During his first trip to Europe, Joe Biden kept repeating that ‘America is back’. We have to wait for the long-term effects of this visit, though. Only after some time we will see whether specific political decisions will follow handshakes and declarations. Nevertheless, we can already see that America under its new leadership is more pragmatic, predictable, and surrounded by allies, and therefore stronger.
What is the attitude of Poles towards the European Union? Has the Law and Justice government already turned us from a nation of Euro-enthusiasts into Euro-skeptics? Some time ago, the alarming information spread to the media signalling that Poles’ trust in the EU has decreased.
The existence of a need for such an agreement does not mean that it will arise. As I wrote earlier, it requires broad social agreement, and there is no reason for the privileged majority to give up anything. Because why would they? And there will be no new deal without the consent of the majority.
Legally, the performance of Adam Bodnar’s duties after the end of his term of office remains constitutional, while in the legal fiction of the Law and Justice (PiS) party, it will probably be enforced to deprive him of the tools to perform them. Polish women and Poles will be left without an ombudsman.
In each subsequent generation, we reproduce the reality of violence. Specific toys, such as guns and toy soldiers, computer games aimed at causing harm to another being and not bringing joy, the words we say – all this plays a role in shaping the reality in which we live, in which the next generations will live.
As representatives of civil society organizations, we oppose the hostile takeover of the office of the Ombudsman by the ruling parliamentary majority in Poland. We do not accept the de facto making decisions in regards to our rights and freedoms by the politically dependent Constitutional Tribunal.
The pandemic continues, but the first data-based analyses are starting to emerge – and some conclusions may now be drawn. The most important indicator in assessing the response to the pandemic is the excess mortality – i.e. how many more people died in comparison to the average rate in previous years.
We are facing a major change in the balance of power on the international arena. Even if, hopefully, this new cold war does not turn into a hot one, the attention of the United States will likely shift from Europe to East Asia.
In December 2019, it seemed that 2020 would be the key year for Poland, and that the events of the next year, 2021, would be a simple consequence of the last important political verdict of a closed election cycle – the election of the President of Poland.
The Church in Poland was, is, and will be. Meanwhile, political parties exist, disappear, and new ones emerge. This is what it looks like in Poland, where politicians of all ideological backgrounds are much more afraid of their parish priest than of their voters.
