Page 78 - Ekonomija i Biznis_juli-avgust 2016.indd

WORLD

Anti-governmental protests as a result of threatened democratic
processes, led by the Polish opposition and the Pro-European political
powers in the country.

photo: (www.sbs.com.au)

DOSSIER cal crisis in Poland, something which will ing pace also in the other fields of Poland’s
activate the mechanisms for protection of state order. Hence new laws for organiza-
democracy and the European values of the tion of state media were quickly adopted,
European Union. The president Andrzej whereby these powerful media were prac-
Duda did not sign the decrees for the five tically completely put under the control of
constitutional judges, and after the elec- the governing structure. The laws on the
tions, the new Parliament, where the cur- Public Prosecution changed, whereby its
rently dominant coalition is led by “Law control by the government increased. Laws
and Justice”, not only appointed new judges were quickly adopted, wherewith wide ap-
for the positions of the controversial judg- plication of the wiretapping by the Police
es, but it also annulled the election of all was enabled, etc.
five judges and appointed five new judges.
This decision of the Parliament was abro- This caused a reaction by many bodies of
gated by the Constitutional Court itself, the European Union, and in their reports
wherewith Poland entered in a constitu- they indicate a fundamental destruction of
tional crisis. As an answer to this decision the democratic values and principles that
of the Court, the Parliament quickly adopt- the European Union rests on. The Venice
ed changes of the Law on Constitutional Commission had objections for the exten-
Court wherewith the competence of the sion of the authorizations of the police
Court’s decisions increased from a simple in the domain of wiretapping, while the
majority to two-third majority, in the pres- European Parliament, with a huge major-
ence of at least 13 of 15 judges, instead of ity, adopted a Declaration wherewith it is
ten as it was the case previously. The Con- demanding compliance with the decisions
stitutional Court annulled this decision, of the Constitutional Court and return of
and the Government refused to implement the constitutional order. The decision of
it later on. This intrusion into the demo- the European Parliament enabled the Eu-
cratic system caused numerous protests ropean Union, referring to Article 2 and
through all major cities in the country, Article 5 of the Lisbon agreement, to start
however the governing party not only re- a procedure for protection of the rule of
sisted these pressures, but it also strength- law, wherewith the country threatens sus-
ened the intention to set the new state pension of the voting right in the European
order. The promotion of the policy “The Council. Still, this institutional pressure
winner takes it all” by Jaroslaw Kaczyński can hardly be realized, considering that the
was being implemented with an increas- enforcement of this procedure requires a
positive attitude of all the other member

78 July-August 2016