Watchdog to probe Poland again as police powers under scrutiny

The news comes hot on the heels of a report by Venice Commission last week which criticised Poland and warned that the rule of law, democracy and human rights were in danger as long as the country was embroiled in a constitutional crisis.

The Venice Commission, an advisory group to rights body the Council of Europe, will carry out a new fact-finding trip to Poland. Then the country’s new police law will be debated at a meeting of the international commission scheduled for 10 and 11 June.

Council of Europe spokesman Panos Kakaviatos told PAP that the date of the commission trip to Poland was not yet known.

The Venice Commission has already visited Warsaw once - to probe whether democratic standards are being upheld in Poland and examine changes to the country’s Constitutional Tribunal - following an invitation by Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski.

This time, on the issue of the new police law, it is the Council of Europe that has asked the Venice Commission to produce a report on Poland, according to the PAP news agency.

A new law on the police, introduced by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, came into force last month.

PiS MPs have said that it will provide clearer rules on police access to the phone and internet traffic of criminal suspects. But opponents say it encroaches on Poles’ privacy.

Maciej Wąsik, a senior official in the Prime Minister’s Office, said the new Polish law contained “no non-standard solutions that are different from solutions in force in the European Union, in countries with a developed democratic system." (pk)

Source: PAP