The Open Society Institute – Sofia Foundation (OSIS) with the support of Open Society Foundations (OSFs) and in cooperation with the Open Society European Network (OSEN), consisting of civil society organizations in Central and Eastern Europe, launches a call for proposals by civil society organisations seeking to support the inclusion of so far marginalized and excluded groups and communities to address climate justice issues in the countries of Central Eastern Europe.
The climate justice perspective links human rights, social justice, and general principles of equality with the transformation of our economies to ensure environmental sustainability. There is a growing need for an inclusive discussion about a fair distribution of the burdens and benefits of climate adaptation. To date, citizens of Central and Eastern Europe have largely missed out on and risk being left behind in these conversations, despite being significantly affected by future decisions and policies. Furthermore, the fallout of the Covid-19 crisis will bring about unpredictable consequences and will likely create tensions between job preservation and climate change policies.
The eligible countries include Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
The eligible applicants should meet each of the listed conditions: registered civil society organisations or non-formal groups represented by a registered civil society organisation; not-for-profit organizations, driven by open society values such as democracy, equality and climate justice; non-partisan organizations; based in the eligible countries.
The call for proposals prioritizes projects led by local, grassroots climate justice activists and local CSOs with activities taking place outside of capital cities, while not excluding capital-based organizations and groups.
The supported projects will receive grants up to $25,000 and their duration should not be longer than 12 months. The application deadline is 15 September 2020.
For more information about the requirements, submission guidelines and other relevant information, please refer to the text of the call for proposals and the application templates: here.
The new Board is composed of: Edwin Bendyk, columnist of the Polityka weekly magazine, founder of the Collegium Civitas Centre for Future Studies, professor at the Polish Academy of Sciences Graduate School for Social Research, Dr. Mikołaj Cześnik, sociologist, political scientist, Director of the Institute of Social Sciences, SWPS University, Dr. Anna Materska-Sosnowska, political scientist, professor at the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, University of Warsaw, and Szymon Gutkowski, marketing strategist, Managing Director of DDB Warsaw.
Aleksander Smolar who served as the Chair of the Board for the past 29 years decided not to stand in the elections. The Council elected Edwin Bendyk as a new Chair. Following his resignation from Foundation’s Board Aleksander Smolar will continue his engagement in Foundation’s programmes as an expert and strategy and international affairs advisor.
Also, at the same meeting the Council elected its new Chair to replace Prof. Marcin Król who stepped down from the function he has held since 2009. The new Chair is Prof. Andrzej Rychard, sociologist, academic teacher and Director of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Beside Prof. Andrzej Rychard, the Council members include: Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, economist and Chair of the Board of Partners, EY Poland, Agnieszka Holland, film director, screenwriter and President of the Polish Film Academy, Prof. Marcin Król, historian of idea, profesor emeritus of the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences and Social Reintegration, University of Warsaw, Helena Łuczywo, editor and co-founder of the Gazeta Wyborcza daily newspaper, Dr. Marcin Matczak, lawyer, professor in the Department of the Philosophy of Law and Government Studies, University of Warsaw and partner at Domański Zakrzewski Palinka law firm, Dr. Andrzej Olechowski, economist and Deputy Chair of the Supervisory Board of Bank Handlowy S.A., Olga Tokarczuk, novelist, 2018 Nobel Prize winner, Henryk Woźniakowski, publisher and President of the Znak Social Publishing Institute.
The Managing Director of the Foundation continues to be Ewa Kulik-Bielińska.
