In a vote on Tuesday (July 11), the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing Poland's decision to launch a commission to investigate Russian influence, known as "Lex Tusk", and the country's amendment to the electoral code.
The European Parliament has called on Poland to rescind the law aimed to launch a commission that would investigate Russian influence in Poland's internal security between 2007 and 2022. The authors of the EU resolution argue the commission is meant to target Polish opposition, including the country's former prime minister Donald Tusk.
The MEPs called on the European Commission "to pursue the infringement procedure as soon as possible if the act remains in force, in particular by using an expedited infringement procedure and applying to the CJEU for interim measures".
The resolution also criticizes the recent amendment to Poland's electoral code, passed in March this year. According to some Euro-MPs, the introduced changes might discriminate against those voting abroad. Furthermore, the resolution authors added "that the Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs Chamber of the Polish Supreme Court, which has electoral disputes within its jurisdiction, cannot be considered an independent and impartial tribunal previously established by law within the meaning of the Charter and the European Convention on Human Rights".
The resolution also "urges the Polish authorities to bring their conduct of elections into line with the commitments undertaken by members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and other international obligations and standards for democratic elections".
The European Parliament also called for a full-scale election observation mission to watch this year's parliamentary election in Poland.
The vote
The resolution has been adopted with 472 votes in favour and 136 against, with 16 MEPs abstaining.
Polish MEPs who voted in favour of the resolution included members of Civic Platform, Poland 2050, and The New Left: Magdalena Adamowicz, Bartosz Arłukowicz, Marek Belka, Robert Biedroń, Jerzy Buzek, Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Jarosław Duda, Tomasz Frankowski, Andrzej Halicki, Danuta Hübner, Łukasz Kohut, Ewa Kopacz, Bogusław Liberadzki, Janina Ochojska, Jan Olbrycht, Radosław Sikorski, Róża Thun, and Sylwia Spurek.
Among those voting against the resolution were Law and Justice (PiS) MEPs.
MEPs from the Polish People's Party (PSL) did not take part in the vote.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP