The new 'Lustration Law' in Poland

In future many more people in Poland will have to prove that they did not collaborate with the secret services under communist rule. The Polish parliament has passed a new law, the so-called Lustration Law, which extends obligatory scrutiny of a person's past by the Polish Institute of National Memory (IPN) to diplomats, school directors, journalists, notaries, academics and directors of state-owned firms. In future, having worked as an agent or informant will constitute sufficient grounds for dismissal. Ewa Siedlecka criticises the new law. "In elections, ... when it comes to filling posts in the public sector and leading positions in the different government departments and agencies – and we're talking about between 100,000 and 150,000 important posts here – those who are under 35 will be at an advantage. They're the ones who won't need a certificate from the IPN. They're morally untarnished by birth, as it were. The PiS is pinning its hopes on the country's young generations."

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