[ad_1]
YOU MUST ANSWER: – Norway cannot continue to cooperate with the Polish Ministry of Justice, which has largely initiated violations of the rule of law, after PiS came to power in 2015, columnists write. Photo: KACPER PEMPEL / X02307
Restrictions on abortion in Poland have drawn enormous anger on the streets of Warsaw, Gdansk, Bialystok, Szczecin and Krakow, but also in thousands of small towns in Poland. Norway must exert clear pressure on the Polish government.
This is a chronicle. The chronicle expresses the attitude of the writer. You can submit articles and discussion posts to VG here.
NINA WITOSZEK, researcher University of Oslo
IGOR DEVOLD, associate professor NTNU
Nina Witoszek, Igor Devold. Photo: UiO / NTNU
It is now well known that the Polish PIS government tends to adopt unpopular decrees at midnight, when MPs are too tired (or not quite sober) to debate them. The government often mobilizes incompetent and semi-educated legal “authorities” to formulate new interpretations of the law and, vips, Poland is thrust 50 years back into the authoritarian golden age of Soviet communism.
On Thursday, October 22, the government commissioned this “group of experts.” It consisted of several illegally elected judges in what is called the “Constitutional Court” in Poland. During this fateful Thursday, this group of experts launched a dramatic tightening of Poland’s abortion law. A law that is already one of the strictest in Europe.
The group of abortion experts was outraged by the approx. 1,000 legal abortions in the country (by comparison, around 12,000 abortions were performed in Norway in 2018, and Norway has seven times fewer inhabitants).
also read
Protests continue in Poland
Hardening dictates that the fetus must be born now even in cases where the embryo is so damaged (missing parts of the skull, etc.) that it has little chance of survival during and after birth. “If you can get pregnant, you can give birth,” was the motto of the abortion group. He claimed to act as “good Christians” to protect lives. She stated that this would reduce the number of illegal abortions despite the fact that all research shows the opposite: the abortion ban does not lead to fewer abortions, but to illegal interventions with a high risk for women. As is well known, the best measure to reduce the number of abortions is good sex education.
In 2016 and 2018, hundreds of thousands of Polish women and men protested against the tightening of abortion laws in what are called “black protests” and “women’s strikes”. The fact that Kaczynski and his PiS government have once again embarked on even worse reform, right after this summer’s presidential election and in the midst of the crown pandemic, is because PiS has believed this now. it could be implemented smoothly under strict crown measures.
But the government was surprised. The austerity measures in Poland have caused enormous anger on the streets of Warsaw, Gdansk, Bialystok, Szczecin and Krakow, but also in thousands of small Polish cities. The slogans of the protesting masses are much juicier and more critical of the regime than before. The main message has been “The idiot government must go!”
also read
Thousands to the streets of Poland despite a history of contagion: – I have nothing else to lose
Opinion polls now show that 79 percent of Poles are against toughening the abortion law. After countless government abuses against the media, the judiciary, civil society and LGBTIQ minorities, and now a barbaric abortion law, the cup has been clear to many Poles. Today, Wednesday, there are major women’s strikes all over Poland. The women do not go to work, but take trains in the streets.
What does this have to do with Norway? Yes, Norway transfers approx. 8.7 billion NOK to Poland (EEA funds) in the period 2014-21. We believe that it is time for clear signals to be sent to Poland that the funds should be used for welfare, culture, civil society and research without undermining democracy and the rule of law.
One possible measure would be to cut funding for those parts of the Polish state apparatus that are involved in implementing the regression of Polish democracy. Another would be to grant asylum to those who need it, based on prosecution in the Polish judiciary that is no longer independent. Several judges have been fired for political reasons and lawyers in Poland have not only a spokesman for the crown but also a political muzzle.
We expect Norwegian women to speak up and show solidarity with their Polish sisters, and it doesn’t hurt that men follow their example. It is ironic that before Norway received its abortion law in 1976, several Norwegian women went to Poland to have a legal abortion there. Now is the time to give back, and the Norwegian health service must be prepared for the fact that Polish women may need help in Norway.
We are not against dialogue with Poland. Poland must not be pushed into the cold for a power vacuum to emerge in central Europe that Putin will be able to exploit with all he can. But at the same time, Norway cannot continue to cooperate with the Polish Ministry of Justice, which has largely initiated violations of the rule of law, after PiS came to power in 2015.
Clear pressure from Norway, the EU and the EEA countries will be a strong signal to Poles and the Polish government that we are prepared to support the fundamental European rights that Poles fought so hard for for less than 44 years of communism.
