Poland

Last year in Poland was marked by heated discussions linked with the provision of European Union Recovery Funds, which have been promised to the Polish government on condition that it successfully restores the rule of law, infringed through multiple reforms of the ruling coalition. Introduced over the last seven years, they largely touched upon the judiciary system, increasing its dependence on the legislative branch.

In this episode, we talk about the EU funds and the issues related to the rule of law in Poland, the prospects for implementing the necessary reforms that would bring the judicial independence back on track, and the impact of the current situation on the forthcoming parliamentary election in Poland.

In this episode of the Liberal Europe Podcast, Leszek Jażdżewski (Fundacja Liberté!) talks about Polish upcoming parliamentary elections, EU funds and the rule of law, and how to deal with populists.

In the past years, illiberal political regimes emerged in Poland and Hungary. One of the victims to these regimes are media. Freedom and independence of media in those countries are now under pressure from various angles, such as legal regulations and outright political pressure. The joint research of Project: Polska (PL) and 21 Research Centre (HU) is focused on small, rural media outlets and rural society in general.

In accordance with the ordinance of the Minister of the Interior form 2009 on uniforms, Polish police officers are required to wear an identification patch with the first letter of their first name and their surname or service number on their uniform when on duty. There are exceptions to this rule. One of them, which raises reasonable doubts, are officers operating within riot units.

Along with the increase of inflation in Poland and in the whole world, the discussion about its causes intensifies. There are many voices that the main reason is an external supply shock - the prices of energy and food. It is useful, in the analysis, to distinguish within CPI inflation, a core inflation and the rest of it. Core inflation is an inflation rate that is devoid of the most unstable components such as food and energy prices.

In this episode of the Liberal Europe Podcast, Leszek Jażdżewski (Fundacja Liberté!) welcomes Dr. Thomas Bagger, Germany’s Ambassador to the Republic of Poland. They talk about the EU Energy crisis, German eastern policy, EU response to the war in Ukraine, and Polish-German relations.

The true budget deficit at the end of 2023 will amount to over 206 billion PLN. The budget debate taking place in Sejm is based on the draft budget, which does not show the full picture of state\'s expenditures and revenues. Pursuant to the Public Finance Act, the management of public funds is open and transparent.

On paper, Hungarian abortion policies are much like those of most EU countries: women can terminate their pregnancy on request up until the 12th week and can do so through state-funded institutions. Yet, in reality, the accessibility of abortion in Hungary is only a façade.

When we talk about illiberal democracy or populism in our European context we use the word ‘the rise’ – the rise of illiberal democracy, the rise of populism – but it is an outdated narrative. Currently, we are dealing with normalization of illiberal democracy.