MINELRES: Regional parties discriminated in Polish accession referendum activities
MINELRES moderator
[email protected]
Thu May 15 16:45:02 2003
Original sender: Bartlomiej Swiderek <[email protected]>
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF THE PEOPLES OF EUROPE - EUROPEAN FREE ALLIANCE
(DPPE-EFA)
____________________________________________________________________________
Regional parties again discriminated in Polish politics
According to Polish law all political parties which polled at least 3%
of votes nationwide and all organizations active in Poland (its whole
territory) whose activities are linked with enlargement should be
allowed to take part in an official campaign before the accession
referendum.
On April 28th the State Electoral Commission (PKW) decided that the
activities of the Silesian Autonomy Movement (RAS) are not linked with
the subject of the referendum which will be held on 7 and 8th June, thus
excluding this party from active participation in the campaign.
On April 30th RAS appealed to the Polish Supreme Court explaining that
their activities are linked with the enlargement and citing parts of
their statutes where it reads that objectives of the Silesian Autonomy
Movement are:
- making people of Silesia active in all fields of their every-day life
and make them feel responsible for their nation
- taking part in the proccess of integration of all ethnic, religious
and social groups living in Silesia.
They also described their pro-European activities, including their EFA
involvements, saying that this proves they are very strongly linked with
the specific subject of the accession referendum. RAS also demanded that
the PKW decission should be annulled as it is incompatible with Polish
law.
Unfortunately the Supreme Court decided to uphold the decision of the
PKW.
The European Free Alliance (EFA) condemns this decision which we regard
as a violation of basic civil rights. The Silesian Autonomy Movement
(RAS), of which a member of the Executive is employed in the European
Parliament (Greens/EFA Group), has proved many times to be strongly
linked with European political and social life and their membership of
EFA emphasises their concern for the future of Europe. We must point out
that clear criteria set for any party or organization willing to take
part in an official enlargement campaign cannot be interpreted at will.
However, the recent decision of the Polish Supreme Court which excluded
RAS from the campaign cannot be regarded as anything other than unjust
and undemocratic.
Although we strongly support Polish accession to the EU, the Supreme
Court's decision proves that Poland will have to do a lot to improve its
democracy.
Nelly Maes
Member of the European Parliament
President of the European Free Alliance
Strasbourg, 12 May 2003
Wiertzstraat, LEO 2C33, B-1047 Brussel
Rue Wiertz, LEO 2C33, B-1047 Bruxelles
Tel.: 32-2-2843040 / Fax : 32-2-2841771
E:mail [email protected]
www.efa-dppe.org
--
Bartlomiej Swiderek
EFA in the European Parliament
PHS 2 C 25
Rue Wiertzstraat
B-1047 Bruxelles
tel: 0032 (02) 284 16 65
fax: 0032 (02) 284 17 71