Polish opposition ends parliament blockade over budget

Poland’s opposition parties ended their month-long blockade of the Sejm parliament on Thursday without resolving a stand-off over the budget, which was passed last month by the national conservative government in an irregular vote.

Opposition parties view the new budget as illegal because it was passed in a sitting from which they were excluded, and say the December 16th parliamentary session was never concluded. They want the vote to be rerun, but the national conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government – which enjoys an absolute majority in parliament – has stood firm in its refusal.

PiS-affiliated president Andrzej Duda is likely to sign the budget Bill into law after it passed the upper house, the senate, earlier this week.

Efforts to restart Sejm business failed this week, after a series of emergency meetings and protests outside parliament. Its reopening has now been postponed until January 25th.

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Speaker Marek Kuchcinski said the two-week delay was required for a “deeper analysis” of the situation and of parliamentary rules. Opposition figures are calling for Mr Kuchcinski’s resignation, accusing him of provoking last month’s crisis.

Limiting media

It began when opposition politicians protested against government plans to impose limits on media reporting from the Sejm, including the number of accreditations and freedom of movement inside the parliament complex.

When a Civic Platform (PO) politician criticised the media restrictions during the budget debate, the speaker expelled him from the session, causing uproar in the chamber. After the expelled politician’s PO colleagues occupied the speaker’s podium, the government shifted the budget vote to another parliamentary room and passed it with a show of hands, with no opposition or journalists present.

Opposition politicians conceded on Wednesday that ending their protest had handed the PiS government a short-term victory on the budget. But PO leader Grzegorz Schetyna insisted the protest had shown the strength of the opposition.

“We are ending our protest because we achieved one of our main goals,” said Mr Schetyna in a nod to a partial roll-back of Sejm media reporting restrictions.

The ongoing parliamentary stand-off is the latest episode in a year-long constitutional crisis that has hamstrung Poland’s highest court, effectively ending its judicial oversight of government legislation.

Former Polish prime minister Donald Tusk, now president of the European Council, has called for a “quick and positive solution” to the row between government and opposition.

“Everyone is observing what is happening in the Polish parliament with anxiety, and cannot understand this situation,” he said.

Illiberal democracy

The commission fears that under PiS, which now controls all institutions of state, Poland is on course to follow Hungary and become an illiberal democracy. But its demand that Warsaw reverse recent judicial reforms or face legal action from Brussels has been dismissed as an “absolute comedy” by PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

Mr Kaczynski said it was “good” the opposition had ended a blockade he called a violation of democratic norms.

Seen as Poland’s de facto leader, Mr Kaczynski vowed to bring in new parliamentary regulations to prevent such a stand-off in the future, without mentioning any details.