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Andrzej Rychard
Andrzej Rychard, a new Council Chair is a professor of sociology at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Corresponding Member of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the member of the Committee for Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He has been a visiting professor at i.a. Harvard University, Indiana University, Cornell University, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He specializes in theoretical and empirical studies on the relations among state, economy and society, social legitimation of the political and economic systems, sociology of health care systems, and the role of historical and cultural legacies in contemporary societies. He is an author of numerous research papers published in Poland and abroad and a commentator of public affairs in Polish media. In 2004-2010, he was a member of the the Batory Foundation’s Board and since 2017 he has been working at the Foundation’s Election Expert Team. His publications include: Legitymacja. Klasyczne teorie i polskie doświadczenia. Praca zbiorowa [Legitimacy. Classical Theories v. Polish Experience. A collection of papers] (co-editor), PTS-UW, Warsaw 1988, Władza i interesy w gospodarce polskiej u progu lat osiemdziesiątych [Government and Business Interests in the Polish Economy in the Early 1980s], Oficyna Naukowa, Warsaw 1995, Czy transformacja się skończyła? Powstawanie nowego ładu w perspektywie socjologii zmiany instytucjonalnej [Is the Transition Over? The Emergence of a New Order Assessed on the Basis of Institutional Change Sociology] IBGR, Warsaw 1996, Elementy nowego ładu [Components of the New Order] (co-editor), IFiS PAN, Warsaw 1997, Niepokoje polskie [Polish Anxieties] (co-editor), IFiS PAN, Warsaw 2000, Strukturalne podstawy demokracji. Praca zbiorowa [Structural Foundations of Democracy. A collection of papers](editor), IFiS PAN, Warsaw 2008, Legitymizacja w Polsce. Nieustający kryzys w zmieniających się warunkach? [Legitimisation in Poland. An Incessant Crisis in a Volatile Environment] (co-editor), IFiS PAN, Warsaw 2010.
Edwin Bendyk, fot. Archiwum Polityki
Edwin Bendyk, a new Board Chair is a journalist, columnist, writer, futurologist, academic teacher and author of the highly popular blog Anymatrix. Since 1999, he has been a columnist in the Polityka weekly magazine, where he was in charge of the Science and Civilisation section. His interests include civilisation, modernisation, environment, the impact of science and technology, mainly digital technology on society, politics, culture and economy. His interests also include social and urban movements. In 2010, he founded Centre for Future Studies at Collegium Civitas where he teaches contemporary challenges. He is a professor at the Graduate School for Social Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Lancaster University. He is a member of the Polish PEN-Club and the Board of the European Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the Programme Board of the Greed Institute. Former Chair of the Board of the National Audio-visual Institute and member the Board National Culture Centre. His publications inlcude: Zatruta studnia. Rzecz o władzy i wolności [Poisoned Well. A Piece on Power and Freedom], W.A.B., Warsaw 2002, Antymatrix – człowiek w labiryncie sieci, [Antymatrix: Man in a Labyrinth] W.A.B., Warsaw 2004, Miłość, wojna, rewolucja. Szkice na czas kryzysu [Love, War, Revolution. Sketches for the Time of Recession], W.A.B., Warsaw 2009, Bunt sieci [Network Rebellion], Polityka Spółdzielnia Pracy, Warsaw 2012, W Polsce czyli wszędzie. Rzecz o upadku i przyszłości świata, Polityka Spółdzielnia Pracy [In Poland, i.e. Anywhere. A Piece on the Fall and the Future of the World], Warsaw 2020.
Open Letter to the President of the European Commission regarding Poland’s disciplinary regime for judges and the urgent need for interim measures in Commission v Poland (C-791/19)
Ever since the European Commission initiated a third infringement procedure in respect to the recurrent attacks on the rule of law by Polish authorities last April, the situation has continued to seriously deteriorate. We have now reached the unprecedented and frightening stage where Polish judges are being subject to harassment tactics in the form of multiple arbitrary disciplinary investigations, formal disciplinary proceedings and/or sanctions for applying EU law as interpreted by the ECJ or ‘daring’ to refer questions for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice.
