Democracy

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.

As a Bruxellois, confronted with the terrible events in Zaventem and the Maelbeek metro station, terrorism has reached my doorstep. More than ten years after September 11th, my reaction to these attacks is very different to the one I had back then.

In the aftermath of the Dutch EU-Ukraine Association Agreement referendum, doubts remain on why voters chose to vote as they did.What explains the result, what solutions are likely and what is the way ahead?

Before we can tell whether multiculturalism is strengthening or weakening solidarity between the people of a particular society, we need to acknowledge that there were deficits of trust and solidarity long before multicultural policies were adopted. Such policies are potential tools for overcoming the historic deficits in trust and solidarity.

The ability of EU governments to follow a coordinated and unified approach to tackle the multiple crises which are hitting Europe is at the lowest level in the last 20 years

No-one has the right to rule by force of arms, violence; and no one has the right to dominate others by force of numbers: majority voting. So how should the Greens in particular, and society in general, make democratic decisions?

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), a coalition of Left-wing, Kurdish and progressive parties, was founded in in 2012 in order to help smaller parties amplify their voices and gain access to the Turkish Parliament, where the electoral system stacks the odds strongly against them. In both the 2014 and subsequently recalled 2015 parliamentary elections, the party succeeded in winning over 10% of the vote, the necessary threshold for entering Parliament.

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.

We need to start thinking about the future and Poland after the end of the Law and Justice (PiS) rule – even though for many it may seem like a science fiction scenario right now.

TTIP has become notorious over recent years. From Brussels to Berlin, Warsaw to Barcelona, more people know what these four letters stand for today more than ever before.