euro|topics - Piotr Pacewicz

Pacewicz, Piotr

4 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | 17/07/2007

A new electoral alliance in Poland

Poland's populist Samoobrona Farmers Party and the ultra-conservative League of Polish Families (LPR) have joined forces. They plan to run under the joint list name LiS (Polish for fox) in the next parliamentary elections, in the hope that this will boost their position within the governing coalition with the PiS. Piotr Pacewicz comments: "This alliance between the cheap populism of Samoobrona and the nationalist provincial agenda of the LPR, which has sprung from fear of the PiS, is good news. It is bound to accelerate the gradual demise we have been witnessing over the past few months of two embarrassing formations... Each of the two parties has a large, negatively oriented body of voters which partially intersect. The battle for power within the alliance will increase the number of Samoobrona and LPR opponents. In this way the little fox alliance will end up being rejected instead of rewarded by voters."

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | 13/11/2006

The opposition's success in Poland's local elections

The final results of the local elections in Poland have not yet been announced but in the cities of Warsaw, Cracow, Posen, Breslau and Gdansk it looks like the main opposition party, the centre-right liberal Civic Platform (PO), has won a clear victory. Piotr Pacewicz praises the relatively high voter turnout of 45 percent. "That's not bad for Polish standards. The sharp political and cultural debate that currently divides Poland is obviously encouraging people to take an active stance.... It's still too soon to congratulate the Civic Platform, but if its success in the cities extends to rural areas, we can only hope this expression of voter support will encourage it to be more forceful in stating its position in future; that it will stress those features that distinguish it from the PiS and commit clearly to an open attitude towards Europe and modern patriotism and that it will make it clear that it wants tolerance and opposes the current climate of suspicion and the exaggerated preoccupation with settling accounts with the past."

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | 16/06/2006

Education minister wants to split history teaching

New Polish Education Minister Roman Giertych, a member of the right-wing LPR, wants to divide the subject of history into two: world history and Polish history, with the latter to include nationalist education. Piotr Pacewicz strongly opposes the idea: "Giertych is sending a message that encourages national spirit rather than civic society. He opposes combining a form of patriotism open to other nations with Poland's European aspirations... All over Europe, people are looking for ways to fuse local, national and global history. But there are two countries in Europe that teach their own history separately – two shining examples for Giertych: Belarus and Russia."

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | 22/12/2005

New Media Law in Poland

Lawmakers have spent years revising Polish media laws. Now the new Government, with the support of the populist parties, has managed to pass a controversial resolution in an express procedure. Piotr Pacewicz explains the rush. "The administrative bodies of state TV and radio stations are due to be re-elected in January and the governing party "PiS" wants to position its people on the controlling committee, the "State Radio and Television Council", in a move to strengthen its influence on TV and radio broadcasting. A paragraph that gives the broadcasting committee powers to determine issues pertaining to journalistic ethics has also provoked heavy criticism. "During the socialist era, the censor was responsible for such matters. Now, five politicians on the new controlling committee will be entrusted with this task – three of whom belong to Kaczynski's party, while the other two were selected by the populists who backed the new law and played a role in designing it."

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