BubsyFanboy

joined 2 years ago
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8
Polish opposition proposes entry ban for migrants from Middle East and Africa (notesfrompoland.com)
 

Poland’s main opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), has proposed an entry ban for people from certain countries in the Middle East and Africa. It says this would help stop Germany’s practice of sending migrants who have illegally crossed the border back to Poland.

The proposal comes amid renewed debate over how to tackle migration, with the Polish government on Tuesday announcing the reintroduction of controls on Poland’s borders with Germany and Lithuania in an effort to prevent the “uncontrolled flow of migrants”.

After Prime Minister Donald Tusk had announced the border controls, the head of PiS’s parliamentary caucus, Mariusz Błaszczak, said that the government’s actions were “too little, too late”.

“This crisis has been going on for months,” he continued. “This issue requires far-reaching action.”

Błaszczak said that PiS would submit a bill to parliament introducing a temporary ban on entry to Poland for third-country nationals from “specific countries outside Europe…whose citizens illegally cross borders”.

Previously, on Monday, PiS party leader Jarosław Kaczyński had called for an “immediate ban on entry to the territory of Poland for people from the Middle East and North Africa”.

PiS has not yet specified which Middle Eastern and African countries would be included in its proposed ban. It says they would be selected based on analysis of data showing which nationalities most often cross borders illegally or are transferred to Poland from Germany.

A government information campaign discouraging people from trying to illegally enter Poland was recently launched in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan and Egypt, countries from which Poland has identified the largest numbers of people crossing the border from Belarus.

Since 2021, tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers – mainly from Asia and Africa – have tried to enter Poland from Belarus, with the encouragement and assistance of the Belarusian authorities.

In response, Poland has heavily fortified its eastern border with physical barriers and electronic monitoring. The government also recently banned asylum claims by people crossing from Belarus. Those measures have led to a dramatic decline in the numbers entering via that route.

In his remarks on Tuesday, Błaszczak made clear, however, that PiS’s proposed entry ban was designed to address the issue that has recently caused most controversy, which is Germany’s policy of sending back to Poland thousands of migrants who crossed the Polish-German border illegally.

Many of those sent back are Ukrainians. Others are non-Europeans, often from Asia and Africa, who have either claimed asylum in Poland – and therefore must remain there while their applications are processed – or have simply passed through it after entering the EU irregularly.

“After the introduction of this [proposed] law, Polish border guards will be able to prevent citizens of these countries from entering our territory,” said Błaszczak. “So those who are today being transferred from Germany by the German authorities, or who are trying to cross from Germany to the Polish side, will not be able to do so.”

The migrant returns carried out by Germany take place under a combination of EU regulations, bilateral agreements with Poland, and the border controls that Berlin reintroduced in 2023. Earlier this year, Tusk declared that Poland may stop adhering to such agreements.

However, some Poles have sought to take matters into their own hands, organising self-declared “citizen patrols” – some of them hundreds strong – at the German border to monitor and prevent migrant returns.

Błaszczak said that PiS politicians will be visiting the German border to make clear that “we support the border defence movement”, which he described as “Polish patriots who took matters into their own hands when Donald Tusk’s state abdicated [its responsibilities]”.

He also pledged that the party “will provide support to those who are persecuted by the current authorities of our country” for undertaking such actions, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Earlier this week, Tusk and interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak criticised the actions of the citizen patrols, saying that they are disrupting the work of border officers and spreading false claims about the number and types of migrants being transferred by Germany.

12
Polish opposition proposes entry ban for migrants from Middle East and Africa (notesfrompoland.com)
 

Poland’s main opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), has proposed an entry ban for people from certain countries in the Middle East and Africa. It says this would help stop Germany’s practice of sending migrants who have illegally crossed the border back to Poland.

The proposal comes amid renewed debate over how to tackle migration, with the Polish government on Tuesday announcing the reintroduction of controls on Poland’s borders with Germany and Lithuania in an effort to prevent the “uncontrolled flow of migrants”.

After Prime Minister Donald Tusk had announced the border controls, the head of PiS’s parliamentary caucus, Mariusz Błaszczak, said that the government’s actions were “too little, too late”.

“This crisis has been going on for months,” he continued. “This issue requires far-reaching action.”

