We are witnessing a progressive socio-political polarisation. Rzeczpospolita is in an increasingly serious systemic crisis, fundamental state institutions are being challenged, and the law, as a victim of instrumentalization, has been stripped of its authority, becoming a tool in the party's fight. The deepening crack between the 2 feudal camps and the wider problem of the organization mentality makes Poles more and more like not just 1 nation, but a society of respective opposing political tribes, not noticing the challenges facing them. In all of this there is no work for the destiny of the Republic of Poland, whose sovereignty is most threatened in the past of the full III Republic.
The past fewer weeks have been filled with turbulent political events and decisions. The left-liberal government coalition headed by Prime Minister Donald Tuski, introducing its fresh orders, has rapidly made everyone realize that it will not take place in a lenient style. A period after the oath of the Council of Ministers, the catalogue of "neo" institutions (i.e. those whose legitimacy is undermined by any political and legal circles) has been expanded. NeoTK, the neojudges of the SN, until late the neoKRS, and in connection with the acquisition of TVP in a grossly violation of the law – besides the neoTVP. besides crucial is Donald Tusk's opinion expressed in the summertime on a referendum organised in parallel with the elections. "I am charmingly canceling this referendum before you" - stated the erstwhile president of the European Council in August.
One of the points of the coalition agreement, which mentions the annulment of the judgement of the Constitutional Court of October 2020 declaring the non-compliance of the eugenic abortion with the Constitution of the Republic of Poland, besides deserves attention. In the meantime, let us remind you that, according to Article 190(1) of the Basic Act, “The decisions of the Constitutional Court are universally binding and final”.
Instead of ending the conflict, in fresh days we have witnessed the escalation and the emergence of further axes of the dispute. In addition to the loud argument about the legitimacy of arresting PiS MPs Mariusz Kamiński and Maciej Wąsik, there was besides a conflict about a change in the position of the National Prosecutor. Opinions are divided in the legal community itself, let alone in society itself, even more confused by chaos. In the context of divisions in the legal community, let us remember that there is simply a difference between the opinion of a peculiar lawyer and what, in fact, has a circumstantial legal standard to pass on to us. The same applies to the hierarchy of formal sources of law – invariably it is headed by the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 1997, alternatively than “seeing” any of the politicians or resolutions of the lower parliament.
We have reached the point where our country is facing a serious systemic crisis. The law has lost its authority, and under the pretext of restoring the regulation of law and democracy we have in practice a clear example of the instrumentisation of the law. In another words, law has become a tool in the current political struggle. This is the actual fall of the regulation of law.
Worse still, there is small indication that there will be a compromise and a resolution of the crisis in the close future. Its further deepening is and will be the aftermath of the progressive polarization, which, being in the interests of the 2 dominant political camps in its essence, is anti-national. It is the most symptomatic manifestation of the mentality present in our society, which should be described as tribal. It is increasingly hard to talk about the national community, erstwhile – despite the community of interests, common history, tradition, language, origin and culture – organization antagonisms appear to the foreground, actively involving Poles. reasoning in organization categories replaces looking through the prism of the national community. alternatively of the Polish Republic we have Poland A and Poland B. This is the fruit of polarization, destroying not only our political culture, but besides a sense of community.
SEE ALSO: The smiling Poland in the offensive. A Democratic coup?
Justice of the transitional period
In a fresh interview with ZET Radio, current Justice Minister Adam Bodnar commented on the takeover of public media. "We have a situation in which we reconstruct this constitutionality and look for any legal basis to do so" – it sounds like a quarocial passage of the message that rapidly encountered the avalanche of criticism. However, this message is an excellent point of departure to capture a disturbing trend in Polish politics.
Long before taking power, the then leftist-liberal opposition and its associated legal and media circles spoke straight about the request to reconstruct the regulation of law and improve the situation of justice. Even before Adam Bodnar began acting as Minister of Justice, the erstwhile Ombudsman wrote in an article1 For Gazeta Wyborcza: “Many anticipate that after the elections won by the opposition it will be possible to return to the regulation of law. It discusses the future of the Constitutional Court, the strategy of common courts, the composition of the National Judicial Council or the position of neo-Judges. The options for transitional time (... ) are being considered. This is an equally serious challenge of transitional time – what action to take to fill the gap in access to the right and at the same time to get social acceptance for the reforms carried out?"
