• Contact
  • About
  • Authors
DONATE
NEWSLETTER SIGN UP
  • Login
Yorkshire Bylines
  • Home
  • News
    • All
    • Brexit
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health
    • Home Affairs
    • Transport
    • World
    Prime minister PMQ prep

    Brexit isn’t working – something we can all agree on

    The small number of trees shows that even the high uplands of the Dales was a woodland environment. Much has been nibbled down to the ground by heavy populations of sheep. Photo by Andy Brown

    Government policies destroying upland Yorkshire farming with no regard for the land or our health

    schools bill

    Johnson’s education power grab: from ‘liberation’ to dictatorship in one generation

    Emmanuel Macron

    French parliamentary elections 2022: shockwaves across the Channel

    Rail strikes

    Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

    cost of living march london

    Trade union movement marches to demand better

    European Union

    After the seismic shocks of Brexit and Covid, what next for the European Union?

    Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

    What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

    Refugee Week

    Refugee week: a chance to celebrate refugees

    Trending Tags

    • Johnson
    • Coronavirus
    • Labour
    • Starmer
    • NI Protocol
    • Brexit
    • Culture
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Home Affairs
    • Transport
    • World
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
    • All
    • Culture
    • Dance
    • Food
    • Music
    • Poetry
    • Recipes
    • Sport
    Nostell Priory, Wakefield

    Glastonbury? What’s Glastonbury? When the music world came to Wakefield

    Headingley Cricket Stadium

    A view from the Roses match: is everything ‘rosey’ in English cricket?

    Bettys' Fat Rascals

    Scallywags, scoundrels and rascals abound in Yorkshire (we do like our scones)

    'Woke' beliefs

    Woke and proud: Compassion must never be allowed to go out of fashion

    Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

    What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

    Red Ladder

    Climbing the Red Ladder – bringing theatre to the community

    Kaiser Chiefs in Doncaster

    Kaiser Chiefs never miss a beat in Doncaster

    Bradford Council leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, second from right, is joined by Keighley Creative representatives, from left, Georgina Webster, Jan Smithies and Gemma Hobbs.

    Bradford announced as City of Culture 2025

    Queen cakes fit for a Queen

    Queen Cakes fit for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

    • Food
    • Music
    • Poetry
    • Sport
  • Business
    • All
    • Economy
    • Technology
    • Trade
    Freya Osment from Northern Gas Networks

    International Women in Engineering Day 2022

    Rail strikes

    Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

    conservative party

    The Conservative Party: fiscally irresponsible and ideologically incapable of addressing the current crises

    Yorkshire cows

    British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

    cost-of-living-crisis-in-voluntary-sector

    Cost-of-living crisis looming for the voluntary sector

    Money on the floor - £20 notes

    The huge cost of Brexit is being seriously understated

    Financial problems

    Surge in bad debt and late payments indicate mounting business distress in Yorkshire

    An evening photo tour of Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire, with excellent light towards sunset.

    Winter blackouts and rationing for six million homes as government plans for disruption to energy supply

    Jar with money cascading out of it

    Boosterism doesn’t put food on the table

    Trending Tags

      • Economy
      • Technology
      • Trade
    • Region
    No Result
    View All Result
    • Home
    • News
      • All
      • Brexit
      • Education
      • Environment
      • Health
      • Home Affairs
      • Transport
      • World
      Prime minister PMQ prep

      Brexit isn’t working – something we can all agree on

      The small number of trees shows that even the high uplands of the Dales was a woodland environment. Much has been nibbled down to the ground by heavy populations of sheep. Photo by Andy Brown

      Government policies destroying upland Yorkshire farming with no regard for the land or our health

      schools bill

      Johnson’s education power grab: from ‘liberation’ to dictatorship in one generation

      Emmanuel Macron

      French parliamentary elections 2022: shockwaves across the Channel

      Rail strikes

      Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

      cost of living march london

      Trade union movement marches to demand better

      European Union

      After the seismic shocks of Brexit and Covid, what next for the European Union?

      Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

      What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

      Refugee Week

      Refugee week: a chance to celebrate refugees

      Trending Tags

      • Johnson
      • Coronavirus
      • Labour
      • Starmer
      • NI Protocol
      • Brexit
      • Culture
      • Education
      • Environment
      • Home Affairs
      • Transport
      • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Lifestyle
      • All
      • Culture
      • Dance
      • Food
      • Music
      • Poetry
      • Recipes
      • Sport
      Nostell Priory, Wakefield

      Glastonbury? What’s Glastonbury? When the music world came to Wakefield

      Headingley Cricket Stadium

      A view from the Roses match: is everything ‘rosey’ in English cricket?