Błaszczak said that PiS would submit a bill to parliament introducing a temporary ban on entry to Poland for third-country nationals from “specific countries outside Europe…whose citizens illegally cross borders”.

Previously, on Monday, PiS party leader Jarosław Kaczyński had called for an “immediate ban on entry to the territory of Poland for people from the Middle East and North Africa”.

PiS has not yet specified which Middle Eastern and African countries would be included in its proposed ban. It says they would be selected based on analysis of data showing which nationalities most often cross borders illegally or are transferred to Poland from Germany.

A government information campaign discouraging people from trying to illegally enter Poland was recently launched in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan and Egypt, countries from which Poland has identified the largest numbers of people crossing the border from Belarus.

Since 2021, tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers – mainly from Asia and Africa – have tried to enter Poland from Belarus, with the encouragement and assistance of the Belarusian authorities.

In response, Poland has heavily fortified its eastern border with physical barriers and electronic monitoring. The government also recently banned asylum claims by people crossing from Belarus. Those measures have led to a dramatic decline in the numbers entering via that route.

In his remarks on Tuesday, Błaszczak made clear, however, that PiS’s proposed entry ban was designed to address the issue that has recently caused most controversy, which is Germany’s policy of sending back to Poland thousands of migrants who crossed the Polish-German border illegally.

Many of those sent back are Ukrainians. Others are non-Europeans, often from Asia and Africa, who have either claimed asylum in Poland – and therefore must remain there while their applications are processed – or have simply passed through it after entering the EU irregularly.

“After the introduction of this [proposed] law, Polish border guards will be able to prevent citizens of these countries from entering our territory,” said Błaszczak. “So those who are today being transferred from Germany by the German authorities, or who are trying to cross from Germany to the Polish side, will not be able to do so.”

The migrant returns carried out by Germany take place under a combination of EU regulations, bilateral agreements with Poland, and the border controls that Berlin reintroduced in 2023. Earlier this year, Tusk declared that Poland may stop adhering to such agreements.

However, some Poles have sought to take matters into their own hands, organising self-declared “citizen patrols” – some of them hundreds strong – at the German border to monitor and prevent migrant returns.

Błaszczak said that PiS politicians will be visiting the German border to make clear that “we support the border defence movement”, which he described as “Polish patriots who took matters into their own hands when Donald Tusk’s state abdicated [its responsibilities]”.

He also pledged that the party “will provide support to those who are persecuted by the current authorities of our country” for undertaking such actions, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Earlier this week, Tusk and interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak criticised the actions of the citizen patrols, saying that they are disrupting the work of border officers and spreading false claims about the number and types of migrants being transferred by Germany.

20
Polish opposition proposes entry ban for migrants from Middle East and Africa (notesfrompoland.com)
 

Poland’s main opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), has proposed an entry ban for people from certain countries in the Middle East and Africa. It says this would help stop Germany’s practice of sending migrants who have illegally crossed the border back to Poland.

The proposal comes amid renewed debate over how to tackle migration, with the Polish government on Tuesday announcing the reintroduction of controls on Poland’s borders with Germany and Lithuania in an effort to prevent the “uncontrolled flow of migrants”.

After Prime Minister Donald Tusk had announced the border controls, the head of PiS’s parliamentary caucus, Mariusz Błaszczak, said that the government’s actions were “too little, too late”.

“This crisis has been going on for months,” he continued. “This issue requires far-reaching action.”

Błaszczak said that PiS would submit a bill to parliament introducing a temporary ban on entry to Poland for third-country nationals from “specific countries outside Europe…whose citizens illegally cross borders”.

Previously, on Monday, PiS party leader Jarosław Kaczyński had called for an “immediate ban on entry to the territory of Poland for people from the Middle East and North Africa”.

PiS has not yet specified which Middle Eastern and African countries would be included in its proposed ban. It says they would be selected based on analysis of data showing which nationalities most often cross borders illegally or are transferred to Poland from Germany.

A government information campaign discouraging people from trying to illegally enter Poland was recently launched in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Iraq, Pakistan and Egypt, countries from which Poland has identified the largest numbers of people crossing the border from Belarus.

Since 2021, tens of thousands of migrants and asylum seekers – mainly from Asia and Africa – have tried to enter Poland from Belarus, with the encouragement and assistance of the Belarusian authorities.