Minister Bodnar in the context of contemporary Polish political reality referred to the concept of transit justice, besides called Justice of the transitional period. It is an interdisciplinary concept, extending not only to individual branches of law, but besides to sociology, political science, past or axiology. It is based on the deep request for justice, linked to extremist systemic changes, which trust on the departure from totalitarianism or authoritarianism and the political return of the community to the democratic system. The immanent feature of this concept is to settle with the past utilizing an extraordinary centre to hold people guilty of serious violations of fundamental human rights. It is besides crucial to compensate victims of the billed political system. The sources of transit justice should be sought in the trials in Nuremberg and Tokyo, when, after planet War II, those liable for crimes committed by the German 3rd Reich and Japan were tried.
However, recourse to transitional justice mechanisms in Poland is simply a far-reaching abuse. This is due to the fact that this is simply a circumstantial concept, having its sources in request of settlement of political regimes, frequently liable for mass extermination of civilians and another gross human rights violations. With a full scope of reservations up to 8 years of centre-right rule, it would be absurd to apply akin mechanisms in our country to introduce fresh orders and settle the erstwhile power.
The concept of a transitional period is not a substance of the widely known Polish public opinion, but given the presence of mechanisms characteristic of this concept in Polish politics, it is full justified to thin carefully over this phenomenon. A commendable comment from July last year, published on the Ordo Iuris Legal Culture Institute website2.
SEE ALSO: Myth, symbol and politics – brief commentary on the prospects of Donald Tusk's government
No responsibility
The overwhelming majority of the Polish political class does not take the test of work for the destiny of the state. The political fervor of combat is increasingly lacking in prudent concern for the common good. Ivan Liprandi, an officer of Russian military intelligence, knowing Poles from the period of Napoleonic wars and the January Uprising, in his treaty of 1864 he concluded a reflectional conclusion about our nation. "There is nothing easier... than to bring 2 major parties together... prepared in a clever way and self-meaning, coupled with a deep mystery, to destruct 1 another: is the past of Poland of all times" said the Russian.
Indeed, Liprandi's thoughts and experiences are a applicable confirmation of the celebrated Polish proverb "where 2 fight, there the 3rd benefit", or, in another words, admit the timeless nature of the principle divide et impera, by inciting interior conflicts among enemies to regulation them. It would seem that both the proverb and the celebrated Latin parity are a functioning public troism, but the practice shows that as a Polish nation we have with mastering these timeless truths a deep problem.
Warchols, the anarchization of public life, the instrumentization of the law and the progressive polarization are a poison for Poles not only due to the demolition of the Republic from within. The increasing conflict between the 2 largest camps is besides a gift for abroad capitals curious in stripping the Polish state from sovereignty. Let us not forget that on the 1 hand we have inactive threatening Russian imperialism, on the another hand – the effort by the uniocrats to change EU treaties, whose implementation in practice will mean making Poland 1 of the EU's regions.
It is worrying that with the expanding chaos in the Polish country, external threats are besides increasing. Let us not forget that the war behind our east border continues, and the destiny of the Russian-Ukrainian war does not gotta end with a toothbreak by Russia in Ukraine. The hard situation of the Ukrainian army caused by the melting population potential, the restraint of support by the United States, the invariably ongoing invasion offensive – these are just examples showing that Russia's devastating defeat is not certain. We besides request to consider the script in which Ukraine's opposition will be broken, and the Russian sphere of influence will extend to the full east border of the Republic.
In all of this, let us besides not forget the effort to destabilise our state by artificially triggering immigration force by the Belarusian government with the support of the Kremlin on the Polish-Belarusian border in 2021. The threat is inactive real, as shown by authoritative statistic published by the Border Guard. Only in 2023 there were more than 26 1000 attempts to illegally cross the Polish border with Belarus, almost 700 organizers and helpers were detained in the illegal crossing of the border – against 240 were arrested. Due to the time of the year of attempts at illegal entry into the Republic of Poland, the problem remains.