In addition, Polish authorities are now openly challenging the authority of the rulings recently adopted by the ECJ and the not-yet-captured Labour and Social Security Chamber of the Supreme Court. These judgments concern both the Disciplinary Chamber of Poland’s Supreme Court, whose legality is being challenged in the pending infringement procedure previously mentioned, and the new National Council of the Judiciary, whose lack of independence had previously led to its suspension from the European Network of Councils for the Judiciary (ENCJ).
As representatives of non-governmental organisations and scholars specialising in matters relating to the rule of law and the protection of human rights, we write this open letter so as to urge you to take immediate steps to stop the rapidly increasing legal chaos in Poland.
As you yourself keep repeating, “there can be no compromise when it comes to respecting the rule of law.” This is why we are asking you to promptly submit to the European Court of Justice an application for interim measures in the infringement case C-791/19 Commission v Poland now pending before the Court of Justice. Without interim measures in place, Polish authorities evidently feels free to openly persecute judges who seek to apply and enforce EU law via the two institutions they de facto control: the Disciplinary Chamber and the National Council of the Judiciary.
The time has come to accept we are facing a situation in which EU law has broken down. Interim measures are called for before the situation gets worse and irreparable damage is done.
The prior Commission asked for interim measures in the case in which the government of Poland sought to capture the Supreme Court by retroactively lowering the retirement age of its judges (C-619/18 R). The Court of Justice agreed to grant the Commission’s request and Poland was ordered to maintain the status quo until the Court could rule in the matter.
Given that Polish authorities are now openly challenging the authority of ECJ case law and actively seeking to prevent Polish judges from applying EU law, while an infringement action that challenges their attempts to fatally undermine the independence of Polish judges through a new disciplinary regime is pending, fresh action is required. It is imperative to prevent the Commission from losing its ability to enforce any favourable ruling that it may eventually receive. Interim measures are therefore essential because, if Polish authorities succeed in intimidating and/or removing the judges who are most keen to apply EU law and to defend the rule of law more generally, it will be too late for the Commission’s pending infringement action to have any impact by the time the ECJ finds Poland to have violated – for the third time in a row – the principle of judicial independence.
This is why the Commission, in the context of interim proceedings, must request the Court to order Poland to immediately adopt the following interim measures:
– refrain from all activities, including preliminary disciplinary investigations or formal disciplinary proceedings with respect to judges on account of the content of their judicial decisions or requests for preliminary rulings;
– ensure both that the Disciplinary Chamber suspends all of its activities in light of the ECJ preliminary ruling (Joined cases C-585/18, C-624/18 and C-625/18) and the Supreme Court ruling finding it not to constitute a “court” within the meaning of EU and Polish law and that other authorities, including disciplinary officers and prosecutors, refrain from bringing actions to this chamber;
– ensure both that the President of the Disciplinary Chamber (or any person acting on behalf of the President) is no longer able to establish, on an ad-hoc basic and with an almost unfettered discretion, disciplinary courts of first instance to cases brought against ordinary court judges and that the disciplinary courts already established in this way refrain from considering cases and issuing judgments;
– ensure that the people appointed to the Disciplinary Chamber do not participate in the Supreme Court’s bodies – including the General Assembly of the Supreme Court Judges – in procedures intended to fill the office of the First President of the Supreme Court, which will be vacant in April 2020, or the presidents of the Supreme Court heading particular chambers;
– ensure that the National Council of the Judiciary refrains from nominating any new individual to be appointed as a judge, including to the Disciplinary Chamber, and – more generally – abstains from any action or statement which undermine the judicial independence of Polish judges.
We wish this open letter were not necessary. Sadly, it is well established that Polish authorities have deliberately ignored the Commission’s multiple recommendations ever since the Commission’s rule of law framework was activated in respect of Poland in January 2016. Rather than taking the rule of law dialogue as a warning and an invitation to return to the rule of law, the Polish authorities have instead intensified the repression of independent judges and prosecutors.
