Polish government faces renewed pressure from EU 
VANESSA GERA, Associated Press

 

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's government faced additional pressure from the European Union Wednesday for the way it is consolidating power, just as opposition lawmakers pushed ahead with a plan to occupy parliament through the Christmas and New Year holidays.

 

The heart of the issue is whether the populist and nationalist Law and Justice party is taking an authoritarian turn and eroding democratic institutions. The focus of concerns has centered on the independence of Poland's judiciary and other issues perceived as backsliding on fundamental political rights.

 

The government stands by its democratic credentials and that street protests and the opposition's occupation of parliament are attempts at destabilizing the state.

 

EU Vice-President Frans Timmermans weighed in on Wednesday, voicing renewed concerns over the respect of the rule of law in Poland. He said he has sent a series of recommendations to be put into action and given the Polish government two months to reply.

 

Timmermans said the 28-nation bloc "will not drop this matter."

 

"We feel a strong, strong feeling of solidarity with the Polish people who deserve, like all Europeans, to have an independent judiciary, to have a full separation of powers in their country," Timmermans said.

 

Warsaw has shrugged off previous complaints, saying Brussels doesn't have the right to interfere in the nation's affairs.

 

Poland has been in a state of political tension since Law and Justice assumed power in November 2015 and moved quickly to solidify control over state institutions.

 

Tensions spiked last Friday over a plan by the ruling party to restrict media access in parliament. Opposition lawmakers denounced that as an unconstitutional violation of freedom and began a sit-in around the speaker's podium that blocked proceedings. Large street protests also erupted and lasted for days.

 

The ruling authorities have since backed away from that plan, but a dispute over the recent vote on the 2017 budget continues. Opposition lawmakers say that the vote violated parliamentary procedures.

 

Grzegorz Schetyna, head of the opposition Civic Platform party, said the protesting lawmakers will remain inside the parliament's main assembly hall in protest until Jan. 11, when parliament is set to resume after a holiday break.

 

Law and Justice lawmaker Jaroslaw Kaczynski said the behavior of the rebellious lawmakers is of a "criminal nature" and appealed to them to respect the law. Kaczynski is widely considered to be the most powerful politician in Poland even though he doesn't actually hold a formal position in government.

 

Though the recent street protests have been mostly peaceful, there have been some isolated scuffles. In reaction, state authorities have increased security outside of parliament in Warsaw, site of most of the protests, erecting metal barriers that keep the protesters further from the building.

 

"Thousands of Polish citizens have been marching for months now. They wave the flag of the European Union and call desperately for help. We must not let them down," said the leader of the ALDE liberal group in the EU legislature, Guy Verhofstadt.

___

Raf Casert in Brussels and Monika Scislowska in Warsaw contributed to this report.

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-12-22

6 minutes ago, webfact said:

The heart of the issue is whether the populist and nationalist Law and Justice party is taking an authoritarian turn and eroding democratic institutions.

 

Damn right the EU is concerned. This is their job.

The problem is that with the setup of the EU there will always be countries that don't support sanctions, probably because they think that in the (short) future they may be doing something similar, plus 'you help me now, I will help you later'.

 

The countries that are (relatively) new to the EU plus the net receivers, Poland is both, should never have been allowed full voting rights. On top of that I feel that the EU should be a Western European Union, where values are more or less the same.

Starting to look more like a Caliphate every day. 

The EU trying to undermine the democratically elected government of a member state. Interesting.

46 minutes ago, Khun Han said:

The EU trying to undermine the democratically elected government of a member state. Interesting.

 

They have a track record of that, nothing new.

5 hours ago, Khun Han said:

The EU trying to undermine the democratically elected government of a member state. Interesting.

Yes a classical example of democracy just not turning out to the voters liking. If the government would have followed the road map (like they are here) that they laid out for voters during the election campaign I am sure all would be OK. Once the election is over the God complex sets in.

On 12/22/2016 at 4:33 PM, Khun Han said:

The EU trying to undermine the democratically elected government of a member state. Interesting.

 

Of course. The EU want a federal system where "governments" would be no more than local councils made up of approved political parties who simply rubber stamp EU dictates. 

 

 

 
Of course. The EU want a federal system where "governments" would be no more than local councils made up of approved political parties who simply rubber stamp EU dictates. 
 
 

What the EU wants are governments that act according to the treaties, not ones that violate them.

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