Children’s rights are a matter of the utmost importance for politics and the future of the democratic system. Unfortunately, this statement still remains merely aspirational in Poland. The discourse and practices in the political sphere do not indicate that the decision-making circles (esp. the legislative and executive branches) are aware of the connection between children’s rights and the quality of political life.
I present a brief analysis of the key factors that influenced the opposition’s victory in the parliamentary elections in October. The order of the points does not imply a hierarchy of importance. In these elections, there were no radical party like Razem, which would claim that it would not cooperate with other parties and would take votes from the main parties, while not entering the Parliament due to not crossing the 5 or 8 percent threshold.
It is difficult to do business with a country whose politicians are detached from reality and do not understand today’s world because they are afraid of it, says Arkadiusz Mus, founder of Press Glass, No. 9 on Forbes magazine’s list of 100 richest Poles and owner of assets worth more than PLN 4.5 billion, about Poland under the rule of Law and Justice (PiS).
In the first half of 2023, almost weekly protests were held over the education system in Budapest, Hungary. In some cases they were organized by teachers’ unions, in others they were planned by students. Based on the study done by the Republikon Institute, 62% of the Hungarian population rate the education system as “bad” (Republikon, 2023).
Diplomatic relations between Hungary and the United States date back to the aftermath of World War I, when all states came to the conclusion that the globe is not a group of geographically isolated regions anymore, but a community. Consequently, all states affect one another, and mutually beneficial relations can only be established if they all cooperate.
The EU’s Green Deal is a package of policy proposals introduced in 2019 by the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The aim of the package, which President von der Leyen described as “Europe’s man on the Moon moment” is making Europe the first carbon-neutral continent by 2050, decoupling economic growth from resource use, while ensuring that “no person and no place is left behind in the transition.”
Recently, lawmakers across the European Union have begun to take a great interest in tobacco products. While their motives might be sound, the policy approach they have adopted towards cigarettes is likely to be counter-productive. Politicians seem determined to take new steps to restrict the use, sale and advertising of tobacco products and directly limit the civil liberties of smokers.
A massive social mobilization has led to the government’s defeat, one that routinely violated the constitution and basic principles of decency. Thousands of voters engaged in monitoring the election process, with tens of thousands casting their votes away from their places of residence, thereby increasing the strength of their votes in terms of parliamentary mandates.
Liberalism is a political philosophy based on the principles of peace. However, this fact has been very often generously interpreted by detaching liberalism from events beyond the borders of liberal states, no matter how anti-liberal, and thus threatening to freedom they might be.
Current global developments are prompting many nations to define their political paths and select their future strategic partners. Some have already applied to join BRICS and it expanded from 5 to 11 nations, while others are in line. The European Union, recently hesitant about its enlargement, has accelerated membership discussions with nations in the Western Balkans and Eastern Europe.