In response, Poland has heavily fortified its eastern border with physical barriers and electronic monitoring. The government also recently banned asylum claims by people crossing from Belarus. Those measures have led to a dramatic decline in the numbers entering via that route.

In his remarks on Tuesday, Błaszczak made clear, however, that PiS’s proposed entry ban was designed to address the issue that has recently caused most controversy, which is Germany’s policy of sending back to Poland thousands of migrants who crossed the Polish-German border illegally.

Many of those sent back are Ukrainians. Others are non-Europeans, often from Asia and Africa, who have either claimed asylum in Poland – and therefore must remain there while their applications are processed – or have simply passed through it after entering the EU irregularly.

“After the introduction of this [proposed] law, Polish border guards will be able to prevent citizens of these countries from entering our territory,” said Błaszczak. “So those who are today being transferred from Germany by the German authorities, or who are trying to cross from Germany to the Polish side, will not be able to do so.”

The migrant returns carried out by Germany take place under a combination of EU regulations, bilateral agreements with Poland, and the border controls that Berlin reintroduced in 2023. Earlier this year, Tusk declared that Poland may stop adhering to such agreements.

However, some Poles have sought to take matters into their own hands, organising self-declared “citizen patrols” – some of them hundreds strong – at the German border to monitor and prevent migrant returns.

Błaszczak said that PiS politicians will be visiting the German border to make clear that “we support the border defence movement”, which he described as “Polish patriots who took matters into their own hands when Donald Tusk’s state abdicated [its responsibilities]”.

He also pledged that the party “will provide support to those who are persecuted by the current authorities of our country” for undertaking such actions, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

Earlier this week, Tusk and interior minister Tomasz Siemoniak criticised the actions of the citizen patrols, saying that they are disrupting the work of border officers and spreading false claims about the number and types of migrants being transferred by Germany.

29
Disputed Supreme Court chamber confirms Polish presidential election result (notesfrompoland.com)
 

The chamber of Poland’s Supreme Court tasked with overseeing elections – but whose legitimacy is rejected by the Polish government and European courts – has passed a resolution validating the result of last month’s presidential vote in Poland, which was won by conservative opposition candidate Karol Nawrocki.

The decision was widely expected but has been mired in controversy over allegations of the miscounting of votes as well as questions over the status of the chamber itself, which was created by the former ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party that supported Nawrocki’s presidential candidacy.

In its decision, the chamber of extraordinary oversight and public affairs noted that, while it had confirmed 21 cases of irregularities during the election, “the identified violations did not affect the result”, in the words of judge Maria Szczepaniec.

The Supreme Court’s decision now paves the way for Nawrocki to be sworn into office in August, when he will replace outgoing President Andrzej Duda, whose second and final term is ending.

Poland’s presidential election run-off took place on 1 June. Nawrocki, the candidate supported by the national-conservative PiS, won 50.9% of the vote, defeating Rafał Trzaskowski – deputy leader of the centrist Civic Platform (PO), Poland’s main ruling party – who received 49.1%.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court had 30 days to consider complaints filed regarding the election (of which there were over 53,000 in total) and to confirm the validity of the result. As it met today to discuss the issue, supporters and opponents of Nawrocki gathered outside the court.

Some figures associated with the ruling coalition have suggested that, regardless of what happened today, next month’s swearing-in ceremony should not go forward due to question marks over vote-counting and the legality of the oversight chamber.

However, last week, the speaker of parliament, Szymon Hołownia, whose role it is to call the assembly at which the new president will be sworn in, said that, despite doubts over the chamber’s legality, he would accept its decision and swear in Nawrocki if the election was declared valid.

The oversight chamber was established under the former government that was led by PiS, which is now Poland’s main opposition party.

The chamber has been deemed illegitimate by both Polish and European courts due to being staffed entirely by judges nominated by the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) after it was also overhauled by PiS in a manner that rendered it no longer independent of political influence.

The current government – a broad coalition ranging from left to centre-right that replaced PiS in office in December 2023 – also regards the chamber as unlawful and has tried to remove its power to validate the presidential election result. That effort was vetoed by PiS-aligned President Duda.