      Bettys' Fat Rascals

      Scallywags, scoundrels and rascals abound in Yorkshire (we do like our scones)

      'Woke' beliefs

      Woke and proud: Compassion must never be allowed to go out of fashion

      Eurovision 2022 stage - photo by Michael Doherty on Wikimedia Commons licensed by CC BY-SA 4.0

      What does Ukraine’s Eurovision win tell us about the politics of solidarity?

      Red Ladder

      Climbing the Red Ladder – bringing theatre to the community

      Kaiser Chiefs in Doncaster

      Kaiser Chiefs never miss a beat in Doncaster

      Bradford Council leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, second from right, is joined by Keighley Creative representatives, from left, Georgina Webster, Jan Smithies and Gemma Hobbs.

      Bradford announced as City of Culture 2025

      Queen cakes fit for a Queen

      Queen Cakes fit for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

      • Food
      • Music
      • Poetry
      • Sport
    • Business
      • All
      • Economy
      • Technology
      • Trade
      Freya Osment from Northern Gas Networks

      International Women in Engineering Day 2022

      Rail strikes

      Millions affected by biggest rail strike action in 30 years

      conservative party

      The Conservative Party: fiscally irresponsible and ideologically incapable of addressing the current crises

      Yorkshire cows

      British farmers are being offered a lump sum payment to leave the industry – but at what cost to agriculture?

      cost-of-living-crisis-in-voluntary-sector

      Cost-of-living crisis looming for the voluntary sector

      Money on the floor - £20 notes

      The huge cost of Brexit is being seriously understated

      Financial problems

      Surge in bad debt and late payments indicate mounting business distress in Yorkshire

      An evening photo tour of Drax power station near Selby, North Yorkshire, with excellent light towards sunset.

      Winter blackouts and rationing for six million homes as government plans for disruption to energy supply

      Jar with money cascading out of it

      Boosterism doesn’t put food on the table

      Trending Tags

        • Economy
        • Technology
        • Trade
      • Region
      No Result
      View All Result
      Yorkshire Bylines
      No Result
      View All Result
      Home Politics

      Polish government accused of risking “a serious breach” of the rule of law

      Wiktor Moszczynski reviews the growing tensions between Poland's Law and Justice Party (PiS) and a number of EU and UN institutions

      Wiktor MoszczynskibyWiktor Moszczynski
      26-07-2020 18:31
      in Politics, World
      Sejm parliament building, Warsaw Photo credit: Janusz Jurzyk

      Sejm parliament building, Warsaw Photo credit: Janusz Jurzyk

      14
      VIEWS
      Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
      ADVERTISEMENT

      In the October 2015 elections for the Polish parliament, the Law and Justice Party (PiS) won an outright majority with an ambitious Poland First programme of so-called “good renewal”, which included a generous social welfare programme and a desire to overturn their predecessors’ social and economic policies.

      PiS is ultra-nationalist and socially conservative, opposing (indeed reversing) LGBT rights and women’s rights (for example, they have said they will take Poland out of the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence). They also opposed taking a share of Syrian refugees because they didn’t want to undermine Poland’s Catholic identity. Their leaders are obsessed with exposing the supposed criminality of the post-communist political and economic establishment and its failure to challenge the EU’s liberal social agenda.

      In particular, they blamed a self-perpetuating independent judiciary that they claimed to include judges from former communist Poland. In fact, there were barely three former communist lawyers left in the Supreme Court out of a total of 125 members, as the remainder had long been retired. PiS’s self-declared mission to brook no opposition to their economic and social programme led it to uproot democratic conventions and cut legal corners with a series of measures that subjugated the judiciary and the state media to their party political “control”.

      Since 2016, a number of EU and even UN institutions have criticised the changes to the political framework by the PiS government, but with only a limited effect. On 20 July 2020, the committee on civil liberties, justice and human affairs (a committee of the European Parliament) issued its latest interim report, urging the EU Commission to take punitive measures against Poland because of “a clear risk of a serious breach by the Republic of Poland of the rule of law”.

