Poland

A few days ago the European Commission confirmed the last of the Polish operation programmes for the years 2014-2020. Media and public opinion have welcomed the decision with a wave of enthusiasm, glad that just in a few more weeks the first call for proposals shall be announced. But is this enthusiasm really valid in the present circumstances?

For the next couple of years Poland will continue to take the bitter pills prescribed by European institutions, such as the European Parliament (which just renewed its investigation concerning CIA rendition) or the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (supervising enforcement of the Strasbourg verdicts). This painful treatment will continue just because Polish politicians have decided to violate the Polish Constitution and international treaties 13 years ago.

It appears that if back then, CIA ordered them to insert their fingers into a paper shredder, they would gladly do that in accordance with this unconditional trust. Unfortunately, the consequences of such a behaviour may be far more serious than the Texas paper shredder massacre.

Basic income by itself will not solve the problems we\'re confronted with, and particularly the growth of the precariat. But without basic income I cannot see a solution to the growing inequalities that we\'re experiencing.

The 25th anniversary of the Polish Round Table [that started the democratic transition] inspires to look back and reflect on what really happened in the spring of 1989. Perhaps this anniversary does not have to be only a thing of the past and a series of throwback celebrations?

Politicians are widely known for their “flexible spines”, but, as elections approach, that softness reaches a jelly-like state.

No matter how well-known or not, any new politician nominated for the President of the council of ministers is discovered anew in the new role.

Six years in Spain mean six years of falling real estate prices. If you invested in the average Spanish house in 2008, today you have 35% loss on your investment.

We have introduced liberal democracy and capitalism not because it was our original idea and because we were all engrossed in the reading of Hayek, but because that's how it was “arranged in the West”.

At the quarter-century mark of the Visegrad states’ freedom from the USSR, Johannes Wachs examines the Group’s role in today’s European Union.