ruling political parties gave the jobs to allies.

I think the games the corrupt Polish politicians played were worse than the games the American lobbists play in the US, because in the USA there is a lobby system or sector. The Polish political parties were not only weak and often divided amongst themselves with party quarrels, split offs and etcm. the parties were unable to provide enough reforms or success to satisfy the majority of the Polish people people.

In the current situation Kaczynski, who is a bachelor and not in a hands of lobbyists, became a symbol of non-currupted person. But in the same time he is crazy, dictatorial, vengeful and has imperial ambitions.

It is not only that Kaczynski is unsympathetic, he is also bad for the Polish economy, financial affairs and necessary bilateral and multilateral ties with other nations. He lacks the diplomatic, charismatic, emphatic, social, humanistic and philosophical skill great politicians, leaders and Realpoliker have. A great leader can unite supporters and enemies (opponents) behind his ambitions, aims and deeds. A great leader unites in staid of divides people. Even Trump has some social, human, business skills to connect to people.

His party was able to support some of the poor people and the large families by offering a safety net, and +500 zl per child. But does he has a mid term and long term vision and strategy for the Polish economy, Polish Industry, Polish trade, Polish position on the European and world markets. It is easy to spend money like the communist governments of the Polish Peoples Republic did, but how does he finance these social security policies? The communists had huge foreign debt due to the large government spending. Does the present Prawo i Sprawiedliwość-Solidarna Polska-Polska Razem government of Poland, the Cabinet of Beata Szydło invests enough in Human Capital, Research & Development, Innovation, New technology, the development, production, marketing and sale of old and new Polish products on the European and World markets?

You are right that the problem is that they are to ambitious, that they own the media and that they want to own the supreme court. They don't learnt the lessons of the past. That every authoritarian, totalitarian, one party course or one movement direction; weather it was Imperialist Monarchist, Democratic with some autocratic elements (Pilsudski's and Atatürk's rule), Fascist/Nazi, Communist or Military, came down one day. These regimes, systems, directions and methods didn't work. On the long term, the more moderate wings or voters of PiS will vote for reasonable oppostion parties like Platforma Obywatelska (PO), .Nowoczesna, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (PSL), or who knows even Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej (SLD), Razem or a new Democratic Party that will emerge on the stage of Polish politics?

The veto from president Duda, who is a member of Kaczynskis and Beata Szydło's Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, was a hopeful sign of political pluriformity in Poland, but unfortunately his veto and his influence was and is not strong enough to block the the Supreme Court legislation. That is a lost battle for the opposition and those Poles who support the trias politica principle (The separation of powers) which a real and true free democracy should have. The trias politica is a matter of civilization, of a legal system that works for all and not only for the supporters of a government party or regime.

I hope that Platforma Obywatelska (PO), .Nowoczesna, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe (PSL), or who knows even Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej (SLD), Razem and KOD (The Committee for the Defence of Democracy) will continue their opposition towards this enlightened Prawo i Sprawiedliwość-Solidarna Polska-Polska Razem democratic dictatorship. I don't like the present Polish political climate of intimidation, pressure, agitprop, false accusations (by the government side, like labeling people traitors or foreign agents), self-indulgence, Jarosław Kaczyński's solipsism, fear, anxiety, hatred and aggression.

The government will not be able to break the free will, free speech, opposition voices and on the long term will never be able to dismantle the Trias Politica, because the Separation of Powers is one of the corner stones of a Free and Democratic nation. The Poles will fight for their freedom and democracy, the law, justice, a good democratic system that fits Poland and the Poland they built up after 1989. They will not accept a return to the times of communism or Pre-war autoritarian Sanacja rule.

Cheers,
Pieter

[Jaga]

Pieter,

I am so glad that you are so aware of what is going on in Poland and you see a complexity of situation. Yes, Polish system is not that mature like American, still the fact that the US has a president it has... is also a learning lesson for Americans.

I am not sure that the opposition has a common goal besides saying "no". The protest movement leader, Kijowski, became also a symbol of corruption after being revealed that he took lots of money improperly for a function that he was doing and did not pay child support. He was charged with fraud.

It is surprising that Kaczynski and Macierewicz are still in power, almost continously for the last 30 years are leaders of opposition. Liberals do not have such lost lasting leaders, maybe this is also a problem.

