Today in Brussels, during a meeting of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs (LIBE), a report on the rule of law for 2024 was discussed. The discussion was preceded by a statement from Didier Reynders, the Commissioner for Justice. Speaking on behalf of the ECR Group was PiS MEP Mariusz Kamiński.
“Commissioner, are you deaf and blind?” asked Mariusz Kamiński, questioning whether those working on the document were even aware of what was happening in Poland. “I understand that you have certain political views, that the European Commission has certain political views, and that the conservative government I represented was the target of constant attacks for political reasons, but someone else has been in power for the past six months,” he noted. According to the PiS MEP, the current government is in fact “instilling a grim, authoritarian dictatorship.” “And this is happening amid your significant silence,” he emphasized. Mariusz Kamiński said that right now, in the 21st century in Poland—a member state of the European Union—the problems of political prisoners and torture are resurfacing. He pointed out that the first case involving the torture of prisoners has already been referred to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. “Can’t you see the constant violations of the constitution, the constant violations of the laws in force in Poland? This government isn’t changing the laws—it’s breaking them,” he noted. The PiS MEP addressed the “significant progress in building the independence of the prosecutor’s office in Poland” mentioned in the report. “This is a mockery! This is nonsense. It’s exactly the opposite,” Kamiński emphasized, recalling that the highly politicized prosecutor’s office is taking political actions to combat the political opposition. “Commissioner, your silence on these matters means that you are taking political and moral responsibility for all the evil that is currently taking place in my country—Poland,” he noted.
