SSINCE DECEMBER Kalina Ostrowska comes home from school and does something that would shock most parents of 16-year-olds: she turns on the television and watches the Sejm, the Polish parliament. Many of his friends are watching too. Young Poles are strangely interested in politics. In last October’s election, turnout among those under 30, who normally vote at low turnout, reached 69%, just below the overall figure of 74%. They overwhelmingly supported the opposition, helping Donald Tusk and his centrist Civic Coalition (KO) to beat the hard right Law and Justice (P.IS) party that ruled Poland for eight years.
One of the reasons the Sejm produces such good television is its new president, Szymon Holownia. Mr. Holownia, who leads the center-right Poland 2050 party (now part of Mr. Tusk’s alliance), is a longtime talk show host and master entertainer. “It’s funny when the opposition protests and Holownia silences them with a pointed retort,” says Ms. Ostrowska. Yet the main reason to watch is the fascinating conflict unfolding within the Polish government.
Like many populist parties in power, P.IS They took control of independent state institutions and filled them with loyalists. Poland ended up having its EU funds withheld for violation of the rule of law. Mr. Tusk is trying to solve this problem, which means rewriting the statutes and firing the apparatchiks. But Andrzej Duda, the president, originally from P.IS, pledged to veto the government’s efforts. The constitutional court, dominated by P.IS named people, that also spoils things. Mr. Tusk’s government faces a delicate task: restoring the rule of law without weakening it.
The biggest challenge is the justice system. P.IS amended the law so that the Sejm, where it had a majority, appoints the members of the National Council of the Judiciary (CNJ), which appoints and promotes judges. He then installed loyalists in all courts. When the EUPoland’s highest court ruled that this violated the separation of powers, and Polish prosecutors began going after judges who had the temerity to appeal to that court. In the meantime P.IS He merged the functions of justice minister and attorney general, created a new position of national prosecutor, and, just before the election, passed a law requiring the president’s consent to remove him from office. Analysts said P.IS was trying to consolidate its control over state institutions.
The new Minister of Justice, Adam Bodnar, wants to break the cement. To abandon the national prosecutor without risking Mr. Duda’s veto, Mr. Bodnar announced on January 12 that his appointment was void, on the grounds that the procedures used by the government to bring him out of retirement were poorly applied. Experts think Mr. Bodnar is right, but P.IS and the Constitutional Court cried foul. The Minister of Justice is also trying to replace the presidents of the regional courts.
P.ISMr. Bodnar’s deputies in the Sejm, who filled the courts when they were in power, denounce Mr. Bodnar’s house cleaning as a coup d’état. The difference is where P.IS taken control of the judiciary, Mr. Bodnar wants to cede it. The government plans to divide the positions of justice minister and attorney general, and allow judges to choose most of the members of the court themselves. CNJ. Mr. Bodnar “is not trying to acquire power, but to give it back to the judges,” says Zuzanna Rudzinska-Bluszcz, deputy justice minister. But this reform will require the signature of Mr. Duda.
The second major area of conflict concerns the media. Below P.IS State TVthe radio and the national press agency were transformed into propaganda organs. P.IS created a new oversight board and filled it with allies. To circumvent this body, on December 19, the new Minister of Culture simply used commercial law to replace state media personnel, acting as the owners of the companies. P.IS-appointed TV Employees staged a sit-in, but quickly gave up. To reorganize the media, the government put them into liquidation. But some courts refuse to register liquidations.
Not only P.IS But some civil society groups dislike these maneuvers, which ignore elements of the constitution regarding state media. The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, a watchdog, said the takeover “raises serious legal doubts.” The government claims that P.ISThe oversight board was also unconstitutional. But he did little to reassure the public that he would not create his own spokesperson.
The final battleground concerns the economic institutions of the state. Central bank governor Adam Glapinski is a pro-P.IS swagger. But his policy decisions show little evidence of bias, and Mr. Tusk has backed away from talk of an investigation into him.
More troubling stories are emerging regarding some state-owned companies. Orlen, a state-owned oil company, bought its rival Lotos (also state-owned) in 2022. EU competition regulators ordered Lotos to first divest some assets, which mainly went to Mol, a Hungarian company, and Saudi Aramco. On February 5, government auditors said those assets were sold for $1.24 billion less than their value. Critics say P.IS wanted an oil monopoly for political reasons: Orlen kept fuel prices below the market level during the campaign. The government fired the company’s managers CEO and supervisory board.
Regardless, many Poles appear to be taking full advantage of the turmoil. Mr. Tusk’s popularity rating KO has increased since December, while P.ISfell. In the state TV According to Pawel Moskalewicz, its news director, “the end of political pressure” has restored the channel’s morale. But the justice system is a much bigger problem. Loss P.ISThe state takeover will be a long and controversial task. ■
