Poland’s new law to probe Russian influence breaches ‘democratic process’: EU Commission

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) – The recently adopted Polish law on probing Russian influence “unduly interferes with the democratic process,” the European Commission said on Thursday in a letter sent to the Polish government.

With the letter, the EU executive body officially launched an infringement procedure against Poland for violating EU law by its new bill.

According to the European Commission, the new law “unduly interferes with the democratic process” because it risks creating “grave reputational damage for candidates in elections” and can “limit the effectiveness of the political rights of persons elected.”

The bill also “violates the principles of legality and non-retroactivity” because it sanctions people for activities carried out before the law entered into force, the EU institutions argued.

The Polish act also breaches rights to effective judicial protection because courts cannot review the correctness of facts upon which the state committee took its decision, it further said.

Polish President Andrzej Duda signed the bill last week on setting up the strong-mandated state committee that can ban people from assuming public office for up to 10 years if they are found guilty of acting “under Russian influence.”

On Sunday, over 500,000 people took to the streets in the capital Warsaw to protest the law which is, according to critics, meant to target the opposition and eliminate former Polish Prime Minister and European Council President Donald Tusk from politics before next year’s elections.

The new infringement procedure subscribes into the long-standing debate between the EU and Poland over the country’s judicial reforms that curb judicial independence and undermine the primacy of EU law.