Constitution

Could reforms on the horizon in Greece mean the end of environmental protection?

The anti-government protests in Poland seem quite disconnected from the legacy of Solidarity, which seems to have been left behind, while it remains to be seen whether the emergence of new political actors signals a genuine shift in the political landscape. An interview with Sociologist Jan Sowa by Claudia Ciobanu.

After a surge of support in the Presidential and General Elections last year, the right-wing national conservative Law and Justice Party now dominates Polish politics.

The recent accession of the right-wing Law and Justice Party (PiS) to power has seen the judiciary and legal systems in Poland struck by swift and far-reaching reforms, and the trend shows no sign of slowing. With the phrase “constitutional crisis” being increasingly heard, it is time to examine what is happening to the legal system in Poland.

The events of the last couple of weeks in Poland are no peripheral abomination, and certainly no exception. They are a part of a global trend of liberal democratic models becoming weaker and weaker, a trend which can also be found in the heart of Europe.

In 2013, Rui Tavares, then Portuguese Member of the European Parliament among the Greens-EFA group, put forward a report that investigated the threats to fundamental rights that Orban’s government had given rise to in Hungary since 2010, and proposed mechanisms for a common European response to such actions, both in Hungary and potential future similar cases.

Civil society pressure, upcoming elections, and a lack of consensus within the Popular Party led to plans for the restriction of abortion to be abandoned – and caused the resignation of the Spanish Justice Minister last week.

One of the most interesting consequences of the Scottish independence referendum is likely to be revision of how the UK ensures the economic welfare of its most vulnerable citizens through its currently highly centralised social security system.

Scotland has voted No in the referendum on independence, but the outcome was close, relative to expectations at the start of the campaign. The closeness of the vote, as well as the reasons cited by so many in Scotland for voting ‘Yes’, show that the ‘United Kingdom compact’ is no longer fit for purpose.

Agora Voting is an innovative project using free software to establish social citizen networks for the development of a system for secure electronic voting. Spanish Green party Equo collaborated on this project to carry out Spain’s first real experiment with direct democracy.