El Periódico de Catalunya - Spain | Friday, March 16, 2007
Should the EU treat Poland as it did Austria in 2000 ?
The daily considers that the lustration process launched in Poland on March 15th is a "witch hunt" with authorities asking hundreds of thousands of Poles if they collaborated with former Communist secret services. "This measure, the first of its kind, goes against European doctrine in matters of human rights and against the respect of individual freedom present in all democratic systems. This is the latest chapter of an anti-communist and nationalist crusade launched by the extreme right-wing party Law and Justice (PiS), serving the Kaczynski brothers, a hub of the worst xenophobic tradition in Eastern Europe. ... These absurdities are clearly embarrassing the EU. The time has perhaps come to give Poland the same treatment that Austria was given [in 2000] when it was being run by the Christian-Democrats and the extremist Jörg Haider, in order to cool down its fervour."
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