[pieter]

Dear Jaga,

KOD is more than Mateusz Kijowski. It is true that Kijowski started a Facebook group Committee for the Defense of Democracy (Polish: Komitet Obrony Demokracji, also known as KOD), but the civic organization and NGO was and is supported by several artists and intellectuals, including Polish film and television director and screenwriter Agnieszka Holland; Polish film and theatre director Andrzej Wajda (1926 – 2016); former Polish TV, film and theatrical actor and director Marek Kondrat; Polish film and theater actress Krystyna Janda; Polish actor Daniel Olbrychski; Polish actress Maja Ostaszewska; Polish film and television actor Robert Więckiewicz; Polish film actress Maja Komorowska; Polish poet, essayist, translator and academic Bronisław Maj; Polish poet from the generation of the Polish "New Wave" Ewa Lipska; Polish historian and politician Jerzy Zdrada; Polish historian, writer and politician Karol Modzelewski; Polish neuroscientist, pharmacologist and biochemist, professor of natural sciences, member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Learning, one of the most frequently cited Polish scientists in the field of biomedicine Jerzy Vetulani; Polish philosopher and bioethicist, humanities professor, writer, publicist, academic and politician Jan Hartman and last, but certainly not least Jan Woleński; Polish philosopher specializing in the history of the Lwów-Warsaw school and in analytic philosophy. Next to that KOD gained support from politicians like Grzegorz Schetyna, Ryszard Petru, Barbara Nowacka and Lech Wałęsa.







The Committee for the Defence of Democracy (Polish: Komitet Obrony Demokracji, KOD) promotes European values, especially democracy, rule of law and human rights. KOD is opposed to the actions of the democratically elected government led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party. The primary impetus for the formation of KOD was the Parliament’s enactment of a law on 26 November 2015 purporting to invalidate the prior Government’s appointment of five judges to the Polish Constitutional Court and the nomination of new PiS-affiliated judges to replace them. Since then the organisation has opposed and reacted to any actions taken by the government or President Andrzej Duda which were deemed unlawful, undermining democracy, limiting civil liberties or going against European principles. As the disagreements between the governing party and the Constitutional Court continued, KOD called for protests against what it perceives as a breach of the Constitution in violation of democratic norms and the constitutional separation of powers between the legislature, executive branch, and judiciary.

Controversies


Mateusz Kijowski

Since the foundation of KOD Kijowski was being accused of having fallen behind with child support payments prior to starting the organization. On January 4th, 2017 it was revealed that Kijowski had a potential conflict of interest, as while serving as the leader of KOD, between March and August 2016, his company "MTM" billed the organization monthly for IT services. Following this revelation the KOD Board initiated an external financial audit, with many KOD members demanding for Kijowski to step down.

Like in the other thread about leftwing politics and anti-globalism, like in Western-Europe the left is very weak or weakened in Poland. I believe however that sooner or later Post-communist Social-democratic, progressive liberal, socialist, Green party and other leftwing movement and parties will emerge on the Polish Political arena. Why, because Poland has a rich heritage of political pluriformity and during and after the First World War you had Polska Partia Socjalistyczna (PPS), Socjaldemokracja Królestwa Polskiego i Litwy (SDKPiL) and Bund. And the rather leftwing prewar Polish Peasent Party PSL which was part of the Centrolew which opposed the Sanacja regime. I hope for the sake of pluriformity, variety, diversity and democracy that the Polish left will reform itself, regain strength and returns in the parliament. Maybe that Razem will grow or maybe the Left Alliance (Polish: Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej, SLD) will regain popularity and strength. An alliance between the SLD and the Polish People's Party (PSL) ruled Poland in the years 1993–1997. SLD formed a coalition with Labour Union before the 2001 Polish election and won it overwhelmingly at last by capturing about 5.3 million votes, 42% of the whole and won 200 of 460 seats in the Sejm and 75 of 100 in the Senate. After the elections, the coalition was joined by the Polish People's Party (PSL) in forming a government and Leszek Miller became the Prime Minister. In March 2003, the PSL left the coalition.

A shock therapy programme, initiated by Leszek Balcerowicz in the early 1990s enabled Poland to transform its socialist-style planned economy into a market economy. As with other post-communist countries, Poland suffered slumps in social and economic standards, but it became the first post-communist country to reach its pre-1989 GDP levels, which it achieved by 1995 largely thanks to its booming economy. It was painful but necessery to transform Poland to a Modern Capitalist Free Market economy, which could join the EU and compete with other European, North-American and Asian countries and markets. The Polish economy continued to expand even during the 2008–09 global financial crisis, when Poland was the only European country whose economy did not slip into recession. By 2007 the unemployment rate had fallen below 10 percent. After dipping even more over the next two years, it largely stabilized at about 10 percent until 2014, when it climbed again to 14 percent. The principal branches of the manufacturing sector are machinery and transport equipment, food products, metals and metal products, chemicals, beverages, tobacco, and textiles and clothing.

