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. 

Over the last year Poland has observed a renewed interest in an idea to develop its civil nuclear program. With the translation of the World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR) and organising the visit to Warsaw of Mycle Schneider, its lead author, hbs Warsaw and the Institute for Sustainable Development decided to bring international experience with nuclear energy to the debate about the future of Polish energy system. The visit took place in the first days of March. Exactly at the time when the coronavirus crisis has reached Poland.  

Twenty years after the Tampere European Council of 1999, where political guidelines on the cooperation between the fields of immigration, police and justice were discussed and set, 30 civil societies and municipalities from Germany, France, Poland, Italy and other EU member states are calling for a new start in European asylum and migration policy.