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Poland’s newly reshuffled Constitutional Tribunal ruled last week that abortion due to fatal or severe foetal impairment is no longer an option. Forcing women to give birth to severely malformed children, even those who have little to no chances of survival is now part and parcel of the Polish Constitution; what few abortion rights remained in the country have essentially vanished.

The European Commission (EC) has proposed options for possible EU action addressing the challenges related to fair minimum wages in the European Union. According to the EC, the initiative has a general objective to ensure that all workers in the EU are protected by fair minimum wages, allowing for a decent living wherever they work. The initiative would leave Member States the freedom to keep their current minimum wage system. According to the EC, ensuring adequate wages for all workers in the EU is even more relevant in the preparation for recovery of COVID-19 crisis.

In mid-July, the European Commission published this year’s edition of the EU Justice Scoreboard 2020. It is a comparative and non-arbitrary source of data about the functioning, efficiency, and independence of the justice systems within the EU. The EU Justice Scoreboard enables assessment of the Law and Justice’s “reforms” of the judiciary and comparisons of Poland with the rest of the Member States.

All people in Poland are equal before the law. This sentence is unfortunately not true. The events of last weekend offered a stark reminder of that sad reality.

In the recent presidential elections in Poland, over 51 per cent of the votes were cast for the reelection of president Andrzej Duda of the ruling Law and Justice party. Soundly defeating the Mayor of Warsaw Rafal Trzaskowski, Andrzej will soon start his second term in office.

The election of the President of the Republic of Poland should be held in pursuance of the provisions of the Constitution and in a manner that does not give rise to any doubts, as to its universality, equality, secrecy and honesty.

The coronavirus is a deadly danger for many people, but a large proportion of those infected do not experience any symptoms. Available mortality data show that the disease represents the greatest risk for the elderly and those suffering from other diseases.

At present, the most important challenge is to maintain jobs and support people who cannot work in Poland due to the coronavirus and actions aimed at reducing the scale of the epidemic. On the one hand, this requires the support of companies that pay their employees but, deprived of income, are themselves at risk of bankruptcy. On the other hand, it requires support for people who have worked in unusual forms of employment and have lost their jobs overnight.