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The Law and Justice party leader, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has claimed that Poland's economy will catch up with Germany's by 2040. It is a bold claim by any standard, but could it become a possibility?

After 749 days from our inquiry, the Chancellery of the Sejm published scans of the lists of support for candidates for members of the new National Council of the Judiciary. The publication was the result of the administrative court's judgment, which annulled the decisions of the President of the Personal Data Protection Office suspending access to the lists by the Head of the Chancellery of the Sejm.

At the beginning of the year, Poland issued euro-denominated bonds with negative yields two times. For government figures, these issues have become proof of the quality of the excellent economic policy of the Law and Justice party.

The acquisition of the German Condor airline is another allegedly unprecedented success in the history of the Polish economy: LOT, formerly notoriously loss-making and destined to close down or, at best, sell to Germany’s Lufthansa, is now, thanks to the "good change", not only finally making a profit, but also developing so rapidly that it is beginning to expand on the German market. Again, one could hear a false narrative by Mateusz Morawiecki about the messianic role of Law and Justice party in the history of the Third Republic of Poland.

The Civil Development Forum, along with partners from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Slovakia, is participating in a 3-year research study initiated and coordinated by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) on flexibility in employment contracts. As part of the project we publish the Employment Flexibility Index 2020.

Many labor market regulations were created with large mid-20th century manufacturing plants in mind – which is the spirit of the Polish Labor Code of 1974. However, along with the process of industrial automation as well as the growth of employment in services, the economic reality has changed.

Many labour regulations were created for large industrial plants from the mid-20th century - this is also the spirit of the Polish Labour Code of 1974. However, with the automation of industry and the increase in employment in services, economic realities changed. The increasingly popular flexible working time makes it easier to balance private life with work in a way better suited to individual preferences and lifestyles, often to the benefit of productivity.

On 13 January 2016, exactly four years ago today, the Commission activated its rule of law framework for the very first time with respect to Poland.

Thirty years ago, Leszek Balcerowicz unleashed the “shock therapy” that put Poland on the path to rapid economic growth after decades of communist rule. Business boomed, the economy expanded and the former finance minister and central bank chief won plaudits in the West for his reforms.

Patryk Wachowiec, a legal analyst at the Civil Development Forum, said this change was particularly troubling as it would undermine the primacy of EU law.

“Since 1964, the inherent principle of primacy of EU law over national law has been recognised in ECJ case law: judges have an obligation to disapply national law when it is contrary to EU law, without consulting their own national constitutional tribunal,” he said.