REUTERS-Poland's opposition
Civic Platform proposed to delay parliament's return from its winter break on
Wednesday by a week to allow time for talks aimed at ending
a sit-in by
opposition lawmakers protesting a vote on the 2017 budget.
Senior parliament
officials convened an emergency meeting, but ruling party officials insisted
that the opposition parliamentarians leave the plenary hall where the sit-in
was taking place.
The crisis started
in mid-December when moves by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party to
curb the number of journalists in parliament and their right to record
proceedings prompted opposition lawmakers to start the sit-in.
That led the PiS to
move a 2017 budget vote to an auxiliary chamber of parliament in December,
prompting the opposition to accuse it of voting on it illegally.
Rejecting PiS
appeals, the Civic Platform said on Tuesday it would stick to its blockade if
the PiS tried to relaunch parliament on Wednesday.
PO leader Grzegorz Schetyna had said his
party would occupy "any room in which (the PiS) will try to organise
proceedings", after rejecting an offer from PiS counterpart Jaroslaw
Kaczynski to try to find a compromise.
On Wednesday,
Schetyna proposed delaying resumption of parliament's proceedings until Jan. 18
to allow time to resolve the standoff.
STEADFAST SUPPORT
Kaczynski's
eurosceptic party enjoys strong, steady support of around a third of Poles
despite critics’ accusation that PiS policies are undermining democratic checks
and balances and tilting the formerly communist state towards authoritarian
rule.
In December, the
European Commission have Poland two months to address what it called a "a
systemic threat to the rule of law" in Poland.
But critics say the
opposition risks weakening its position as it has failed to take a joint
approach to the crisis and lacks a coherent plan to defuse it.
Kaczynski has warned
that “decisions” might be taken if parliament could not reconvene. “We are
operating from the position that the session will take place,” he told
journalists on Tuesday. “And we will do everything to ensure that even if there
are problems.”
He would not
elaborate on what decisions the eurosceptic PiS, which holds a majority in
parliament, would take.
On Monday, the PiS
announced it would reinstate full media access to parliament to try to defuse
the standoff, but a wary Civic Platform (PO) said it was not yet ready to call
off its blockade.
On Tuesday,
Kaczynski said PiS MPs would consider some of the budget amendments proposed by
the opposition - but not conduct a rerun of the budget vote as demanded by the
PO.
The PO reiterated
its condition for lifting its blockade, saying the December vote was illegal
because the PiS lacked the required quorum of lawmakers.
REUTERS
0 Comments