Last week, a group of 28 Supreme Court judges from other chambers jointly signed a letter declaring that the oversight chamber is illegitimate and therefore cannot issue a valid ruling. Even two judges from the chamber itself have questioned its legitimacy (and they today issued opinions dissenting from the main resolution).

On Monday, Adam Bodnar, the justice minister and prosecutor general, made a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court to transfer the decision on the validity of the election to another, legal, chamber. However, that request was denied.

Today, when Bodnar appeared before the oversight chamber, Szczepaniec pointed out that, after the 2023 parliamentary elections at which the current government came to power – and when Bodnar was himself elected to the Senate – he had not protested against the same chamber validating those results.

PiS has argued that the ruling coalition is only now disputing the legitimacy of the chamber because its candidate lost the presidential election. When Tusk’s coalition won the 2023 elections – as well as local and European elections in 2024 – it did not mount such protests, they note.

Speaking before the chamber today, Bodnar also accused it of dismissing almost 50,000 complaints about the presidential election without properly considering them.

As a result, “we still do not know what the election result is”, said Bodnar’s deputy, Jacek Bilewicz.

He emphasised that they were not “trying to reverse the election result, but we are of the opinion that the Supreme Court did not take all actions [necessary] to bring us close to [knowing] the actual result”.

In response, Szczepaniec noted that the complaints to which Bodnar was referring – which were based on templates shared by members of the ruling coalition, who had encouraged Poles to file protests – were “identical in content and do not concern the protesting party’s own specific and real interest”.

“The Supreme Court, after reviewing each protest, observes that the number of protests filed does not increase the weight of the single allegations included in them,” said Szczepaniec. “In such a case, the effect of scale is irrelevant.”

The oversight chamber’s decision to confirm the validity of the election was supported by the head of the National Electoral Commission (PKW), Sylwester Marciniak, who was appointed when PiS was in power.

Speaking before the chamber, Marciniak noted the PKW “did not find any violations of electoral law that could have influenced the voting results and the election outcome”, reports news website Wirtualna Polska.

17
Disputed Supreme Court chamber confirms Polish presidential election result (notesfrompoland.com)
 

The chamber of Poland’s Supreme Court tasked with overseeing elections – but whose legitimacy is rejected by the Polish government and European courts – has passed a resolution validating the result of last month’s presidential vote in Poland, which was won by conservative opposition candidate Karol Nawrocki.

The decision was widely expected but has been mired in controversy over allegations of the miscounting of votes as well as questions over the status of the chamber itself, which was created by the former ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party that supported Nawrocki’s presidential candidacy.

In its decision, the chamber of extraordinary oversight and public affairs noted that, while it had confirmed 21 cases of irregularities during the election, “the identified violations did not affect the result”, in the words of judge Maria Szczepaniec.

The Supreme Court’s decision now paves the way for Nawrocki to be sworn into office in August, when he will replace outgoing President Andrzej Duda, whose second and final term is ending.

Poland’s presidential election run-off took place on 1 June. Nawrocki, the candidate supported by the national-conservative PiS, won 50.9% of the vote, defeating Rafał Trzaskowski – deputy leader of the centrist Civic Platform (PO), Poland’s main ruling party – who received 49.1%.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court had 30 days to consider complaints filed regarding the election (of which there were over 53,000 in total) and to confirm the validity of the result. As it met today to discuss the issue, supporters and opponents of Nawrocki gathered outside the court.

Some figures associated with the ruling coalition have suggested that, regardless of what happened today, next month’s swearing-in ceremony should not go forward due to question marks over vote-counting and the legality of the oversight chamber.

However, last week, the speaker of parliament, Szymon Hołownia, whose role it is to call the assembly at which the new president will be sworn in, said that, despite doubts over the chamber’s legality, he would accept its decision and swear in Nawrocki if the election was declared valid.

The oversight chamber was established under the former government that was led by PiS, which is now Poland’s main opposition party.

The chamber has been deemed illegitimate by both Polish and European courts due to being staffed entirely by judges nominated by the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) after it was also overhauled by PiS in a manner that rendered it no longer independent of political influence.

The current government – a broad coalition ranging from left to centre-right that replaced PiS in office in December 2023 – also regards the chamber as unlawful and has tried to remove its power to validate the presidential election result. That effort was vetoed by PiS-aligned President Duda.

