Poland: President promulgates repressive law denounced by judges

Text by: RFI Follow

President Andrzej Duda enacted early Tuesday evening the law against judges passed last week in parliament. The delegate for Civil Rights in Poland speaks of a “sad day for Poland, and an imposing step towards a legal Polexit. As a snub to Emmanuel Macron, President Duda signed the text just hours after the virulent speech of the French president, delivered in Poland, in Krakow, precisely on the rule of law.

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with our correspondent in Warsaw, Thomas Giraudeau

At midday, the French president visiting Poland warned the students of Krakow . " Europe is not only a market, it is a foundation of values, rights, freedoms," hammered Emmanuel Macron . The separation of power, the independence of justice, the freedoms of the people, this is what makes the essence of Europe ”. To benefit from the European common market, Poland must absolutely respect the rule of law and the independence of justice, insists the French president who then takes the plane and returns to Paris.

His Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, seemed to be waiting only for his departure. At the end of the afternoon, he signed the “ muzzle law ” as his critics called it. Political power can now dismiss judges who dare to denounce attacks on the independence of the judiciary.

The Polish media are all making headlines on the subject, and reactions have been innumerable. " Andrzej Duda is no longer our president, he betrayed the Poles ", denounces his main opponent during the presidential elections next May. The former president of the constitutional court speaks of “the beginning of a dictatorship. "

And Polish NGOs are urging the European Commission to file a complaint against the law. Brussels had also called on the Polish president not to sign the text. But Warsaw turned a deaf ear. A close adviser to Andrzej Duda justifies the promulgation: “ This law does not contradict either the Polish Constitution or European law . "

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• Poland
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