Personally I hope that Platforma Obywatelska, which is the second largest political party in Poland will grow again, maybe attracting some disappointed Prawo i Sprawiedliwość voters, and I especially hope that new political parties like .Nowoczesna (Modern) and Razem will grow in popularity. A coalition government of Platforma Obywatelska, .Nowoczesna and Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe would have my blessing. But all three parties should gain strength, and should assure the voters that old illnesses of the first decades of Post-communist Poland, like corruption, nepotism, political fraud and favorism will not return. A Platforma Obywatelska, .Nowoczesna and Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe administration should continue the economical reforms and policies of the administration of Donald Tusk and the Cabinet of Ewa Kopacz, to continue the free-market policies, streamline the bureaucracy, enact long-term stable governance, cut taxes to attract greater foreign business ventures, lure foreign-working Poles back to Poland, and privatise state-owned companies. In continental policy, greater political and economic integration within the European Union, strongly backing the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. The Lisbon Treaty for instance established the competition rules necessary for the functioning of the internal market in the European Union. A market which is very important for the Polish export sector.

I hope that a future Polish administration will see the importance of a Modern Poland with the best infrastructure, with fast connections to Western-Europe, Central-Europe, Southern-Europe and Eastern-Europe. If future normalisation, reconcillation and a peace process in Ukraine will start and the Ukrainian, Belarussian and Russian markets will open further for Polish export good highways, railways, canals, and air transportation (airport and flight treaties with these nations) are important. You see how Poland today benefits from the modern highway from Berlin to Warsaw. Business travels, tourism, city trips, transport between the two capitals is more easy than in the past. The two countries are connected in the Weimar Triangle (with France as third member), the EU, NATO and bilateral ties. A lot of German firms and corporations operate in Poland and create Polish employment. In the same time Polish employers and employee's work in Germany. Nex to the German connection Poland could strenghen the Visegrád Group for instance by inviting and integrating the Baltic states, Romania and Austria into the group.

Back to Polish politics. I hope that a strong, new, center right, moderate, pragmatic, realistic, democratic, legalist (defender of the trias politica principle; the separation of powers) party will come out of the remains of Prawo i Sprawiedliwość and Platforma Obywatelska. I hope that dissidents within Prawo i Sprawiedliwość will abandon PiS and join the opposition. In 2005 I agreed with Tufta, Bunjo, Aadam and others that it was sad that the occasion to form a Prawo i Sprawiedliwość - Platforma Obywatelska government wasn't used. In staid the Kaczyński twins choose to cooperate with rightwing nationalists of the The League of Polish Families (Polish: Liga Polskich Rodzin, LPR) and leftwing populist idiots of the Self-Defence of the Republic of Poland (Polish: Samoobrona Rzeczpospolitej Polskiej, SRP). They missed a chance to form a realistic, firm and stabile majority block of rightwing and center right political parties.

Today Prawo i Sprawiedliwość again collaborates with small rightwing parties; the right-wing, Catholic-nationalist Solidarna Polska and the more moderate conservative Polska Razem. I really hope that some sensible Prawo i Sprawiedliwość supporters will come to their senses and will start supporting and defending Freedom and democracy, and to prevent the concentration of power and provide for checks and balances. Former Prawo i Sprawiedliwość supporters, members and voters who understannd that to prevent one branch from becoming supreme, and to protect the "opulent minority" from the majority, and to induce the branches to cooperate, government systems that employ a separation of powers need a way to balance each of the branches. Today you see that even the Polish president Andrzej Duda supported the opposition in it's resistance to an attempted government takeover of the courts.

Where will Poland move to in the coming months and years? Will the society be even split further, in the sense that the country could move towards a dualist situation of two hostile camps of government supporters and opposition supporters. How far will the resistance of the opposition of KOD, PO, .Nowoczesna, Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe, Razem, Sojusz Lewicy Demokratycznej (SLD), Polish students, old Solidarność and Komitet Obrony Robotników (KOR) dissidents go? How powerhungry are Jarosław Kaczyński and Prime Minister of Poland Beata Szydło? How far will they go to press Prawo i Sprawiedliwość goals, ideology and pressure on the Polish society? I hope that both the Polish government and their supporters will come to their senses. Behind them there are other sinister forces like thousands of far right Polish Ultra-nationalists, secret services (intelligence agencies controlled by PiS), and maybe sinister foreign backers of the Polish regime (Hungarians, CIA, and others, who knows?)

The left in Poland should give United Left (Polish: Zjednoczona Lewica, ZL) another chance during the next elections. The alliance was formed in July 2015 by the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), Your Movement (TR), Polish Socialist Party (PPS), Labour United (UP), and The Greens (PZ) to jointly contest the forthcoming parliamentary election. The formation of the alliance was in response to the poor performance the Polish centre-left in the 2015 presidential election, and was backed by the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ). On 14 September 2015 the Polish Labour Party (PPP) joined the alliance. n the 2015 parliamentary election on 25 October 2015, the ZL received 7.6% of the vote, below the 8% electoral threshold for electoral alliances (individual parties only need 5%), leaving the alliance without any parliamentary representation. It was dissolved in February 2016. Razem will not join Zjednoczona Lewica, because Razem competes with the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) on the left.

Cheers,
Pieter

[karl]

Jaga and Pieter

Unlike you both, my self as non-Pole hold no vested interest with Polish politics, but this does not preclude a comment upon the currant situation that seems to be an ongoing Polish situation.