Last week, a group of 28 Supreme Court judges from other chambers jointly signed a letter declaring that the oversight chamber is illegitimate and therefore cannot issue a valid ruling. Even two judges from the chamber itself have questioned its legitimacy (and they today issued opinions dissenting from the main resolution).

On Monday, Adam Bodnar, the justice minister and prosecutor general, made a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court to transfer the decision on the validity of the election to another, legal, chamber. However, that request was denied.

Today, when Bodnar appeared before the oversight chamber, Szczepaniec pointed out that, after the 2023 parliamentary elections at which the current government came to power – and when Bodnar was himself elected to the Senate – he had not protested against the same chamber validating those results.

PiS has argued that the ruling coalition is only now disputing the legitimacy of the chamber because its candidate lost the presidential election. When Tusk’s coalition won the 2023 elections – as well as local and European elections in 2024 – it did not mount such protests, they note.

Speaking before the chamber today, Bodnar also accused it of dismissing almost 50,000 complaints about the presidential election without properly considering them.

As a result, “we still do not know what the election result is”, said Bodnar’s deputy, Jacek Bilewicz.

He emphasised that they were not “trying to reverse the election result, but we are of the opinion that the Supreme Court did not take all actions [necessary] to bring us close to [knowing] the actual result”.

In response, Szczepaniec noted that the complaints to which Bodnar was referring – which were based on templates shared by members of the ruling coalition, who had encouraged Poles to file protests – were “identical in content and do not concern the protesting party’s own specific and real interest”.

“The Supreme Court, after reviewing each protest, observes that the number of protests filed does not increase the weight of the single allegations included in them,” said Szczepaniec. “In such a case, the effect of scale is irrelevant.”

The oversight chamber’s decision to confirm the validity of the election was supported by the head of the National Electoral Commission (PKW), Sylwester Marciniak, who was appointed when PiS was in power.

Speaking before the chamber, Marciniak noted the PKW “did not find any violations of electoral law that could have influenced the voting results and the election outcome”, reports news website Wirtualna Polska.

4
Disputed Supreme Court chamber confirms Polish presidential election result (notesfrompoland.com)
 

The chamber of Poland’s Supreme Court tasked with overseeing elections – but whose legitimacy is rejected by the Polish government and European courts – has passed a resolution validating the result of last month’s presidential vote in Poland, which was won by conservative opposition candidate Karol Nawrocki.

The decision was widely expected but has been mired in controversy over allegations of the miscounting of votes as well as questions over the status of the chamber itself, which was created by the former ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party that supported Nawrocki’s presidential candidacy.

In its decision, the chamber of extraordinary oversight and public affairs noted that, while it had confirmed 21 cases of irregularities during the election, “the identified violations did not affect the result”, in the words of judge Maria Szczepaniec.

The Supreme Court’s decision now paves the way for Nawrocki to be sworn into office in August, when he will replace outgoing President Andrzej Duda, whose second and final term is ending.

Poland’s presidential election run-off took place on 1 June. Nawrocki, the candidate supported by the national-conservative PiS, won 50.9% of the vote, defeating Rafał Trzaskowski – deputy leader of the centrist Civic Platform (PO), Poland’s main ruling party – who received 49.1%.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court had 30 days to consider complaints filed regarding the election (of which there were over 53,000 in total) and to confirm the validity of the result. As it met today to discuss the issue, supporters and opponents of Nawrocki gathered outside the court.

Some figures associated with the ruling coalition have suggested that, regardless of what happened today, next month’s swearing-in ceremony should not go forward due to question marks over vote-counting and the legality of the oversight chamber.

However, last week, the speaker of parliament, Szymon Hołownia, whose role it is to call the assembly at which the new president will be sworn in, said that, despite doubts over the chamber’s legality, he would accept its decision and swear in Nawrocki if the election was declared valid.

The oversight chamber was established under the former government that was led by PiS, which is now Poland’s main opposition party.

The chamber has been deemed illegitimate by both Polish and European courts due to being staffed entirely by judges nominated by the National Council of the Judiciary (KRS) after it was also overhauled by PiS in a manner that rendered it no longer independent of political influence.

The current government – a broad coalition ranging from left to centre-right that replaced PiS in office in December 2023 – also regards the chamber as unlawful and has tried to remove its power to validate the presidential election result. That effort was vetoed by PiS-aligned President Duda.

