01/09/2023 Monitoring
The PACE co-rapporteurs for the monitoring of Poland’s membership obligations to the Council of Europe, Azadeh Rojhan (Sweden, SOC) and Pieter Omtzigt (Netherlands, EPP/CD), have deeply regretted the decision by the Polish Sejm to appoint the members of the controversial State Commission to Investigate Russian Influence on the Internal Security of the Republic of Poland in the period 2007-2022.
“This decision to appoint the members of this commission completely ignores the recommendations of the international community and the opinion of the Venice Commission, which concluded that the law to establish this commission is fundamentally flawed and can lead to serious violations of human rights and rule of law standards and norms. In addition, according to the Venice Commission, this law lacks guarantees against political abuse and instrumentalisation of the commission to eliminate political opponents,” they said.
“These concerns are now compounded by the fact that the members on this commission are unilaterally appointed by the ruling majority, without the participation of the opposition. It can therefore neither be considered independent nor impartial or unbiased and is an affront to rule of law and democratic principles. We urge the authorities to immediately abandon the establishment of this commission,” they concluded.