The primary situation is the currant PiS goverment under Mr. Kaczenski is a democratic elected goverment by the Polish people. What has occured is not of course the fault of the people, but there layst the fact the Polish people did elect the currant goverment. There is little to nothing the EU can do with this, for it is the Polish peoples choice.

But, if Poland should conduct an exist from the EU, there then is a case for actions to be taken against Poland. For each state is not an island, but must abide by trade restrictions and interstate relations as non-EU.

The following from Spiegel perhaps to add to this very fine discussion:


07/21/2017 06:52 PM

From Paragon To Pariah How Kaczynski Is Driving Poland Away from Europe
By Jan Puhl

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the most powerful politician in Poland, is the architect of judicial reforms that have drawn massive criticism across Europe. As the Polish government chips away at checks and balances, is it possible the politician could drive the country out of the EU?

The nucleus of Poland's political power lies not in the parliament in Warsaw, not in the presidential palace, but in a windowless, slightly strange looking building that most resembles a multistory car park. It's not quite part of Warsaw's city center, although downtown's many new glass and steel skyscrapers are still just in sight.

Every day, an official car picks up Jaroslaw Kaczynski from his apartment in the Zoliborz neighborhood and brings him to this office block at 84-86 Nowogrodzka. The building houses a sushi restaurant, a copy shop and an insurance company -- and the headquarters of Kaczynski's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Its chairman uses a separate entrance. In the mornings, a team of young staff members supplies him with books, newspapers and printouts. All in Polish, because Kaczynski only reads Polish sources. At midday, a procession of black limos starts arriving, delivering ministers -- and occasionally the president of the Polish National Bank -- to the Nowogrodzka office to pick up directives and seek advice.

Despite holding no formal government office, Kaczynski is Warsaw's undisputed leader. Together with his late twin brother, Lech, he founded the PiS party in 2001 and twice led it to victory. In 2015, he hand-picked its presidential candidate Andrzej Duda, at the time an unknown member of the European Parliament, who went on to win the vote. He also personally selected current Prime Minister Beata Szydlo. Both politicians are widely seen as Kaczynski's willing stooges.

From a backroom in the Nowogrodzka office, he has turned Poland into a problem case for the EU. Poland, of all places. Under the liberal leadership of former prime minister Donald Tusk, it had long been viewed as the paragon among the Eastern European accession countries. But Kaczynski, who thinks in nationalist categories, clearly sees the union as a source of ready cash rather than a community of solidarity, to which his own country must also contribute. Under his leadership, this once deeply pro-European country might now be moving toward an exit.

The ruling PiS party is already doggedly distancing Poland from Europe's central values. It has restricted the power of the country's highest constitutional court and filled top positions in public radio and television as well as major state-owned companies and the intelligence services with loyalists. In the past week, it turned its attention to reforming the independent Polish judiciary with the aim of giving parliament, in which the Law and Justice has a majority, and the president, chosen by the Law and Justice party, the power to appoint judges -- even in the Supreme Court -- who were previously nominated by the independent National Judiciary Council.

Thursday saw the lower house of parliament vote through the reform, which now has to be approved by the upper house, the Senate, in a vote that is expected imminently, and signed by the president. To the surprise of many, Duda actually proposed a compromise reform, even though so far Duda has always acquiesced to his patron's will -- hence his disparaging nickname, "the notary."

A Threat to the Rule of Law

As Poland, the biggest and most important of the EU's Eastern European members, sets about dismantling the separation of powers, Brussels and Berlin are protesting loudly. The European Commission has referred to "a systemic threat to the rule of law" and indicated Poland could be stripped of its voting rights. But its leverage is limited. The Commission's probe into the "threats to the rule of law," launched last year, has stalled. Revoking Poland's voting rights would require a unanimous decision among all other EU member countries, and Hungary, whose prime minister Viktor Orbán is also no friend of liberal democracy, has declared he would never agree to such a move. The EU has no other sanctions to impose.

But political resistance is also growing inside Poland. In recent days, tens of thousands of people have taken the streets to protest against what the opposition has called "an assault on democracy." But the PiS party doesn't need to worry too much about the demonstrations, which are restricted to the major cities. The party still enjoys a clear lead in national polls. The Polish economy is growing steadily -- by over 4 percent in the first quarter of 2017 alone. And tax revenues have also risen since the party came to power.

Judicial reform is only one aspect of Kaczynski's plans to overhaul Poland. He has long entertained ideas of a "Fourth Republic," a strict but caring state replacing the "Third Republic," as post-communist Poland is often called. Parliamentarians with the liberal opposition fear that the government will continue eroding Polish democracy and that a compliant judiciary could start to challenge unwelcome election results. There are indications that the PiS party is planning to revamp electoral regulations so that it is guaranteed victory for years to come. Urban constituencies, where the party tends to perform poorly, could be redrawn to include more rural areas, thereby redistributing its majorities.

