Despite the victory of the Law and Justice party,the country still contains powerful forces in favour of liberal, constitutional, and European values“Putinism with a Polish face!”,“Cultural revolution à la Polonaise!”, “Orbanisation on the Vistula!” (Orbanisation refers of course to the model of intolerant democracy practised by the Hungarian prime minister, and Viktor Orbán.) I listen to my Polish friends’ Cassandra cries after voters handed victory to a conservative Eurosceptic party in Sunday’s general election,and I consider “Hang on a minute, old friends, and let’s see what comes,and what we can enact about it. Poland has been through worse than this, and there will be other elections.” Yet on one thing we must all agree: this matters. Poland is the biggest success record of post-communist Europe and the leading regional power between an overstretched Germany and a rampant Russia. As Spain and Italy struggle with the effects of the eurozone crisis, or Britain has marginalised itself until its referendum on EU membership,the rest of Europe needs Poland more than ever. Related: Poland lurches to just with election of Law and Justice party Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com