Last week, a group of 28 Supreme Court judges from other chambers jointly signed a letter declaring that the oversight chamber is illegitimate and therefore cannot issue a valid ruling. Even two judges from the chamber itself have questioned its legitimacy (and they today issued opinions dissenting from the main resolution).

On Monday, Adam Bodnar, the justice minister and prosecutor general, made a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court to transfer the decision on the validity of the election to another, legal, chamber. However, that request was denied.

Today, when Bodnar appeared before the oversight chamber, Szczepaniec pointed out that, after the 2023 parliamentary elections at which the current government came to power – and when Bodnar was himself elected to the Senate – he had not protested against the same chamber validating those results.

PiS has argued that the ruling coalition is only now disputing the legitimacy of the chamber because its candidate lost the presidential election. When Tusk’s coalition won the 2023 elections – as well as local and European elections in 2024 – it did not mount such protests, they note.

Speaking before the chamber today, Bodnar also accused it of dismissing almost 50,000 complaints about the presidential election without properly considering them.

As a result, “we still do not know what the election result is”, said Bodnar’s deputy, Jacek Bilewicz.

He emphasised that they were not “trying to reverse the election result, but we are of the opinion that the Supreme Court did not take all actions [necessary] to bring us close to [knowing] the actual result”.

In response, Szczepaniec noted that the complaints to which Bodnar was referring – which were based on templates shared by members of the ruling coalition, who had encouraged Poles to file protests – were “identical in content and do not concern the protesting party’s own specific and real interest”.

“The Supreme Court, after reviewing each protest, observes that the number of protests filed does not increase the weight of the single allegations included in them,” said Szczepaniec. “In such a case, the effect of scale is irrelevant.”

The oversight chamber’s decision to confirm the validity of the election was supported by the head of the National Electoral Commission (PKW), Sylwester Marciniak, who was appointed when PiS was in power.

Speaking before the chamber, Marciniak noted the PKW “did not find any violations of electoral law that could have influenced the voting results and the election outcome”, reports news website Wirtualna Polska.

EU top diplomat calls for restraint after US 'obliterates' Iran’s nuclear sites in c/europepolitics@feddit.org
EU top diplomat calls for restraint after US 'obliterates' Iran’s nuclear sites in c/world@lemmy.world
[–] BubsyFanboy@szmer.info 16 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Honestly at this point calling it the United Snake is an apt name.

EU top diplomat calls for restraint after US 'obliterates' Iran’s nuclear sites in c/europe@feddit.org
[–] BubsyFanboy@szmer.info 2 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Haven't Iran been publicly developing nukes though?

Not that an attack on Iran will do any good.

EU top diplomat calls for restraint after US 'obliterates' Iran’s nuclear sites in c/europepolitics@feddit.org
[–] BubsyFanboy@szmer.info -1 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Been doing the same thing on Reddit before and I don't quite recall people calling it spam.

If Lemmy does consider that spam though, I'll stop. It's just I like when more than a dozen people see what I post.

83
EU top diplomat calls for restraint after US 'obliterates' Iran’s nuclear sites (tvpworld.com)
 

The European Union’s chief diplomat has called for all sides in the Middle East conflict to “step back” and return to negotiations after the U.S. struck key Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday.

Kaja Kallas posted on the X platform that an Iranian nuclear capability would represent a global security threat and urged all sides not to escalate.

“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” she wrote, adding that EU foreign ministers will meet on Monday to discuss the latest developments.

The U.S. entered a conflict on Saturday that has raged between Israel and Iran since June 13 when Tel Aviv launched airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets.

Since then, the two sides have exchanged air attacks resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries.

Having said on Thursday he would decide within two weeks whether to enter the fray, U.S. President Donald Trump authorized a heavy assault on three Iranian nuclear development facilities on Saturday and warned of further action should Tehran retaliate.

Against the backdrop of escalating hostilities in the Middle East, Poland’s foreign ministry advised on Sunday against all travel to Israel.

Spokesman Paweł Wroński told a press conference the ministry is not a “travel agency” after Polish authorities repatriated around 200 people from Israel last week.

“It is not the case that we will always be able to help people.” he said.