The Rubicon has now been crossed with Polish authorities actively and purposely organising non-compliance with the ruling of the Court of Justice of 19 November 2019 and the judgment of the Supreme Court of 5 December by claiming that neither the ruling of the Court of Justice nor the judgment of the Supreme Court are of any legal significance when it comes to the continuing functioning of the Disciplinary Chamber and the National Council of the Judiciary.
Poland’s ruling party’s strategy is clear: create faits accomplis and hide behind a veneer of legality if and when required by relying on the captured Constitutional Tribunal, the so-called Disciplinary or Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs Chambers, or the ENCJ-suspended Polish National Council of the Judiciary to in effect nullify the effect of EU law in Poland whenever convenient for the ruling party.
The attacks on judicial independence we are witnessing in Poland are unprecedented in the history of the EU and legal chaos is bound to ensue and spread because Polish authorities are openly and purposefully ignoring their duties and obligations as a matter of Polish as well as EU law. If not promptly addressed through interim measures, we have no doubt this will mark the beginning of the end of the EU’s common and interconnected legal order.
“A Europe that protects must also stand up for justice and for values. Threats to the rule of law challenge the legal, political and economic basis of our Union. The rule of law is central to President von der Leyen’s vision for a Union of equality, tolerance and social fairness,” says the European Commission’s website.
Time has come to put words into action by urgently applying for interim measures so as to preserve what is left of the rule of law in Poland while there is still time to prevent its complete abolition.
Yours faithfully,
Professor Laurent Pech, Middlesex University
Professor Kim Lane Scheppele, Princeton University
Professor Wojciech Sadurski, University of Sydney, University of Warsaw
Professor Alberto Alemanno, HEC Paris
Professor Leszek Balcerowicz, SGH Warsaw School of Economics
Professor Ryszard Balicki, University of Wrocław
Professor Petra Bárd, Central European University
Professor Gráinne de Búrca, New York University
Professor Paul Craig, University of Oxford
Dr Tom Gerald Daly, Melbourne School of Government
Professor Monika Florczak-Wątor, Jagiellonian University in Kraków
Professor Gábor Halmai, European University Institute
Professor R. Daniel Kelemen, Rutgers University
Professor Dimitry Kochenov, Groningen University
Professor Tomasz Tadeusz Koncewicz, University of Gdańsk
Professor Marcin Matczak, University of Warsaw
Professor John Morijn, Groningen University
Professor Sébastien Platon, Bordeaux University
Professor Tomasz Pietrzykowski, University of Silesia in Katowice
Professor Anna Rakowska-Trela, University of Łódź
Professor Roman Wieruszewski, Polish Academy of Sciences
Professor Jerzy Zajadło, University of Gdańsk
Amnesty International
Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Romania – the Helsinki Committee (APADOR-CH)
Association of Judges “THEMIS” (Poland)
Bulgarian Helsinki Committee
Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH) (Poland)
Civil Development Forum (FOR) (Poland)
Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties)
Estonian Human Rights Centre
Foundation Prof. Bronisław Geremek Centre (Poland)
Free Courts (Poland)
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland)
Homo Faber (Poland)
Human Rights Monitoring Institute (Lithuania)
Human Rights Watch
Hungarian Helsinki Committee
Hungarian Civil Liberties Union
Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights (CILD)
Institute for Law and Society INPRIS (Poland)
Institute of Public Affairs (Poland)
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
Irish Council for Civil Liberties
“Lex Super Omnia” Association of Prosecutors (Poland)
Panoptykon Foundation (Poland)
Polish Judges’ Association “Iustitia” (Poland)
Polish National Association of Judges of Administrative Courts (Poland)
Polish Society of Anti-Discrimination Law
Presidium of the Judges’ Cooperation Forum (Poland)
Professor Zbigniew Hołda Association (Poland)
Rafto Foundation for Human Rights (Norway)
Rights International Spain
Stefan Batory Foundation (Poland)
Wiktor Osiatyński Archive (Poland)
