Aug 02, 2023 at 11:21 PMUpdate: an hour ago
Polish President Andrzej Duda on Wednesday signed a watered-down version of a controversial law against Russian influence. Critics see the law as a means to eliminate the Polish opposition.
The law creates a commission to investigate officials allegedly influenced by Russia between 2007 and 2022. By doing so, they would have endangered Polish security.
Initially, the guilty would be banned from holding public office for ten years. But the law has now been weakened. Instead of a punishment, the guilty now receive a statement stating that the person has been influenced. It also states that it cannot be guaranteed that the person is acting in the public interest.
In addition, the members of the committee will be experts and not parliamentarians, as was previously planned. The amended law also allows an appeal against a decision of the committee to be lodged with a court of appeal.
Law would serve as a means to eliminate political opponents
Critics saw the law as a means by the conservative PiS government to eliminate political opponents. For example, a major target of the government is Donald Tusk, former Polish Prime Minister (between 2007 and 2014) and now opposition leader. According to the current government, Poland has become too dependent on Russian fuels under Tusk.
Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated against the law, after which the government announced the changes. The European Union and the United States, among others, had also expressed criticism. Brussels started criminal proceedings against Poland last month because of the law.
Parliamentary elections will be held in Poland later this year. Tusk’s liberal Civic Platform (PO) party, also a former president of the European Council, is regarded as the main competitor of the conservative governing Law and Justice (PiS) party.
2023-08-02 21:21:13
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