EU TENSIONS ERUPT: Hungary's Orban savages European 'INQUISITION' over Poland courts row

The bill, sponsored by the ruling Law and Justice party
(PiS), was passed by Poland’s Senate on Saturday
despite one of the biggest protests since the PiS
came to power in late 2015.
Like Mr Orban, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has been
a staunch critic of the EU and has repeatedly accused
Brussels of showing disrespect for the democratic
freedoms of member states.
European Council President Donald Tusk, a former
Polish centrist prime minister and arch-adversary of
PiS, said he had asked President Andrzej Duda for an
urgent meeting about the "political crisis" in the
country.
Mr Tusk said in a statement that PiS moves on courts
were backward , went "against European standards and
values", harmed Poland's reputation and risked
marginalising the country.
Thousands of Poles have hit the streets to protest the
bill
He
said:
“It
falls
to us,
together, to avert bleak outcomes which could
ultimately lead to the marginalisation of Poland in
Europe… The situation, including at international level,
is really serious. And that is why I am asking for
serious measures and serious partners. Please let us
try, Mr. President.”
Meanwhile, one of Brussels’ leading Brexit negotiators
has tweeted his support to those protesting the bill.
Guy Verhofstadt posted a picture of the protests and
wrote: “Polish citizens know Poland can only be strong
& prosperous if democratic and part of the EU. That's
why they will never give up.”
Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo says the legislation
is an internal matter and the government will not bow
to any foreign pressure.
Mr Orban, pictured before he delivered his speech in
Romania
Meet Hungary's border
hunter police
Thu, March 9, 2017
Border Hunter Police in Hungary undergo rigorous
training, including assembling pistols blindfolded,
and judo
PLAY
Hungarian border hunter recruits learn judo moves
[REUTERS]
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The legislation calls for the current Supreme Court
judges to be fired, except those chosen by the justice
minister and approved by the president. It gives the
president the power to issue regulations for the
court's work, as will as introducing a disciplinary
chamber that, on a motion from the justice minister,
would handle suspected breaches of regulations or
ethics.
Tens of thousands of Poles have hit the streets to
protest the bill. Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, leader of
the Polish People's Party (PSL), told a crowd in
Warsaw: “We will ... not allow them to trample
European values. We will not allow ourselves to be
pushed out of the European Union."
A crowd in front of the Presidential Palace, carrying
Polish and EU flags responded with chants, "Free
Poland, European!" "Free Poland, European!"
Sources close to the Presidential Palace told Reuters
that President Duda was on vacation on the Baltic
seacoast.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, whose PiS party put forward the
bill
Warsaw City Hall estimated the crowd at more than
50,000, while police put it at 14,000. Tens of
thousands demonstrated in other Polish cities.
Piotr, 48, who came to the protests in Warsaw with his
five-year-old son, said: “I wanted to be here on this
historic day when our freedoms for which we fought
for more than 25 years are being taken away.”
The government says the changes are needed to make
courts accountable and to ensure state institutions
serve all Poles, not just the "elites" it says are the
support base for the centrist opposition.
President Duda will have to sign the bill before it
becomes law, although he is not expected to do it
before his meeting on Monday with the head of the
court, Malgorzata Gersdorf.

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