The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk told the media on Friday in Brussels, after the EU summit, that it's good to see the Polish ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) to "have come to their senses" regarding the bill on the Institute on National Remembrance. He added that damages done by PiS "will have tarnished Polish reputation for long time".
Mr Tusk also said that earlier on he couldn't resist to comment on this issue because "it has an international character". "When this unfortunate bill was passed, I was at one of the summits. Wherever I went in the world, this was the main issue people spoke about, and always mentioned Poland in a bad light. We will need quite some time to recover from damages done to our reputation," he said.
Poland's ruling conservatives on Wednesday watered down Holocaust legislation that had angered the United States and Israel, removing the threat of jail terms for people who suggest the nation was complicit in Nazi crimes against the Jews.
U-turn
In an unexpected U-turn, parliament voted on an amendment in an emergency session shortly after Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki asked it to change the four-month-old law. President Andrzej Duda signed it into law hours later.
The law as it went into effect in March imposed jail sentences of up to three years for anyone who used the phrase "Polish death camps" or suggested "publicly and against the facts" that the Polish nation or state was complicit in Nazi Germany's crimes.
The PiS government said in March that the law was needed to protect Poland's reputation, but Israel and its ally the United States said it amounted to a historical whitewash.
Poland's ruling conservatives on Wednesday watered down Holocaust legislation that had angered the United States and Israel, removing the threat of jail terms for people who suggest the nation was complicit in Nazi crimes against the Jews. In an unexpected u-turn, parliament voted on an amendment in an emergency session shortly after Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki asked it to change the four-month-old law. President Andrzej Duda signed it into law hours later. Poland changes controversial Holocaust bill. Israeli media reaction "Poland... czytaj dalej » The move came as the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) seeks to bolster security ties with Washington and is facing heightened scrutiny from the European Union. The law as it went into effect in March imposed jail sentences of up to three years for anyone who used the phrase "Polish death camps" or suggested "publicly and against the facts" that the Polish nation or state was complicit in Nazi Germany's crimes. About 3 million Jews who lived in pre-war Poland were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for about half of all Jews killed in the Holocaust. The PiS government said in March that the law was needed to protect Poland's reputation, but Israel and its ally the United States said it amounted to a historical whitewash. (http://www.tvn24.pl)
Poland's ruling conservatives on Wednesday watered down Holocaust legislation that had angered the United States and Israel, removing the threat of jail terms for people who suggest the nation was complicit in Nazi crimes against the Jews. In an unexpected u-turn, parliament voted on an amendment in an emergency session shortly after Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki asked it to change the four-month-old law. President Andrzej Duda signed it into law hours later. Poland changes controversial Holocaust bill. Israeli media reaction "Poland... czytaj dalej » The move came as the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) seeks to bolster security ties with Washington and is facing heightened scrutiny from the European Union. The law as it went into effect in March imposed jail sentences of up to three years for anyone who used the phrase "Polish death camps" or suggested "publicly and against the facts" that the Polish nation or state was complicit in Nazi Germany's crimes. About 3 million Jews who lived in pre-war Poland were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for about half of all Jews killed in the Holocaust. The PiS government said in March that the law was needed to protect Poland's reputation, but Israel and its ally the United States said it amounted to a historical whitewash. (http://www.tvn24.pl)Poland's ruling conservatives on Wednesday watered down Holocaust legislation that had angered the United States and Israel, removing the threat of jail terms for people who suggest the nation was complicit in Nazi crimes against the Jews. In an unexpected u-turn, parliament voted on an amendment in an emergency session shortly after Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki asked it to change the four-month-old law. President Andrzej Duda signed it into law hours later. Poland changes controversial Holocaust bill. Israeli media reaction "Poland... czytaj dalej » The move came as the nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) seeks to bolster security ties with Washington and is facing heightened scrutiny from the European Union. The law as it went into effect in March imposed jail sentences of up to three years for anyone who used the phrase "Polish death camps" or suggested "publicly and against the facts" that the Polish nation or state was complicit in Nazi Germany's crimes. About 3 million Jews who lived in pre-war Poland were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for about half of all Jews killed in the Holocaust. The PiS government said in March that the law was needed to protect Poland's reputation, but Israel and its ally the United States said it amounted to a historical whitewash.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24, PAP, European Union
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: European Union