The government's next target could be Poland's private media companies. A favorite buzzword of the Law and Justice party is "renationalization," which in this case would exclude by law international publishing companies from the Polish market.

A Conspiracy Theorist

Kaczynski is a stocky man with a round head. He often looks disgruntled and rarely has any kind of emotional outburst. This week, however, he became unusually angry. During a parliamentary debate on the judicial reforms, a liberal member of parliament raised the specter of Jaroslaw Kaczynski's late brother Lech, who served as president from 2005 to 2010, and was killed in a plane crash close to the Russian city of Smolensk seven years ago.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski stormed over to the podium. "Don't wipe your treacherous mugs with the name of my late brother," he bellowed. "You destroyed him, you murdered him!" The incident illustrates the party chairman's obsession with conspiracy theories. Like many in the party, he is convinced that his brother was deliberately killed in an assassination masterminded by Russia and approved by the liberal Polish government in power at the time.

There was a time when Lech and Jaroslav were Europe's political curiosity nonpareil. They were outsiders, frequently mocked, not least for their appearance. But they had a talent for demagoguery, which propelled them both to power. From 2005 to 2007 they both held office, as president and prime minister respectively. Jaroslav continued to pursue their political agenda after the death of his brother in the Smolensk plane crash. But what is driving him?

Two weeks ago, Kaczynski was the keynote speaker at a Law and Justice party congress in Przysucha, some 40 kilometers from Warsaw. "Poland is united," he said from behind the lectern in a drab auditorium. "We are here to ensure that everyone in Poland has the same opportunities, regardless of whether they live in the cities or in the country."

Kaczynski is not a fiery speaker. He's not a champion of the people. He tends to enumerate ministerial achievements, which sounds dull, but only to the uninitiated. PiS party politicians listen closely, because this is when they get to find out who has earned brownie points. The list of acknowledgments tells them who is currently in favor with the "prezes," Polish for president.

'Positive Change'

Issues and appointments are not debated within the party. Its agenda is drawn up by Kaczynski, as is the electoral list.

Ideologically, he stands for what is essentially a left-wing vision of a generous state, dished up with what liberal politician Leszek Balcerowicz once called "nationalist-Catholic gravy." Kaczynski makes himself out to be the defender of the interests of the common people, defending them from the supposedly "pathological" consequences of the economic liberalism rampant since the fall of the Iron Curtain.

From the very beginning of his political career, he has maintained that it was former communists and dissidents and not the general public who benefited from this economic upswing. According Kaczynski's narrative, they cherrypicked jobs and businesses from Poland's bankrupt estate and ushered in an era of dog-eats-dog capitalism. Average Poles were hung out to dry. Kaczynski wants to see the "networks" that emerged at this time tackled, and the most egregious examples of the cold new economic order crushed. The current PiS party slogan sounds less combative than previous ones: "dobra zmiana" means "positive change." The underlying message is that the party intends to make Poland more humane.

In contrast, the liberal opposition, which had been in power until 2015, has little to offer these days. The bedrock of its political platform has always been the EU. Its vision is basically that so long as Poland is a reliable European partner, aid from Brussels will ensure prosperity for all. The trouble is that few people believe in this vision in the remote east of the country, in villages and small towns.

The Law and Justice party appeals to people who are frustrated by the slow pace of economic progress. Its core voters are not the poor, but the middle classes. Families fed up with dilapidated schools and kindergartens, as well as small businesspeople and shop owners who feel threatened by international retail chains. These are the sorts of voters who want the PiS to guarantee a welfare benefit of 500 zlotys for a second child and reduce the retirement age from 67 to 65 for men and to 60 for women.

Most of them attach little importance to constitutionally spurious moves such as the judicial reform. The judiciary they know from the post-'89 years was inefficient and corrupt anyway. It all goes to show that one reason why Kaczynski is such a successful politician is because he understands how to harness a mood and bring it to a head. He's seen as a modest man willing to sacrifice his own interests for the greater good of the country -- in direct contrast to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has a soft spot for oligarchy glamor.

Eroding Democracy

But where exactly does Kaczynski stand on democracy? "(He) loves Poland and believes in God and the state," says Michal Kaminski, who used to represent the Law and Justice party in the European Parliament and is now a conservative lawmaker in Poland's lower house. He says that Kaczynski is deeply convinced that he knows what is best for Poland and the Polish people. On principle, he is not opposed to democracy, but nor does he want his agenda to be impeded by pesky checks and balances such as a constitutional court. "Internally, the PiS party is looking increasingly more like a sect than a political party," says Kaminski.

The case of Elzbieta Jakubiak lends weight to this theory. She used to work for Lech Kaczynski. After his death, she was ejected by the party by Jaroslav but has long since reconciled with him again. "He had to choice, he had to let us go in order to keep the party together," she said. Many in the party, it seems, are willing to see its chairman's every move as a brilliant maneuver, even when it entails their own exclusion.

