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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”. 

Regardless of the fact that citizens should focus on protecting their own health and that of third parties, the pandemic cannot become a comfortable excuse for abuse of power and the limitation of freedom of speech, which it has become – as per the Polish example.

In January 2021, the unemployment rate in Poland was 3.1 percent, which is the lowest result in the entire European Union, according to data provided by Eurostat.

“We can effectively observe two legal systems within one member state of the European Union,” says Patryk Wachowiec, a legal analyst at the Civil Development Forum (FOR). He warns that this could “paralyse” aspects of EU law.

Eliza Rutynowska, lawyer at the Civil Development Forum (FOR), told the CIVICUS Monitor that, on 28th January 2021, approximately 100 people were kettled by the police in front of the Constitutional Tribunal building in Warsaw, and forced to show their IDs in order to be allowed to leave the assembly.

A series of court judgements have challenged the legality of coronavirus restrictions introduced by the Polish government. This has encouraged a growing number of businesses to reopen in defiance lockdown measures, which they argue are unconstitutional.

Despite mass protests, global criticism, and already strict abortion laws, the country’s government has rolled back women’s rights even further.