Rule of Law

Since the Law and Justice (PiS)-led government began restructuring Poland’s judiciary in 2015, legal certainty has steadily declined. Now, the Codification Committee has put forward two proposals to restore the rule of law in Poland: one advocating for a swift, decisive approach, while the other follows a slower, more gradual path. Both have sparked a controversial debate about how to restore the rule of law.

On Monday night, a surprise draft ruling by conservative Justice Samuel Alito was released in the U.S. indicating that a majority on the Supreme Court wants to reverse the legalization of abortions. Ella Müller, director of the Democracy Program at the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Washington, DC, puts this impending caesura and the political developments behind it in context.    

On 10 March 2022, the politicised Constitutional Tribunal (CT) ruled that Article 6(1) of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which guarantees everyone the right to a fair trial, is incompatible with the Polish Constitution.

In the pandemic year 2021, Germany has voted. It is already clear that what is needed is a new political culture of enablement and participation. Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung President Dr. Ellen Ueberschär comments on the results of the German federal elections.

This is not just ‘Poland being Poland’. These actions are illegal, inhumane and could spread across Europe – and this is just the beginning.

In the shadows of the Covid-19-crisis, refugees and irregular migrants in Europe’s neighbouring countries are afraid for their very existence and terrified of long-term detention in reception camps. In Tunisia, political provisions are being put into place and emergency plans negotiated to deal with migrants and refugees on their way to Europe.

Polish farmers should not be afraid of the Green Deal, nor of the pro-ecological solutions being planned for the EU’s agricultural policy, because they are an opportunity for them, not a threat, argues Janusz Wojciechowski, EU Commissioner for Agriculture during a Citizens' Dialogue. He believes that the epidemic has shown highly intensive agriculture to be more susceptible to crises. The online meeting with the public was held on April 30.

The crisis associated with the Covid19 pandemic has a gender, and clearly shows social inequalities of all kinds. It particularly affects women, as well as disadvantaged and variously marginalised groups. There are also attempts to exploit the pandemic for short-term political goals directly targeting women's rights.

On 2 March 2020, Senegal reported its first case of coronavirus. This new form of COVID-19 has spread around the globe, with the declaration of a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March. The public health crisis is wreaking havoc upon all social and economic aspects of people’s lives in every corner of the world, including a notable impact on gender inequality.