Operating out of his backroom office on Nowogrodzka, Poland's unofficial leader appears to be in an unassailable position. Whenever anything goes wrong, he can simply pass the buck.

The death of his brother in a plane crash consolidated his standing. As the surviving twin, Jaroslaw Kaczynski has become part of the national mythology which is such as pillar of the Polish right-wing's identity: The Poles are heroic but forever victimized by Russia and Germany.

Growing EU Skepticism

It's an identity that also defines Kaczynski's foreign policy. "He doesn't understand the principle of the EU," says one former member of the Law and Justice party. As far as he is concerned, the EU is simply an ongoing competition between the member states. That's why he doesn't see the European Union as a project securing peace and prosperity. In his eyes, it is first and foremost an instrument of German power.

Polls show that a large majority of Poles still support EU membership. But many diplomats fear that this support is crumbling. "When you talk to Law and Justice party politicians, it's obvious they think that the EU's best days are behind it and you shouldn't expect much from it anymore," says Marek Prawda, the Polish head of the European Commission representation in Warsaw. Resentment of Brussels is growing, he believes.

PiS politicians such as Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski are constantly maintaining that Western European nations take the lion's share of Brussels' funds. He points to the German companies constructing roads and train stations in Poland, overlooking the fact they help create jobs, improve infrastructure and pay taxes in the country.

Pressure from Brussels is unlikely to make the Law and Justice party cave in. If the EU ends up punishing Poland, relations will become even more strained. The government might one day question why Poland is in the EU in the first place. As one diplomat put it: "As Britain has shown, you can stumble your way into an EU exit."

URL:
www.spiegel.de/international/europe/how-kaczynski-is-driving-poland-away-from-europe-a-1159143.html


Karl

[Jaga]

Karl,

very good article about Kaczynski, really good and deep. I will go back and higlight some important parts of the article which are, according to me the most important. I think, the article you found had a better insight into Poland than the one from Washington Post.

Pieter, thanks for finding more info about Mateusz Kijowski. Kijowski was present during recent protests, but some people protested him. Kijowski is a son of well known physics professor. He also has a math degree, but his life is quite messed up.

[Jaga]

Here is an analysis from Washington Post about what is going on in Poland. I still hope that the president would veto the new law. He found some faults in it. I think this analysis missed a deeper understanding of why populists win. Last time in the election young Poles from Great Britain waited a long time in lines to make sure they vote so that Kaczynski would not be elected. There was a fear factor. This time, these young people often did not come to vote, since there were too many problems, scandals related to liberal party. I didn't believe that Kaczynski is still powerful, I don;t think people were aware of the extend of Kaczynski's power and his ambitions.

www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/07/21/it-only-took-two-years-for-a-robust-european-democracy-to-fall-apart/?hpid=hp_hp-more-top-stories-2_wv-poland-810am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.0dc83345876b

It only took two years for a ‘robust’ European democracy to fall apart

In a vote that has been described as an assault on democracy by European officials, the Polish Senate approved a rushed and controversial law on Saturday that will retire all Supreme Court judges and allow the president to replace them with more favorable alternatives. The measure still has to be signed by the Polish president, but he is expected to approve the changes.

[Polish parliament expected to approve measure stripping Supreme Court of independence]

Proposed by the ruling right-wing Law and Justice (Pis) party, the legislation has been widely condemned as the most worrisome development in a country where democratic institutions are under mounting pressure. If signed, the changes would constitute “an unprecedented attack on judicial independence,” according to a joint statement by leading judges from the neighboring Czech Republic.

It is the latest of many unprecedented attacks.

Only two years ago, Poland was widely considered a success story that had managed to seemingly leave behind its communist past, and turned into a “robust” role model democracy praised by officials across the European Union.

Now, it is becoming a case study for why liberal democracy should not be taken for granted. The Polish government has pursued a number of strategies to weaken its opponents and democratic institutions, including repressions against journalists or judges and the dissemination of conspiracy theories, which preceded Saturday’s vote.

A populist election campaign that paved the way

When Polish voters decided it was time for a new, populist administration two years ago, the reasons for the election outcome appeared hard to understand from the outside. Poland’s economy had grown by nearly 50 percent over the previous decade, benefiting from an integration with the rest of the continent.

But the landslide victory of Poland’s right-wing and anti-E. U. Law and Justice party revealed deeper divisions, which were harder to measure than the country’s GDP. Senior party officials took a decidedly anti-immigration stance in the days before the election, even warning that migrants might carry dangerous diseases.

The timing was right for the Law and Justice party. Europe faced the peak of its massive refugee influx in the second half of 2015, which provoked fears in more conservative nations, like Poland, and ultimately paved the way for Law and Justice’s victory. In particular, rural voters there had long felt neglected by their previous government and complained that economic prosperity had not been accompanied by improved social services.

