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Support services in Poland and abroad say numbers increasing even before legislation is tightenedPolish women are increasingly being forced to travel abroad to seek abortions even though a court ruling to tighten the country’s already strict laws has not yet coming into force, activists have said. The constitutional court ruled in October that abortion was illegal even in cases where there were severe foetal...

Compromise on budget payments pushes back a clause that would make some EU funds conditional on rule-of-lawThe compromise between the EU and Hungary and Poland on establishing a link between budget payments and member states maintaining the rule of law – agreed on Thursday night – allows the bloc to move ahead with a new seven-year budget and coronavirus recovery fund, but is unlikely...

Democracy is seriously under threat in our countries. The EU must stand up to the bullying tactics of Orbán and MorawieckiAs European leaders gather in Brussels this week municipal buildings and monuments in Warsaw and Budapest have been lit up in blue. The illuminations, organised by campaign groups and the mayors of these cities, are meant as a powerful reminder of the dark path...

Mass demonstrations have exposed underlying anger at political and religious interference in people’s everyday livesFor 14 nights they have marched, enraged by a near-total ban on abortion that has stirred a generation to stage the largest mass demonstrations that Poland has seen since Solidarność toppled the communist regime in the 1980s.Until soaring coronavirus numbers and a looming national lockdown made it almost impossible, up...

Qualified majority vote by states will be sufficient for removal of voting rightsBrussels will be able to block budget payments to rogue EU governments that undermine the rule of law or the independence of judges, under a hard-fought agreement between the European parliament and member states.In what was described as the “end of a painful phase” for the EU, a provisional deal has been...

Anti-government rallies continue over court’s ruling to restrict access to terminationsPoland’s rightwing government has delayed implementation of a controversial court ruling that would outlaw almost all abortion after it prompted the largest protests since the fall of communism.“There is a discussion going on, and it would be good to take some time for dialogue and for finding a new position in this situation, which...

Women’s rights protesters incensed by the country’s strict new laws clash with rightwing gangs in the Polish capitalIt was a surreal sight – and a terrible sound. On Friday evening, as tens of thousands of pro-choice protesters gathered in Warsaw for a massive demonstration against a near-total ban on abortion, military police in red berets formed a protective cordon around the Church of the...

About 100,00o people take to the streets of Warsaw to oppose tightened abortion lawAbout one hundred thousand protesters took to the streets of the Polish capital, Warsaw, on Friday, in the largest demonstration of popular anger directed against Poland’s ruling rightwing Law and Justice party (PiS) since it assumed office in 2015.Protests have been held across the country since Poland’s constitutional tribunal declared earlier...

Countries seek to hit back as EU debates harsher penalties for breaking bloc’s standardsHungary and Poland plan to set up their own “rule of law institute”, to hit back against criticism of declining democratic norms in the two countries, as well as point out flaws in the systems of their critics.It comes at a time when many in the EU would like harsher penalties...

Thousands march in opposition to ruling that could lead to near total ban on abortionsThousands of protesters turned out in towns and cities across Poland on Monday as a political crisis sparked by an impending near total ban on abortion showed no sign of abating.Drivers created a series of blockades in city centres and thousands of people marched to express their anger at a...

Police in Warsaw clashed with protesters during demonstrations against a constitutional tribunal ruling that imposes a near-total ban on abortion. Tens of thousands of people rallied across Poland on Friday, defying the country's tight coronavirus restrictionsPro-choice protesters march in Polish cities amid abortion ban anger Continue reading...

After a court ruling in Poland imposed a near-total ban on abortions, police used pepper spray against those protesting against the changes.Polish photojournalist Kasia Strek, based between Paris and Warsaw, has covered the past few years of debate, protest and activism over Poland’s restrictive abortion laws as part of a wider project on abortion around the worldPoland, where the Catholic church remains hugely powerful,...

Rafał Gaweł’s prison sentence for fraud was retaliation by rightwing regime, Norway saysNorway has granted asylum to a Polish man who was facing prison for fraud and forging of documents, saying the sentence was a form of political persecution under Poland’s rightwing government.Observers say that Rafał Gaweł’s case is the first time political asylum has been granted to a Pole in more than 30...

Polish divers locate Karlsruhe, which they hope holds treasure Nazis looted from RussiaPolish divers say they have found the wreck of a German second world war ship that may help solve a decades-old mystery about the whereabouts of the Amber Room, an ornate chamber that the Nazis looted from a tsarist palace in Russia.Decorated with amber and gold, the room was part of the...

In her first ‘state of union’ speech, European commission president delivers criticism of Polish ruling partyThe head of the European commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has said Poland’s “LGBT free zones” are “humanity-free zones” that have no place in the European Union in her strongest criticism yet of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party.In a wide-ranging 77-minute speech spanning from coronavirus to the climate...

Three African elephants to get liquid doses of the cannabinoid CBD through their trunks. Early trials suggest they like itThe Warsaw zoo has said it will start giving its elephants medical marijuana as part of a ground-breaking pilot project to test how it reduces their stress levels.Medical cannabis has been used worldwide to treat dogs and horses but “this is probably the first initiative...

Justice minister says Istanbul convention is ‘ideological’ and enforces the teaching of genderPoland will take steps next week to withdraw from a European treaty on violence against women, which the rightwing cabinet has said violates parents’ rights by requiring schools to teach children about gender.The justice minister, Zbigniew Ziobro, told a news conference on Saturday his ministry would submit a request to the labour...

Duda expected to further erode judicial independence and democratic norms during second presidential termAndrzej Duda’s second five-year term as president looks certain to intensify Poland’s standoff with Brussels, as the conservative’s allies in the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party pursue changes to the judiciary, media and other areas that the European commission says subvert democratic norms.Duda squeezed past his Europhile rival, the liberal...