Poland’s President Says EU Lacks Objectivity on Polish Judicial Reforms
The European Commission is not objective with regards to Poland’s judicial reforms, which have met with criticism, unlike when other EU countries proposed similar reforms in the past, Polish President Andrzej Duda said Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos
“I can’t understand why they [the European Commission] were unobjective [in their] assessment of the situation in Poland and our reforms in judiciary. We establish institutions and we made changes, which function in European Union countries, in Spain, in Sweden. This is nothing new in the area of the European Union. So, I don’t understand why our changes, our reforms are [considered] anti-democratic in Poland, and the same institutions in countries of the European Union are correct,” Duda said.
Brussels has repeatedly warned Warsaw that Article 7 could be invoked, which would deprive Poland of certain EU membership rights, including voting rights in the European Council.
As stated by the Commission, over a period of two years, Poland has adopted over 13 laws impacting the country’s judicial system, namely the work of the Constitutional Tribunal, Supreme Court, ordinary courts, National Council for the Judiciary, prosecution service and National School of Judiciary. As a result, the authorities have been gradually enabled to interfere in the administration and work of the judicial branch.
On Fake News
The Poland’s president continued by saying that disinformation was very dangerous and fake news were among the most formidable tools in the contemporary hybrid war.
“In my opinion, fake news is one of the most dangerous tools of hybrid war, this modern kind of war in the contemporary world,” Duda said.The president stressed the danger of disinformation and added that the European Commission was misinformed by the Polish opposition on the issue of the country’s latest judicial reforms.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who was present at the same WFE session as Duda, continued to talks on the issue of fake news, saying that he was certain Europe would overcome the problem of fake news and win in the hybrid war.
“I am absolutely confident that we will win fake news and propaganda war, win information war, we would be winner in the hybrid war because truth is with us,” Poroshenko said.
The Ukrainian president added that Europe would also overcome the current success of populists and Euroskeptics.