Repressions against journalists

With its sweeping mandate, Law and Justice quickly began to consolidate its power. The country’s public broadcaster, TVP Info, essentially turned into a mouthpiece of the government months after the election. Through amendments to the country’s media law, the government gained control over the public media network’s executives, which triggered the resignation of more than 140 employees.

Soon thereafter, the government went after independent newspapers and broadcasters, as well. It attempted to limit the number of journalists allowed access to parliament but had to abandon the plans after large-scale protests.

As a result, Poland’s ranking in the Press Freedom Index dropped to “partly free” this year “due to government intolerance toward independent or critical reporting, excessive political interference in the affairs of public media, and restrictions on speech regarding Polish history and identity, which have collectively contributed to increased self-censorship and polarization,” according to Freedom House, a nongovernmental organization based in Washington.

Despite international protests, the government’s control over state media outlets has created a parallel reality in parts of Polish society, where protests against the “illiberal” Law and Justice party are being portrayed as a “coup against the democratically elected government.”

Conspiracy theories

State media outlets have also repeated some of the conspiracy theories that have further deepened divisions in the country over the last two years. Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has blamed former Polish prime minister and current president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, for somehow being complicit in the death of Kaczynski’s twin brother seven years ago.


Tusk campaigned for Law and Justice's rival party, the liberal-conservative Civic Platform, and was prime minister in 2010 when President Lech Kaczynski died in a plane crash in Russia. Kaczynski’s Law and Justice party has long believed that the crash was not an accident but an assassination.

Last year, the party pushed for the exhumation of the bodies of the 96 victims to investigate the theory, but critics have said the move was timed to stoke anti-European Union tensions. There is no evidence to prove Kaczynski’s suspicions.

The government vs. the justice system

The emergence of investigations that are being criticized as politically motivated by critics has been accompanied by a parallel effort to restrict the independence of judges.

[pieter]

Hungarian PM vows support for Warsaw against Brussels

22.07.2017 15:41

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Saturday announced that his government would support Poland in a political battle against Brussels, which has threatened sanctions against Warsaw


Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Photo: EPA/Nandor Veres

"The inquisition offensive against Poland can never succeed because Hungary will use all legal options in the European Union to show solidarity with Poles," Orban reportedly said in a televised speech in Baile Tusnad, Romania.

Two days earlier, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said in a statement that Hungary stands by Poland and calls on the European Commission not to overstep its authority.

He added that the Commission wants to meddle into Poland's domestic affairs, and it should not "act like a political body".

European Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans on Wednesday warned that the EU’s executive arm was close to triggering the bloc's Article 7 against Poland, which could ultimately result in sanctions, if a new contentious bill aiming to overhaul the country's judicial system was passed.

In the small hours of Saturday, Polish senators green-lighted controversial legal changes amid protests by the opposition warning that the decision, which followed a stormy debate in both houses of parliament and street protests, undermined judicial independence and the rule of law.

Any potential sanctions against Poland would require unanimity among all other EU member states but Hungary has made clear on several occasions that it would block any such initiative.

Like Poland’s ruling party leader Jarosław Kaczyński, Orban has crossed swords with the EU for years while being accused of disrespect for democratic freedoms.

(mo/pk)

[pieter]

Even the USA IS concerned about Polish Government’s continued pursuit of legislation that appears to limit the judiciary and potentially weaken the rule of law in Poland.

thenews.pl/1/10/Artykul/317310,US-worried-about-controversial-planned-changes-to-Polish-judiciary

[karl]

Pieter

I must agree with Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban. What goes on in Poland is domestic affairs, even though those out side of Poland and perhaps those in Poland would disagree. But, the fact is still evident, this is a democratic elected goverment and the EU needs be to stay out of it.

The greatest weakness of Mr. Kacznski his remembrance of the war and Russia and some how Brussels forgets this and the manner of using that weakness as black mail, or should we say, resolution by means of willful negotiation.

Karl

[pieter]

Poland

Poland’s assault on the separation of powers

The EU should pressure Warsaw to respect essential EU principles


Thousands of people in Warsaw protest against legislation that aims to reorganise the judiciary © AP

JULY 18, 2017

The Polish government is doubling down on its determination to weaken independent checks on its power with renewed attacks on the courts. In effect, it is seeking a free hand to refashion in its own parochial, populist image a country that could otherwise aspire to co-leadership in Europe.

The Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) party wasted no time after it was elected in 2015 in stacking the Constitutional Tribunal with sympathisers. The tribunal, with its power to rule laws unconstitutional, threatened to be a thorn in the government’s side as it pursued radical reforms. The court itself refused to recognise the legality of the government’s move, which set off a simmering constitutional crisis that had already raised concerns among the rest of the EU and Polish civil society about erosion of the rule of law.