The situation on the Polish-Belarusian border all the more I deserve attention due to the fact that during the apogee of the crisis in 2021 it was the individual parliamentarians of the current ruling coalition that made it harder for Polish services to defend borders, clearly acting to the detriment of the Polish state. Many inactive have in head the unreasonable attitude of associate of the civilian Coalition of Franciszek Sterczewski, fleeing Border defender officers with an advertising bag in which things were to be found for foreigners on the Belarusian side. Today, the left-liberal option exercises power in our country, which raises legitimate concerns about the effectiveness of enforcement in ensuring the national safety community.
SEE ALSO: Will Poland, under Donald Tusk's rule, become a state of emergency?
Demolition of the 21st century – an effort to change the EU treaties
Our independency is threatened not only from the east due to the expansion of Russian imperialism. We are entering a decisive phase in the effort to centralise the European Union. Among the 267 amendments to the EU treaties proposed in the study by the Committee on Constitutional Affairs and supported by the European Parliament, we will find solutions that will importantly deepen centralisation. They importantly increase the powers of the European Commission, the Council and another EU institutions and deprive associate States of the right to veto in most cases and replace it by a qualified majority. The number of Commissioners would decrease to 15, which means that not all country would have its representative. In addition, the Union would increase its competence in health, defence, climate and abroad policy. The EU institutions would besides be able to influence the content of the school curriculum indirectly. However, those who believe that uniocrats are committed to simultaneously implementing all 267 amendments are wrong.
Such a immense number of amendments let each associate State to reject a twelve or even a fewer twelve proposals for amendments. In this way, both Donald Tusk and Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orban will have the chance to announce themselves in their countries as a defender of sovereignty – everyone will be able to declare themselves a conflict winner in the EU forum. In the meantime, it is adequate to introduce only a fewer twelve seemingly method amendments which, as an authoritative compromise of the 27 countries, will lead to the centralisation of the European Union.
However, the effective revision of the EU treaties in the Polish legal strategy must at the very end of the procedure be accompanied by an agreement to ratify. In Poland, ratification of the global agreement conferring on the authority of an global organisation follows the decision of the president of the Republic of Poland after obtaining the consent of 2/3 of the Sejm and 2/3 of the Senate. This means that in practice in the lower chamber, with full attendance for changes, 307 Members would gotta stand up and 67 Senators in the case of the advanced chamber. However, the left-liberal ruling coalition lacks a adequate majority in each chamber. In addition, even if Parliament approved, the president of the Republic of Poland could inactive exercise the right of veto or challenge it to the Constitutional Court, and comparatively refuse ratification.
However, the real threat is the option of obtaining approval for ratification by referendum. This would be a much easier way for the current parliamentary majority to effectively push through. The approval of the majority of citizens expressed by more than 50% of citizens would be sufficient.
Given the left-wing liberal media hegemony and the uncritical attitude towards the EU of a crucial part of the political class, we are very likely to have a referendum run in the coming future, in which the forces in favour of maintaining sovereignty by the Polish State will gotta make an effort to effectively convince them of their right. It is simply a Polish reason for not accepting any proposal to amend the EU treaties.
At present, however, both the centralistic impulses of the uniocrats and the inactive present threat of Russian imperialism seem to escape the attention of Poles – due to the increasing legal chaos, the anarchization of public life and the progressive polarization, there is an urgent request to avert a serious systemic crisis. However, the sooner the problem is over, the further into the forest, the more effort it will require to repair the interior situation in our country. Yet the planet did not stop, impressed by the events in the country over the Vistula River. Will we be able to wake up in time as Poles, or will the feuded organization tribes reconcile the partition treaties of the 21st century?
Bartosz Florek - Catholic, commentator, activist of the All-Polish Youth. Law student and president of the Leon XIII Social and Political thought SKN at the Collegium Intermarium. Rawian. He's driving Channel on Youtube [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxzVtc9EA5V8IFbmWuN7_qQ] on socio-political, spiritual and cultural issues.