Several thousand people took to the streets in Poland on Sunday against the controversial ruling of the Constitutional Court and for the future of their country in the EU. In Warsaw they waved Polish and European flags and shouted: “We stay” and “We are Europe!”. There were also demonstrations in Gdansk, Poznan, Szczecin, Krakow and many other cities.
Former EU Council President and Polish opposition leader Donald Tusk called for the protests. “The place of Poland is in Europe,” said Tusk on Sunday in front of the demonstrators in Warsaw and criticized the government.
The national-conservative ruling party PiS is no longer talking about wanting to lead the country out of the EU, said Tusk. “We will win because we are more!”
Loud interjections and chants from a counter-demonstration by right-wing national groups interrupted Tusk and the other speakers again and again.
Poland’s constitutional court ruled on Thursday that certain elements of EU law violate the Polish constitution. This gave national law priority over EU law. This decision is fueling the conflict between the EU Commission and Warsaw over the reform of the Polish judicial system.
According to the survey, a large majority supports the EU
In Gdansk, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and former Polish President Lech Walesa spoke to the demonstrators that evening. “The people who run the state today are a great misfortune for Poland,” said the former head of the Solidarnosc union. No enemy that has ever ruled Poland has divided the people in the country as much as the PiS.
According to a recent survey, a good 88 percent of Poles see their country’s membership in the community of states as positive, only a good 9 percent rate it as negative.
Poland’s national-conservative PiS government has been restructuring the judiciary for years. Critics accuse her of putting judges under pressure. Because of the reforms, the EU Commission has already opened several infringement proceedings against Warsaw and filed suits with the European Court of Justice. (dpa)
I am a technology author with 8 years of experience in journalism. My writing covers the latest technology advancements and trends, drawing on my expertise in news journalism and social media platforms. I have contributed to major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters.
