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On November 20, the ruling Law and Justice party adopted a resolution supporting the government’s announcement to veto to link EU funds to the respect of the rule of law. The vast majority of the opposition voted against this resolution. The opening words of this political manifesto reads that “the Parliament of the Republic of Poland notices and reminds that the Republic of Poland is a democratic and sovereign state ruled by law.” The governing party’s desire to tell the world that the rule of law is present in Poland recalls the words of Margaret Thatcher that “being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.”

On 19 November, the parliamentary majority (KP [Polish Coalition], PiS [Law and Justice], and Kukiz'15 deputies), in response to Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's announcement expressed the day before, adopted a resolution "supporting the activities of the Council of Ministers in the budget negotiations of the European Union"

Thanks to the European Union, Polish companies can operate not only on the domestic market, where 38 million Poles produce 1% of the world's GDP, but on the European market, where 528 million Europeans produce 22% of the world's GDP (for comparison, the United States produces 24% of the world's GDP, and China 16%). A larger market allows for a wider range of specialization, and thus leads to an increase in productivity, on which workers' wages and living standards directly depend. 

Poland’s newly reshuffled Constitutional Tribunal ruled last week that abortion due to fatal or severe foetal impairment is no longer an option. Forcing women to give birth to severely malformed children, even those who have little to no chances of survival is now part and parcel of the Polish Constitution; what few abortion rights remained in the country have essentially vanished.

The European Commission (EC) has proposed options for possible EU action addressing the challenges related to fair minimum wages in the European Union. According to the EC, the initiative has a general objective to ensure that all workers in the EU are protected by fair minimum wages, allowing for a decent living wherever they work. The initiative would leave Member States the freedom to keep their current minimum wage system. According to the EC, ensuring adequate wages for all workers in the EU is even more relevant in the preparation for recovery of COVID-19 crisis.

In mid-July, the European Commission published this year’s edition of the EU Justice Scoreboard 2020. It is a comparative and non-arbitrary source of data about the functioning, efficiency, and independence of the justice systems within the EU. The EU Justice Scoreboard enables assessment of the Law and Justice’s “reforms” of the judiciary and comparisons of Poland with the rest of the Member States.

All people in Poland are equal before the law. This sentence is unfortunately not true. The events of last weekend offered a stark reminder of that sad reality.

In the recent presidential elections in Poland, over 51 per cent of the votes were cast for the reelection of president Andrzej Duda of the ruling Law and Justice party. Soundly defeating the Mayor of Warsaw Rafal Trzaskowski, Andrzej will soon start his second term in office.

The election of the President of the Republic of Poland should be held in pursuance of the provisions of the Constitution and in a manner that does not give rise to any doubts, as to its universality, equality, secrecy and honesty.