Poland freest for 30 years: PM
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
03.09.2018 07:30
“During the last 30 years there has not been as much freedom in Poland as there is today,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said, referring to allegations that the country’s ruling conservatives have violated the country’s constitution and judicial independence.
PM Mateusz Morawiecki (centre). Photo: PAP/Bartłomiej Zborowski
Morawiecki was speaking at a convention of the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party in Warsaw on Sunday ahead of Poland’s autumn local government elections.
Poles will head to the ballot box to vote in the elections on October 21. The second round of voting for mayors, aldermen and other local government officials will be held on November 4.
The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, in July launched a procedure against Warsaw over its reform of the Supreme Court, saying that it undermined “the principle of judicial independence, including the irremovability of judges”.
The move followed the European Commission last December taking the unprecedented step of triggering Article 7 of the EU Treaty against Poland, stepping up pressure on Warsaw over judicial reforms and possibly paving the way for sanctions being imposed on Poland.
But Law and Justice, which came to power in late 2015, has said that sweeping changes are needed to reform an inefficient and sometimes corrupt judicial system tainted by the communist past, accusing judges of being an elite, self-serving clique often out of touch with the problems of ordinary citizens.
Morawiecki is Poland’s second-most trusted politician, after President Andrzej Duda. The prime minister enjoys the confidence of 57 percent of voters, according to a recent survey by pollster CBOS.
(pk)
Source: Polish Radio