poland | Visegrád Post

Cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz: “Europe was constructed, and continues to be constructed, upon Christian values”

Ferenc Almássy May 18, 2020

Interview with cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz, ex-private secretary to Saint John-Paul II: “Europe was constructed and continues to be constructed, upon Christian values”. By Saint John-Paul II’s side for forty years, first as his student and then as his secretary, Stanisław Dziwisz was…

Politics

Having shown its irrelevance against the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU gets a second chance on the economic side of the crisis

Olivier Bault May 2, 2020

European Union - The European Union has had to face harsh criticism for its belated response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and for its early open hostility towards member states closing their borders to protect their own populations. In the first weeks of…

Politics

Can the Polish presidential election take place on May 10?

Olivier Bault April 29, 2020

Poland - “If someone from the opposition was now leading in the opinion polls, what would happen if the executive power declared a state of emergency in order to postpone the election?”, Krzysztof Szczerski, head of the Chancellery of the President of…

Politics

Polish government seeks to limit economic damage from the pandemic

Olivier Bault April 20, 2020

Poland - The Polish government announced on Thursday evening a first series of measures designed to ease the lockdown and revive the economy, as this year seems set to bring the country’s first recession since 1992. The S&P rating agency expects a…

Politics

Parliamentary democracy vs judicial activism: not just a Polish or Hungarian issue!

Olivier Bault April 6, 2020

European Union - The issue of parliamentary democracy versus judicial activism is not just about Poland and Hungary, even though the focus of the European Commission and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) seems to have been largely centred…

Society

COVID-19 epidemic spreading slower in the V4 than in Western Europe thanks to measures taken earlier

Olivier Bault April 2, 2020

Visegrád Group - The first country of the Visegrád group to confirm cases of COVID-19 on its territory was Czechia on March 3. The remaining three countries quickly followed suit, as many people were returning from their winter holidays in such places…

Society

Poland against the coronavirus: the right measures at the right time?

Olivier Bault March 31, 2020

Poland - Almost four weeks after the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Poland (a Polish national returning from Germany who was tested positive on March 4), the measures taken by the government seem to have had a positive impact, like…

Society

Coronavirus –the V4 react at an earlier stage than Western Europe

Olivier Bault March 19, 2020

By Olivier Bault. Visegrád Group – With the Chinese 2019 coronavirus having arrived on their territory in early March, we will have to wait at least a few weeks before we can assess the effectiveness of measures taken at an early…

Society

Media pluralism in Poland and Hungary compared to France

Olivier Bault March 5, 2020

By Olivier Bault. Originally published in English on Kurier.plus. Poland/Hungary/France - The 2019 edition of the World Press Freedom Index puts Poland and Hungary respectively in 59th and 87th position out of 180 countries. 2019 World Press Freedom Index. Source: https://rsf.org/en/ranking Both…

Society

Self-proclaimed “LGBT ideology-free”local communities in Poland

Olivier Bault February 29, 2020

By Olivier Bault. Poland - Since March 2019 a growing number of local authorities in Poland, in particular in regions dominated by PiS, have been affirming their opposition to LGBT ideology by adopting a Charter for the Rights of the Family or…

Politics

Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Poland: some shared interests but opposing visions of a post-Brexit EU

Olivier Bault February 17, 2020

By Olivier Bault. Poland - This time the French mainstream media were much more vocal than during the French president’s October meeting with the Hungarian premier in Paris. Emmanuel Macron’s trip to Warsaw on February 3–4 was described as a turning point…

Politics

Auschwitz commemorations in Jerusalem without the President of Poland

The Editorial Board January 25, 2020

By Rafał Ziemkiewicz. Polish President Andrzej Duda announced at the beginning of January that he would not take part in the commemorations of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Soviet Army. The organizers of the commemorations, held on 23…