euro|topics - Ewa Siedlecka

07/08/2008

English
Deutsch
Français

Siedlecka, Ewa

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

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | 02/06/2008

The ban on corporal punishment meets with criticism

The Polish government wants to ban parents from beating their children. Ewa Siedlecka regrets that this announcement by right-wing liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk is meeting with opposition. "Defenders of spanking are already ridiculing Tusk ... because he did not speak of punishment, but of a ban without sanctions to back it up (the law on domestic violence is said to forbid the corporal punishment of children by their parents). They complain that Tusk is interfering with the divine right of parents. We live in a country in which vegetarians' right to raise their children without meat is limited. Children are taken away from parents of poor families. The defenders of spanking have no problem with all that. ... Tusk deserves particular respect because he admits to having [spanked] his son, an act he is now ashamed of."

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | 09/05/2008

The triumph of the Chinese over the West

Chinese torch-carriers carried the Olympic torch to the top of Mount Everest yesterday. Ewa Siedlecka criticises this initiative: "The torch was carried to the top of Chomolungma - the holy mountain of the Tibetans - not as a symbol of the Olympic spirit but as a symbol of the triumph of the Chinese government. China's government has proved its power to a world that grumbles endlessly about human rights abuses. ... The only type of pressure that could have been applied effectively - political and economic pressure - was never used. China's powerful elite has succeeded in making the global economy dependent on it and now wields an instrument of extortion with which it has defeated both the US and the European Union. ... China has beaten the West with its own weapons, which just a few years ago were used to force democracy onto Eastern Europe. This is not just a paradox. It is symbolic."

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | 19/02/2008

Kaczynski blocks Polish justice reform

Poland is the only EU country in which the minister of justice is also the attorney general. Now, the Polish government wants to create an independent prosecutor. President Lech Kaczynski intends to veto this attempt at reform. Ewa Siedlecka comments: "Lech Kaczynski has come back to big politics as a bold sheriff - the attorney general who personifies law and justice. Before [in 2000/1, when Kaczynski was both minister of justice and attorney general] the political party with this name was born. ... So it is no surprise that the president now announces his plan to veto this planned separation between the two positions. … Luckily, it will only be a symbolic gesture, with no political import. Because in a normal country, the law – and not government policy – should decide who is to be prosecuted for which crime."

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | 10/12/2007

Poland's wavering course on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights shoud be signed on December 12th. Poland and Great Britain have opted for exemption clauses. Ewa Siedlecka criticises the new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's right-wing liberal Civic Plaform (PO) party for giving up the charter without a fight and even refusing to recognise the values it enshrines, all for the sake of maintaining a fragile peace with the conservative Polish President Lech Kaczynski and the main opposition party, the PiS. "The PO has manoeuvred itself into an awkward position regarding the charter. It is trying to achieve the impossible: on the one hand maintain its image as a defender of civic rights, and on the other not provoke the PiS. ... The PO is caught up in the intricate dance over the charter. That's what happens when you let yourself be blackmailed instead of sticking to your principles."

Gazeta Wyborcza - Poland | 24/07/2006

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."

» Index of Authors

Bookmark this page at