The European Union is not merely a community based on democracy and the rule of law. It is also an organisation which functions in a way advantageous to undemocratic governments and may strengthen their authoritarian impulses.
A breakdown of the rule of law in Poland from an upcoming ruling by its constitutional court and the parallel inflow of huge EU funds will prove a toxic mix with ramifications for the entire bloc – writes Piotr Buras.
In public policy, in which party programmes translate into specific public decisions, closer contact with citizens was deemed to make these decisions not only more acceptable for society but also qualitatively better and closer to the realities of everyday life – writes Grzegorz Makowski.
We warn that if the Constitutional Tribunal rules in accordance with the Prime Minister’s petition, Poland will be in violation of the international obligations to which it freely consented. The state will then be obliged to bear responsibility for this or may be forced to leave the European Union in order to withdraw from its commitments.
Prof. Jarosław Flis and Prof. Paweł Swianiewicz examine the distribution of funds from the third instalment of the CGFLI. The average municipality with a ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) mayor still received over ten times more in grants.
