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The cost of the state’s family policy reached PLN 70 billion in 2020. By comparison, spending on countering the COVID-19 pandemic and mitigating the effects of the economic lockdown amounted to PLN 103 billion, and spending on defense amounted to PLN 42 billion.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by unprecedented state interventions – from restrictions on basic individual freedoms to significant increases in public spending, among others, to compensate companies for the effects of the shutdown. 

Law and Justice, the ruling party in Poland, within the framework of the “Polish Deal” is raising the tax burden on income from rental housing drastically and without a transition period. In this way, the government wants to slow down the growth of property prices and, at the same time, increase budget revenues. This is a wrong direction.

How can the civil society in Poland and Hungary operate in this environment? What is the role of human rights defenders? Are the core values of the EU at risk? How should the EU and its member states react?

The officially stated purpose is to ensure public order amid an ongoing surge in attempts to cross the border illegally. However, taking into account events at the border and the government’s track record, there are legitimate doubts as to the real reasons behind such an extraordinary measure.

Mayday. We are sinking. This is the only message I can think of as a lawyer in an EU member state where democracy is rapidly backsliding.

Poland’s erosion of the rule of law has set an alarming precedent in Europe. A democratically elected government turning against the foundations of democracy itself and stripping its citizens of basic human rights is indeed a shocking scenario, happening right in front of our eyes. We have invited Eliza Rutynowska, lawyer at the Civil Development Forum in Poland.

According to Rutynowska, in the case of spontaneous assemblies “we are dealing with a situation of such a split personality”. – On the one hand, we do not even have a state of natural disaster, and the measures used are radically disproportionate. At the same time, other restrictions are being loosened, which are less important socially, less important from the point of view of enforcing our rights and freedoms – she pointed out.

Modern-day authoritarians will boil you like a frog, whilst slowly turning up the heat. As a citizen of a democratic state, governed by the rule of law, you won’t suddenly wake up one day to find yourself in an authoritarian regime. It will creep up on you. Hiding behind empty slogans such as “regaining national sovereignty” and “national pride”.