The EUI Constitutional Law and Politics Working Group hosts an online event to discuss the recent Polish election results.
On 15 October, Polish voters headed to the polls with the country’s highest-ever voter turnout (74.4%). As a result, the governing Law and Justice party (PiS) – even if winning the biggest share of voters’ support – lost its majority to form a government. The (former) opposition parties have started consultations with the Polish president and are ready to take power, with Donald Tusk, the former European Council president, being the likely new prime minister. The new government won’t have an easy ride: since 2015, PiS has systematically undermined Poland's democratic institutions with various assaults on media freedom, civil rights and judicial independence – to name just a few. The outcome of the election leaves many with optimism and hope. We will discuss with our speakers the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead for the new Polish government and civil society and ask what is necessary to restore democracy, the rule of law and respect for the values of the EU in Poland.
About the speakers:
Wojciech Sadurski is Challis Professor in Jurisprudence at the University of Sydney. He also holds the position of Professor in the Centre for Europe at the University of Warsaw and was visiting professor at various institutions, including Yale Law School, NYU Law School and Fordham Law School.
Anna Wójcik is a Humboldt Foundation post-doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. She is a co-founder of the Rule of Law in Poland blog.
Paulina Milewska is a third-year researcher in the Law Department at the EUI and a senior expert in the Helsinki Foundation, Poland.