Now Law and Justice has set its sights on the rest of the court system. Last Wednesday it passed two laws to politicise the body that appoints judges and to allow the justice ministry to replace the president of any lower court. The ruling party finished the sitting by introducing a third law providing for the removal of Supreme Court judges at the say-so of the minister of justice. This is a blitzkrieg on an independent judiciary.

Government apologists point out that political control of the judiciary is not unheard of in other democracies. It is necessary, Law and Justice argues, to remove the vestiges of the pre-1989 communist regime and to give “the nation” sovereignty over the judiciary. These arguments betray the government’s populist conception of “the nation” as including only those who agree with its view of what Poland should be.

So does the way it has gone about consolidating its control during less than two years in government. The targets of attacks on independent thinking have ranged from the public television broadcaster to school syllabi.

The outside world, above all EU institutions and member states, must support Poland’s valiant civil society in calling out this programme for what it is: a brazen attempt to dismantle the separation of powers. To his credit President Andrzej Duda is pushing back at the government’s moves.

Moral suasion may give the government second thoughts: it backed down from an ultra-strict abortion law in the face of public protests. But it is not sufficient. The EU must bring more pressure to bear. It faces a twofold challenge in doing so. One is a shortage of incremental sanctions; the most draconian response of suspending voting rights would require unanimity among member states. The other is that Poland is not the only member state at odds with liberal democratic standards of governance: Hungary, for example, cannot be relied on to pressure Warsaw.

But the case of Hungary also shows that the EU is not entirely bereft of instruments. Budapest’s assaults on foreign-funded NGOs and on universities has triggered two infringement procedures under which the European Court of Justice may ultimately fine the country. Brussels should be launching a similar infringement case against Poland.

Poland and Hungary are both net recipients of EU funds, so a fine could be made to bite. Moreover, Brexit will shrink the revenues of the EU budget. Other member states should make clear that generous subsidies will not survive tough talks over money for countries that defy the EU’s essential principles. The separation of powers is such a principle. Contrary to PiS’s flawed justifications, it is what truly guarantees a nation’s sovereignty, which must be expressed through the rule of law, not the rule of a single party.

[pieter]

www.dw.com/en/poland-fear-for-democracy-rises/av-39799343
www.dw.com/en/the-end-of-judicial-independence-in-poland/av-39779736
edition.cnn.com/2017/07/23/europe/poland-judicial-bill-protests/index.html
www.nytimes.com/2017/07/21/world/europe/poland-courts-independence.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Feurope

[pieter]

www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2017/07/poland-turning-authoritarian-170722113057383.html

[Jaga]

I am so glad that Polish president decided to veto the bill, that was making Polish supreme coart a parody:

www.nbcnews.com/news/world/polish-president-duda-veto-reform-bills-triggered-protests-n785841

Polish President Duda to Veto Reform Bills That Triggered Protests
by REUTERS
Poland's President Andrzej Duda said Monday that he would veto two of three bills passed by parliament in a judicial reform that has triggered nationwide street protests and raised EU and U.S. concerns about a politicization of the courts.

Duda is an ally of the ruling right-wing, euroskeptic Law and Justice (PiS) party and, although he had threatened to water down one of the bills, his veto of a second bill was a surprise.

"I have decided that I will send back to the Sejm (lower house of parliament) - which means I will veto - the bill on the Supreme Court, as well as the one on the National Council of the Judiciary," Duda said.

On Saturday, the upper house had given final approval to a bill that would remove all current Supreme Court judges immediately except those hand-picked by the justice minister.

Image: Protesters in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw.
Protesters in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw. JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP - Getty Images
Parliament had earlier passed a bill giving it the right to appoint most of the members of the National Council of the Judiciary, which would nominate future candidates for the president to appoint to the Supreme Court.

"As president, I feel deep inside my soul that this reform in this form will not increase the sense of security and justice,” Duda said in a brief live statement.

The overhaul of the judiciary, coupled with a drive by PiS to expand its powers in other areas, including control of the media, has provoked a crisis in relations with the European Union and sparked one of the biggest political conflicts since Poland overthrew communism in 1989.

For many days, tens of thousands of protesters have been gathering in cities including Warsaw, Krakow and Poznan for candle-lit vigils, demanding that Duda veto the reforms.

The opposition and most legal experts say the changes violate the Polish constitution.

But the government has rebutted accusations that it is heading toward authoritarian rule. The PiS says the changes are needed to ensure courts serve all Poles, not just the "elites".

The EU executive, the European Commission, on Wednesday gave Poland a week to shelve the reforms, which Brussels says would put courts under direct government control. The United States, Poland's most important ally in NATO, also expressed concern.

[pieter]

Head of Poland’s ruling conservatives, Jarosław Kaczyński, criticises president’s veto:
www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/318383,Head-of-Poland%E2%80%99s-ruling-conservatives-criticises-president%E2%80%99s-veto