Polish MEP Róża Thun announced on Monday she was leaving Poland’s main opposition party Civic Platform after diverging from the party line over the vote on the EU recovery fund.
Thun’s departure comes after lawmakers Paweł Zalewski and Ireneusz Raś were removed from the party last week for “acting to the party’s detriment”.
“I’m against poorly-coordinated bargaining between parties affecting projects aimed at supporting hundreds of millions of European citizens in crisis,” Thun said in a statement.
“I often disagree with [Civic] Platform’s decisions in voting over issues of hunting, farming policy, forests protection, fisheries policy etc. I’m a non-conformist when it comes to safeguarding the rule of law, and a tougher stance on environment protection,” the Polish MEP explained.
Nord Stream 2 : feu vert pour la poursuite des travaux dans les eaux allemandes
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Leaders of the Bucharest Nine (B9) group condemned acts of sabotage committed by Russia on the NATO territory and expressed their view that the Atlantic alliance members must address the security implications of China’s global rise together.
The leaders of the B9 group including NATO’s eastern flank countries – Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria – met virtually on Monday, for the Bucharest 9 summit for consultation and dialogue, together with the US President Joe Biden and Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary General.
The leaders remarked that NATO is facing distinct threats and challenges emanating from all strategic directions. They noted Russia’s aggressive actions and military build-up in the immediate vicinity of NATO, as well as its aggressive hybrid activities.
„The COVID crisis is a new excuse to reduce rule of law, democracy, and press freedom. In Europe unfortunately there are states which restricted press freedoms because of the pandemic, they are especially: Poland, Hungary, and Bulgaria” – says Pavol Szalai from the Reporters Without Borders.
A free press is a core element of any functioning democracy. Yet the situation has worsened on all continents, as can be seen in the 2021 Reporters Without Borders ranking of press freedom. The COVID-19 pandemic has served as a justification to further crackdown on journalistic independence.
We invited
Pavol Szalai, Head of EU/Balkans Desk at Reporters Without Borders, to discuss the press freedom situation in Europe with a special focus on the Eastern European region.
The presidents of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine and Poland met in Warsaw on Monday to mark the 230th anniversary of the constitution adopted by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Presidents Gitanas Nausėda, Egils Levits, Kersti Kaljulaid, Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Andrzej Duda underlined the high significance of the constitution by signing a joint declaration of support and cooperation with countries striving for democratic changes.
“The adoption in 1791 of this important act regulating the legal system of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was of historical importance, as it was the first modern basic law adopted on our continent and the second in the world,” they said.
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