      The report recounts in great detail the measures taken by the PiS government to erode fundamental human rights and subvert the independence of the judiciary in Poland. This has taken place not in one fell swoop, but as a result of a thousand cuts, each moving forward the agenda despite attempts to prevent each transgressions by either an outvoted and demoralised internal opposition, or by the various EU relevant institutions.


      More articles from Yorkshire Bylines:

      • Katyn: Russian war crime denial again?
      • ECJ privacy decision brings US (and Facebook) into line with other third countries
      • Russian influence in the UK: is this the ‘new normal’?

      In a 20-page document, the committee lists the abuse of powers by the new parliament from December 2015 onward when it assumed powers to revise the constitution and curtail the independence of the civil service, the police, the Public Prosecutors’ Office, the ombudsman for human rights, the National Media Council and the judiciary. In particular, the committee criticised the merging of the hitherto non-political office of prosecutor general with the political post of justice minister. The new parliament also redesigned the judiciary by politicising the appointments to the Constitutional Court and by introducing new institutions. These new institutions included the Chamber of Extraordinary Control, the National Council of the Judiciary, and the Disciplinary Chamber, all staffed with the justice minister’s nominees in order to control and even purge judges both in the independent supreme court and in local courts.

      This has led to a dangerous duality in the Polish justice system where, for example, the current Supreme Court passed a resolution refusing to recognise the validity of pronouncements by the government-controlled Disciplinary Chamber, while the government-controlled constitutional tribunal declared the Supreme Court’s resolution as unconstitutional. The committee acknowledged that the organisation of the justice system is a sovereign national competence, but EU members are still required to ensure their legislation does not breach EU law, and in particular the separation of powers between the legislature, the executive and the judiciary.

      Other aspects were criticised too, such as the work of the National Media Council changing the state television into a crude propaganda outlet for the ruling party and for its candidates in the ensuing elections. The committee also highlighted concerns over new legislation that has curbed:

      • academic freedom;
      • freedom of assembly;
      • freedom of association;
      • privacy and data protection;
      • religious indoctrination in schools;
      • the right to a fair trial;
      • the right to information; and
      • freedom of expression in the conduct of public life in Poland.

      The committee found that legislative changes brought in by the ruling party have also encouraged hate speech, public discrimination, violence against women, domestic violence and intolerant behaviour against minorities. It concluded that these measures in Poland “amount to a serious, sustained and systemic breach of the rule of law”. These, and other crucial pieces of legislation, were passed with excessive haste and little chance of adequate public consultation or parliamentary scrutiny, mainly late at night, in an atmosphere fraught with tension and anger where bullied opposition MPs had their mikes switched off after one minute of debate.

      The committee has called on the EU Commission to use all tools at its disposal including budgetary controls and voting rights under Article 7 the Lisbon Treaty, to ensure “all EU countries respect the common values of the EU”.

      In view of the narrow victory of its candidate in the presidential election on 12 July, the ruling PiS shows no inclination to comply with the resolution of the committee. The EU Commission is also currently not in a position to lay down the law, because it needed a unanimous vote at the European Council summit that concluded on 21 July, to pass through an ambitious package of 750bn euros to combat the Europe-wide economic crisis following the Covid-19 lockdowns on the continent. The Polish government would only give its consent to this package of measures, through which it would receive a generous provision, if it was agreed that there would be no curtailment on Poland’s access to these funds because of its breach of European law.

      The wording of the final agreement was something of a fudge. The distribution of funds would be subjected to majority voting and not unanimity, but the Polish prime minister was assured that the EU Commission would design the new budgetary safeguards so that the funds would not be threatened by any disciplinary measures against Poland. The European Parliament has already passed a resolution expressing concern at this ambiguity. At the same time, the Polish justice minister has bitterly criticised the prime minister for not clearing up the ambiguity at the summit, as it appeared to threaten the continuation of his party’s authoritarian “good renewal”.

      The EU Commission is to publish the budgetary mechanism for issuing the funds at the end of September and then we shall see, in the resulting confrontation between the EU Commission and the Polish government, which side will blink first.

