THE LAW AND JUSTICE PARTY OF POLAND (PiS) has missed the October 31 deadline to amend controversial changes to its Constitutional Tribunal – demanded by the European Union. PiS, a strongly Catholic oriented party, assumed power in Poland in October of 2015.
Warsaw has been in a battle with Brussels (the EU) ever since December 2015 when the Polish Government added five new judges to the nation’s Constitutional Tribunal. This move was interpreted by outside critics as a political maneuver that would make it easier to push through legislation opposed to the liberal legislation of the past 20 years.
Among other things, the new government also moved to gain control over the media, which was being funded and overtly influenced by foreign sources from Germany, UK, and USA.
Because it was clear that Polish culture had been systematically invaded by Western media outlets, by libertarian think tanks, and by foreign agents of the EU and US influencing the development of “democracy” and freedom including the structuring of its new government and court system. PiS simply decided the time had come to do something about reasserting Poland’s national sovereignty and the promotion of its own indigenous cultural values – something anathema to liberal ideologues operating in Warsaw and throughout Poland. Consequently, PiS began the process of minimizing outside meddling in their political and domestic affairs, but not without significant opposition.
Poland then adopted a new law permitting increased state control over media. The law permits the government to terminate employment of media executives and to appoint new heads.
Immediately the new government was hit with accusations of tyranny and autocracy simply because they wanted the Polish media to be run by Poles and to reflect Polish values. Various EU leaders including Volker Kauder of the ruling German CDU party called for retaliation and began demanding that EU nations impose sanctions on Poland for the violation of “European values.”.
Speaking to Der Spiegel, Kauder emphasized that Poland should swallow Western liberal values or be forced to pay a price for failing to do so. Brussels, he said, must:
“…find the courage to apply sanctions” against a disobedient Poland if “European values are violated.”
However, in a show of solidarity with Poland, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced that his country would veto any EU sanctions against Poland.
Chancellor Merkel of Germany is swinging a more brutal hammer. According to Merkel
“It strikes me as somehow very strange that those (such as Poland) who consider themselves lucky that they have lived to see the end of the Cold War now think that one can completely stay out of certain developments of globalization.”
Since EU sanctions can only be imposed if the European Council unanimously agrees to impose them, Viktor Orban’s promise to veto and measures against Poland makes it unlikely that the EU can follow through on its threat without violating its own standards. Consequently, Brussels and Berlin have had resort to other tactics, such as a medias smear campaign of PiS, to force compliance on Poland.
Brit Hypocrisy
Recently RT – a Russian news agency operating in London – had all of its UK accounts blocked and has been asked to cease operations in the UK. The National Westminster Bank said its parent organization Royal Bank of Scotland Group would refuse to service Sputnik without “any discussion.”
“We have recently undertaken a review of your banking arrangements with us and reached the conclusion that we will no longer provide these facilities,” NatWest said in a letter to RT’s London office.
The UK, a group of countries among the most vociferous about freedom of press, including its insistence that it has a universal right to operate anywhere else in the world including Poland, is acting hypocritically. The UK is upset that Poland wishes to assume control over its own media including the right to regulate British foreign agents operating radio and television stations on Polish soil, but at the same time the UK screams about its right to operate media outlets in foreign countries, it wants to deny them to foreign agents, such as RT, operating in its country.
George Galloway, a British politician and broadcaster remarked that while the decision to block RT’s accounts was made by the bank, it was likely given a tacit approval by the British government.
“There’s no doubt that the government must’ve been consulted and assented to such a crude and transparently obvious political step that comes as discussions have been taking place in London between a motley crew of coalition allies about stepping up sanctions on Syria and on Russia. And it’s clear enough that this is the first shot, at least, in a new offensive. This necessarily means the abandonment by Britain of its obligations towards freedom of speech, freedom of expression; it takes British-Russian relations back to not just a Cold War era but probably to the early 20s.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova pointed out the hypocrisy.
“It seems that leaving the EU, London has left all its freedom of speech obligations in Europe. As they say, a new life without bad habits.”
