Dialogue over the Constitutional Tribunal is ongoing, so there is still no reason for Poland to be penalised, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said on Monday.

Poland is in the crosshairs of the European Commission regarding an ongoing conflict over the Tribunal. Waszczykowski was asked by the TVN broadcaster to comment on reports that the European Commission on Wednesday might adopt an opinion on the rule of law in Poland.

The Polish Foreign Minister also referred to an earlier interview by Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, who told the Do Rzeczy weekly that if “push comes to shove” the Polish government could challenge the European Commission’s report on the rule of law in the country to the European Court of Justice.

Poles’ concern over political situation on the rise

Asked on Monday whether the EC was likely to pass such a report, the Minister said: „We hope that the Commission will take some time to reflect [upon its actions] and halt this procedure.” Reports over the weekend said that the decision to prepare a report on Poland,‭ ‬including on the ongoing crisis over its Constitutional Tribunal,‭ ‬was taken in a vote by representatives of‭ ‬46‭ ‬parliaments of Council of Europe member countries,‭ ‬meeting in the Estonian capital,‭ ‬Tallinn.

Poland braced for EU Commission opinion amid row

The report is to be drawn up by the monitoring committee of the‭ ‬Parliamentary‭ ‬Assembly.‭ ‬Two‭ ‬rapporteurs‭ ‬– from different‭ ‬political‭ ‬factions‭ ‬– are to be appointed in June. In January,‭ ‬the European Commission said it was starting a‭ „‬rule-of-law‭” ‬probe into whether controversial laws pushed through by‭ ‬the‭ ‬Law and Justice‭ ‬party‭ ‬violate EU standards.

Poland’s pharmaceutical industry has been seeing an extensive growth in exports in recent years, the Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily has reported. 

Experts from BZ WBK bank have listed the sector among the most promising branches in terms of foreign sales. Exports of Polish-produced medicine have grown by nearly 70 percent over the past five years, reaching EUR 2.8 bln.

Clinton ‘grossly misled’ on Polish issues: President Duda

“An extensive geographical dispersion of export destinations and dynamic growth are the industry’s biggest strengths,” says Feliks Bentkowski, an economist at BZ WBK. The sector saw a temporary setback last year due to dwindling sales to Russia, one of three top importers of Polish pharmaceuticals. Experts, however, say that export figures have since bounced back and are once again on a steady rise.

Fifty-four percent of Poles believe the country is heading „in the wrong direction,” the latest survey by pollster TNS Polska shows.

The figure marks a three-percentage-point increase since the research center’s February survey. One in three respondents, meanwhile, believe the political situation is improving. Seventeen percent of those questioned had no opinion on the matter.

Clinton ‘grossly misled’ on Polish issues: President Duda

Fifty-five percent of Poles are opposed to their country taking in any refugees, according to a new survey.

Pollster CBOS found that compared to a survey in April, opposition to Poland taking in refugees has fallen among left-leaning voters – down by 12 percentage points. Among those who said they could not define their political views in terms of left-centre-right, opposition to refugees has fallen 8 percentage points. However, 39 percent of respondents overall say Poland should take in refugees from war-torn countries at least on a temporary basis, CBOS found.

Poland braced for EU Commission opinion amid row

Jarosław Kaczyński, the head of Poland’s ruling, conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party said earlier this month that the country would not accept refugees because they posed a threat to security. Kaczyński also said that Poland would oppose any European Commission proposals that would see EU member states having to pay EUR 250,000 per refugee if they refuse to accept their share of asylum-seekers.

Three Poles with ‘anarchist affiliations’ have been arrested after trying to plant bombs under two police cars parked next to a Warsaw police station.

The three people are aged between 17-35, police said following the arrest. The would-be bombers were arrested red-handed by the police in the Włochy district in Warsaw after trying to plant explosives under the vehicles parked outside. At a press conference, police said the bombs were set to explode on the night between Sunday and Monday. The men were said to have affiliations with the anarchist movement.

The European Commission is on Monday expected to issue an opinion critical of the state of democracy and the rule of law in Poland under the country’s Law and Justice (PiS) government.

The commission, the executive body of the European Union, last week gave Poland until Monday to find a solution to an ongoing row and a deadlock over the country’s Constitutional Tribunal. But since then tensions have escalated, with the PiS-dominated parliament voting through a resolution on Friday calling on the government to „defy all actions infringing” Poland’s sovereignty and pointing a blaming finger at Brussels. A critical opinion by the European Commission would be a further step in a long process that could lead to the EU imposing penalties on Warsaw, theoretically including the suspension of its voting rights in the EU Council.

But Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said his country would veto any such move, which would have to be backed unanimously by EU member states. In January, the European Commission said it was starting a „rule-of-law” probe into whether controversial laws pushed through by Law and Justice violate EU standards Political deadlock Poland is locked in a political stalemate after the conservative Law and Justice party, which came to power in October, introduced sweeping reforms to the Constitutional Tribunal and other institutions. The moves have drawn criticism at home and abroad.

The tribunal has rejected PiS-backed changes to the way it functions. PiS, in turn, has refused to recognise that ruling by the tribunal, claiming it is invalid. Critics say the PiS-backed changes were designed to paralyse the tribunal, which decides whether laws passed by parliament are in keeping with the Polish constitution. PiS has argued it is unfair that a tribunal with a majority of judges appointed under the previous parliament should be able to scupper flagship policies for which Law and Justice secured a mandate in democratic elections.

President Andrzej Duda has said that recent comments by ex US-president Bill Clinton about “Putin-like dictatorship” in Poland, were because he was “grossly misled”.

Talking to reporters after the ceremony at Monte Cassino in Italy, President Duda was asked to comment on former US President Bill Clinton’s remarks in which be expressed the view that “Poland and Hungary – two countries that would not be free but for the United States and the long Cold War – have now decided this democracy is too much trouble”.

Clinton added: “They [Poland and Hungary] want Putin-like dictatorships”. President Duda said that as a former president, Bill Clinton should be well-versed in current developments, adding that “he has probably let himself be carried away by emotions surrounding his wife’s election campaign”.

“I would be happy to host Bill Clinton in Poland and explain to him certain things, as he has been grossly misled [on the situation in Poland],” the Polish President said. Prime Minister Beata Szydło has described Clinton’s remarks as unjustified and completely unfair.

French President Francois Hollande and his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy have led a war of words in the media, commenting on the current situation in Poland.

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy first gave an interview for the Le Monde daily, where he was asked to comment on the state of democracy in Central Europe. “I saw the Kaczyński brothers in office. They respected European principles and relinquished power after losing elections,” Sarkozy said, referring to fraternal twins Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński who cofounded the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, currently in government.

The centre-right leaning Sarkozy took office in May 2007, just a few months before PiS lost the October general elections in Poland. Speaking to Le Monde, Sarkozy added that “after 50 years of the communist yoke, Poland and Hungary are well-functioning democracies”. In reaction to the interview, France’s incumbent President Francois Hollande, a long-time associate of the Socialist party, expressed an opposite view when he told the Europe1 radio station that “the former President of the [French] Republic apparently thinks that what is happening in Hungary and Poland, is wonderful”.

Police arrest Pole suspected of people smuggling

“I do not want a society like this,” Hollande said. Both politicians are potential candidates of their parties in the next French presidential election, scheduled for April and May, 2017. Recently, Poland has been under international scrutiny for a conflict over its constitutional court.

Minister of Defence Antoni Macierewicz sought on Monday to deflect calls for his resignation, following an open letter by six of his predecessors.

Referring to the open letter, Macierewicz argued that the signatories are collectively responsible for what he described as “the drastically bad condition of the army” that he inherited after the Law and Justice party won the 25 October general election.

He claimed that the audit published last week concerning the previous government was correct in its assessment of the armed forces.

“The diagnosis that the Polish armed forces were not capable of defending the country… was very mildly worded,” he said.

He also accused the former ruling coalition of ordering the army’s counter-intelligence department to carry out surveillance on about 60 figures, including journalists, politicians and people associated with the Law and Justice party.

Police arrest Pole suspected of people smuggling

He likewise lashed out at former defence minister and foreign minister Radosław Sikorski, claiming that he is responsible for a US missile shield not being built in Poland.

A deal to build the shield was signed in 2008 in Warsaw, but incoming president Barack Obama then scrapped the plan. A scaled down version is now scheduled to be built.

A 46-year-old Pole, suspected of smuggling Syrians to Europe, has been detained in Warsaw.

Dariusz Z. (surname withheld under Polish privacy laws) was arrested in Warsaw’s Targówek district on a European Arrest Warrant by the Police Central Bureau of Investigation (CBŚP). The man was wanted by the Austrian police. The suspect “was taken to the prosecutor’s office and then to court. Now he will wait for the process of extradition to Austria,” said Agnieszka Hamelusz , the spokeswoman for CBŚP.

Poland’s PiS will back Tusk second term as European Council chief: MEP

Investigators have found that the smuggling of migrants from Syria took place through Russia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, among others. The ongoing civil war in Syria has led to an increasing numbers of refugees and immigrants turning to human smuggling operations as a way to seek sanctuary in Europe. In 2015 alone, over one million migrants reached the continent.