Poland is becoming 'undemocratic', warns human rights chief who was recently ordered to quit
In conversation with news agency AFP, Bodnar said that the people in power are "trying to incapacitate or take over additional power mechanisms one by one". A recent ruling from the Constitutional Court in the country ordered him to quit his post within weeks.
Currently, the Law and Justice (PiS) party is in power in the country where it has remained since 2015. According to the 44-year-old law professor, the party is marginalising the parliament’s role, while adding that it had “brought to heel the Constitutional Court, the prosecutor’s office, public media” along with certain “judicial institutions”.
For the last few years, the European Commission has attempted to bring Poland back in line with what it considers democratic ideals.
According to Bodnar, the EU had made some strong executive decisions that improved the realties on ground in Poland, but noted a shift since Ursula von der Leyen became the Commission’s president in 2019.
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"I get the sense that there has been this constant search for a supposed compromise, consensus and dialogue with the Polish government... which hasn't really accomplished anything," he told AFP.
"Meanwhile the government used that time to introduce and solidify changes and to increasingly strive toward pushing the boundaries regarding the subordination of the judiciary," he added.
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The PiS has accused Bodnar of being biased and favouring the opposition. According to the party, its reforms are necessary to stop corruption in the country and to eliminate remnants of communism from its judicial system.
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