Poland’s new government is copying some of Viktor Orbán’s worst policies. Hungary got away with defiance, but Poland may not. Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS) party has never hidden its admiration for the Fidesz government in neighbouring Hungary. “I am convinced that one day we will have Budapest in Warsaw,” said Jarosław Kaczyński, the party’s leader in 2011, when PiS lost the parliamentary elections. Today, Kaczyński can realise his dream: PiS has a parliamentary majority and it is free to copy Fidesz policies. But while Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, managed to get away with most of his ‘illiberal’ reforms, the Polish authorities may not be so lucky. On January 13th the European Commission decided to assess whether the rule of law is under threat in Poland.
Poland: Europe’s new enfant terrible?, by A.G. Jakubowska
Sourced from our Editorial Partner Centre for European Reform – CER - Jan 23, 16