      ADVERTISEMENT
      Previous Post

      The Irish Sea border: Brexit’s own iceberg

      Next Post

      We must stand up for democracy against Boris Johnson’s ‘dictatorship’

      Wiktor Moszczynski

      Wiktor Moszczynski

      Wiktor is a columnist and former City trader, now employed by the London Chamber of Commerce. Born in London in 1946 of Polish political refugees, he has a BA in International Relations (Sussex). He has previously been chair of the Polish Solidarity Campaign and vice-chair of the Federation of Poles in Gt Britain, as well as being a councillor in Ipswich and in Ealing. Wiktor was the last editor of "Orzel Bialy", a historic Polish monthly. He is author of 'Hello, I'm Your Polish Neighbour' (2009). Married since 1972 to Albina Drabik, with one son.

      Related Posts

      boris johnson clown poster
      Politics

      Johnson, Nixon and dangerous duplicity: half a century of ‘gate’ scandals

      byDr Pam Jarvis
      28 June 2022
      Conservative Party Meeting
      Politics

      Hypocrisy, desperation and excuses: Conservative Party clutch at straws over by-election losses

      bySue Wilson MBE
      27 June 2022
      10/05/2022 Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the House of Commons. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street
      Politics

      The country needs more than just ‘Booting Boris out of Downing Street’

      byDr Stella Perrott
      26 June 2022
      Emmanuel Macron
      Politics

      French parliamentary elections 2022: shockwaves across the Channel

      byAnn Moody
      25 June 2022
      March for women
      Politics

      Women of Wakefield: people power only works if the people use that power

      byProfessor Juliet Lodge
      24 June 2022
      Next Post
      Photo credit: Dianna Bonner for Financial Times Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license

      We must stand up for democracy against Boris Johnson’s ‘dictatorship’

      Want to support us?

      Can you help Yorkshire Bylines to grow and become more sustainable with a regular donation, no matter how small?  

      DONATE

      Sign up to our newsletter

      If you would like to receive the Yorkshire Bylines regular newsletter, straight talking direct to your inbox, click the button below.

      NEWSLETTER

      LATEST

      boris johnson clown poster

      Johnson, Nixon and dangerous duplicity: half a century of ‘gate’ scandals

      28 June 2022
      Prime minister PMQ prep

      Brexit isn’t working – something we can all agree on

      28 June 2022
      The small number of trees shows that even the high uplands of the Dales was a woodland environment. Much has been nibbled down to the ground by heavy populations of sheep. Photo by Andy Brown

      Government policies destroying upland Yorkshire farming with no regard for the land or our health

      27 June 2022
      schools bill

      Johnson’s education power grab: from ‘liberation’ to dictatorship in one generation

      27 June 2022

      MOST READ

      schools bill

      Johnson’s education power grab: from ‘liberation’ to dictatorship in one generation

      27 June 2022
      Prime minister PMQ prep

      Brexit isn’t working – something we can all agree on

      28 June 2022
      10/05/2022 Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the House of Commons. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

      The country needs more than just ‘Booting Boris out of Downing Street’

      26 June 2022
      Conservative Party Meeting

      Hypocrisy, desperation and excuses: Conservative Party clutch at straws over by-election losses

      27 June 2022

      BROWSE BY TAGS

      antivaxxers Charity climate change Coronavirus Cost of living Creative industries Crime Cummings Democracy Devolution education Equality Farming Fishing hgv History Immigration Johnson Journalism Labour Local Democracy Mental Health mining money NHS NI Protocol omicron Pies pollution poverty PPE Public Health Review shortage social media Starmer tax travel Ukraine Yorkshire
      Yorkshire Bylines

      Yorkshire Bylines is a regional online newspaper that supports citizen journalism. Our aim is to publish well-written, fact-based articles and opinion pieces on subjects that are of interest to people in Yorkshire and beyond.

      Learn more about us

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Contact
      • About
      • Letters
      • Donate
      • Privacy
      • Bylines network
      • Shop

      © 2022 Yorkshire Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

      No Result
      View All Result
      • Home
      • News
        • Brexit
        • Education
        • Environment
        • Health
        • Home Affairs
        • Transport
        • World
      • Politics
      • Opinion
      • Lifestyle
        • Culture
        • Dance
        • Food
        • Music
        • Poetry
        • Recipes
        • Sport
      • Business
        • Economy
        • Technology
        • Trade
      • Donate
      • The Compendium of Cabinet Codebreakers
      • The Davis Downside Dossier
      • The Digby Jones Index
      • Newsletter sign up
      • Cartoons by Stan
      • Authors

      © 2022 Yorkshire Bylines. Citizen Journalism | Local & Internationalist

      Welcome Back!

      Login to your account below

      Forgotten Password?

      Retrieve your password

      Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

      Log In