Polish Response
The deadline for Poland to rectify (1) the internal restructuring of its Tribunal and (2) its assumed control over its own media ran out on October 31. Poland now faces action form the EU. Members of the European Liberals and Democrats are vociferously persuading the European Commission to initiate, invoke, and enforce Article 7 of the Treaty of the European Union, which would suspend Poland’s voting rights on the European Council, something which has never been done before to any EU nation – Poland would be the first nation ever to be sanctioned under Article 7.
Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian Prime Minister and head of European Liberal and Democrats (ELDR) who exist to promote a secular anti-Christian liberal society throughout Europe (see note below) has said.
“The EU must uphold the rule of law — all citizens, businesses and also Member States must abide by the same rules. As all steps of the rule of law procedure are now exhausted, the European Commission must be consistent and trigger the Article 7 Procedure.”
Karol Karski, a constitutional expert and member of PiS representing Poland on the European Parliament responded:
“We view the allegations that we are breaching rule of law as pure arrogance.”
It is becoming increasingly clear who the real; tyrants are:
Is the EU led by Germany to promote democracy home rule and national sovereignty or will they take the fascist route and impose their will on weaker nations while calling for tolerance and freedom for everyone else who advances their liberal agenda?
In closing, Stanislav Stremidlovsky a journalist for the Russian news agency REGNUM offers a trenchant insight:
“It’s time to admit the obvious: we need a different Germany and other Germans. Chancellor Merkel, unfortunately, showed that it is difficult for Berlin to adhere to some moderate midline….Europe and the world needs a more sensible Germany, more soft and tolerant, but at the same time able to firmly defend European Christian values and interests of the citizens of the European Union.
“There is one more interesting nuance here: when taking into account the Europe’s dominant national religions, the continent’s Catholic countries tend to be more friendly toward Russia than Protestant ones. Up to now, Poland has remained the exception, an anomaly, to this rule. Now, Warsaw has a chance to take its worthy place in the ‘axis of nations in the EU’. It will find Hungary and Orban’s help useful.”
It is clear what is going on in Poland and why there is a reaction to it. Poland will continue to grow as a Christian nation and to act as the spark out of which world-wide Christian reform will come as it, along with a growing array of other nations (see homepage section: “Global Politics Fast Track to Truth) continues to oppose the liberal agenda and, along with them, to assert its right to self-determination and to foster respect for its cultural patrimony.
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NOTE
According to the European Liberals and Democrats (ELDR):
“Liberty is … often violated or affected by laws and political choices inspired by ideological prejudices and religious dogma.”
Consequently, the ELDR Party “commits to directly sustain through its member Parties reforms aimed at:
- “allowing…scientific research on embryonic stem cells (including somatic cell nuclear transfer) aimed at the understanding and the cure of diseases which afflict hundreds of millions of people in the world;”
- “allowing access to assisted conception and pre-implantation genetic diagnosis for couples who suffer from genetic diseases, in addition to in vitro fertilisation using donor sperm;”
- “guaranteeing therapeutic freedom, at the level of the relationship between doctor and patient, in the prescription of pharmaceuticals which have been tested and are authorised in many countries, but in some others are restricted or prohibited, such as: the abortion pill RU 486, therapeutic cannabis, pharmacological treatments (including heroin administered under medical control) for drug addicts, and marijuana as pain relief;”
- “allowing the individual autonomy and responsibility in end-of-life decisions, first of all by ending the clandestine practice of euthanasia by guaranteeing respect for the freely and unequivocally expressed individual will, also through the adoption of directives of treatment and forms of regulation of euthanasia based on the Dutch, Belgian, or Swiss models, or on the draft legislation being examined by the British parliament;”
“The removal of unreasonable prohibitions is the premise for research investment policies and constitutes an essential element of every strategy for economic, civil and democratic development. Scientific methods – based upon empirical analysis and not on ideological prejudices – can and must be adopted by politicians and liberal democracies, such as a secular method of choosing government solutions to problems of our times affecting the individual and his relationship with society and the environment. Secularisation of institutions and separation between State and Church is a prerequisite both for the exercise of rights and individual liberties and for peaceful coexistence among peoples.”
