This originally appeared on my political blog at https://politicalmusingsofkayleen.blogspot.com/2021/10/poland-eu-and-rule-of-law-independence.html.
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It is easy enough to see the current controversy over rule-of-law (meaning: independence of judiciary) in Poland as a "contest" between sovereignty and regional multilateralism / governance, and that is how the current Polish government is portraying it - one nation trying to retain/regain its sovereignty against "foreign" (meaning: European Union) influence.
Well, apart from the international political and trade benefits of a coordinated and collaborative bloc (including stronger resistance to foreign influence - such as Russian coercion), there are other issues.
Perhaps the most important of those is that of universal human rights.
Incidentally, anyone who thinks the universality of human rights is still up for debate is decades behind the times: that ship has long ago left the harbour, although there is still debate on which of the human rights to enforce and how - and thus the debate over a series of global Magnitsky Acts, and the ongoing concerns around the UN's Human Rights Council.
However, one of the fundamental rights is that of rule - of - law - something with a long history, and something Poland, with its history as part of the Soviet bloc (that it struggled to leave), should be well aware of the need for.
It doesn't matter what Poles think of the EU - even if there is some form of Polexit, there should still be the fundamentals of rule-of-law, and that includes an independent judiciary, and it is changes that threaten that independence that has the EU concerned.
Don't get sidetracked by the media focus on EU-Polish relations: it is the everyday Pole's right not to be abused by the powerful that is central to this.
PS - "EU fines Poland €1 million per day over judicial" changes.
