22 January 2025
At the latest meeting of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group in the European Parliament, guests from the Polish legal and judicial sphere raised serious concerns about the state of the rule of law under the government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Addressing ECR MEPs were Małgorzata Paprocka, Head of the Chancellery of the President of Poland, and Michał Ostrowski, Deputy Prosecutor General, as well as senior judges, prosecutors and two former Ministry of Justice officials who had personally experienced serious human rights violations. They described how the independence of the judiciary in Poland has come under increasing pressure, with judges being dismissed without legal justification and institutions coming under direct government influence.
The case of Prosecutor General Dariusz Barski, whose dismissal was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court but carried out by the government, was cited as an example of the executive’s disregard for legal norms.
Particular attention was drawn to the treatment of the two former Ministry of Justice officials, who detailed the conditions they endured following their politically motivated arrests. Reports confirm that they were watched by male guards while bathing, subjected to sleep deprivation and denied access to legal counsel. For two months they were denied clean clothes, basic hygiene products and contact with their children. One of them described the experience as a deliberate attempt to break her psychologically, while the other said they had been used as a tool in a political vendetta. Their testimonies were corroborated by the findings of the Polish Ombudsman, who documented the violations in detail.
Speakers expressed concern that while the European Commission frequently invokes the rule of law in its dealings with Member States, it has remained silent on the actions of Tusk’s government. They warned that fundamental rights and democratic principles must be consistently upheld, regardless of political affiliation.
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