2
EU top diplomat calls for restraint after US 'obliterates' Iran’s nuclear sites (tvpworld.com)
 

The European Union’s chief diplomat has called for all sides in the Middle East conflict to “step back” and return to negotiations after the U.S. struck key Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday.

Kaja Kallas posted on the X platform that an Iranian nuclear capability would represent a global security threat and urged all sides not to escalate.

“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” she wrote, adding that EU foreign ministers will meet on Monday to discuss the latest developments.

The U.S. entered a conflict on Saturday that has raged between Israel and Iran since June 13 when Tel Aviv launched airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets.

Since then, the two sides have exchanged air attacks resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries.

Having said on Thursday he would decide within two weeks whether to enter the fray, U.S. President Donald Trump authorized a heavy assault on three Iranian nuclear development facilities on Saturday and warned of further action should Tehran retaliate.

Against the backdrop of escalating hostilities in the Middle East, Poland’s foreign ministry advised on Sunday against all travel to Israel.

Spokesman Paweł Wroński told a press conference the ministry is not a “travel agency” after Polish authorities repatriated around 200 people from Israel last week.

“It is not the case that we will always be able to help people.” he said.

7
EU top diplomat calls for restraint after US 'obliterates' Iran’s nuclear sites (tvpworld.com)
 

The European Union’s chief diplomat has called for all sides in the Middle East conflict to “step back” and return to negotiations after the U.S. struck key Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday.

Kaja Kallas posted on the X platform that an Iranian nuclear capability would represent a global security threat and urged all sides not to escalate.

“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” she wrote, adding that EU foreign ministers will meet on Monday to discuss the latest developments.

The U.S. entered a conflict on Saturday that has raged between Israel and Iran since June 13 when Tel Aviv launched airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets.

Since then, the two sides have exchanged air attacks resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries.

Having said on Thursday he would decide within two weeks whether to enter the fray, U.S. President Donald Trump authorized a heavy assault on three Iranian nuclear development facilities on Saturday and warned of further action should Tehran retaliate.

Against the backdrop of escalating hostilities in the Middle East, Poland’s foreign ministry advised on Sunday against all travel to Israel.

Spokesman Paweł Wroński told a press conference the ministry is not a “travel agency” after Polish authorities repatriated around 200 people from Israel last week.

“It is not the case that we will always be able to help people.” he said.

-2
EU top diplomat calls for restraint after US 'obliterates' Iran’s nuclear sites (tvpworld.com)
 

The European Union’s chief diplomat has called for all sides in the Middle East conflict to “step back” and return to negotiations after the U.S. struck key Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday.

Kaja Kallas posted on the X platform that an Iranian nuclear capability would represent a global security threat and urged all sides not to escalate.

“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” she wrote, adding that EU foreign ministers will meet on Monday to discuss the latest developments.

The U.S. entered a conflict on Saturday that has raged between Israel and Iran since June 13 when Tel Aviv launched airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets.

Since then, the two sides have exchanged air attacks resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries.

Having said on Thursday he would decide within two weeks whether to enter the fray, U.S. President Donald Trump authorized a heavy assault on three Iranian nuclear development facilities on Saturday and warned of further action should Tehran retaliate.

Against the backdrop of escalating hostilities in the Middle East, Poland’s foreign ministry advised on Sunday against all travel to Israel.

Spokesman Paweł Wroński told a press conference the ministry is not a “travel agency” after Polish authorities repatriated around 200 people from Israel last week.

“It is not the case that we will always be able to help people.” he said.

-4
EU top diplomat calls for restraint after US 'obliterates' Iran’s nuclear sites (tvpworld.com)
 

The European Union’s chief diplomat has called for all sides in the Middle East conflict to “step back” and return to negotiations after the U.S. struck key Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday.

Kaja Kallas posted on the X platform that an Iranian nuclear capability would represent a global security threat and urged all sides not to escalate.

“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” she wrote, adding that EU foreign ministers will meet on Monday to discuss the latest developments.

The U.S. entered a conflict on Saturday that has raged between Israel and Iran since June 13 when Tel Aviv launched airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets.

Since then, the two sides have exchanged air attacks resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries.

Having said on Thursday he would decide within two weeks whether to enter the fray, U.S. President Donald Trump authorized a heavy assault on three Iranian nuclear development facilities on Saturday and warned of further action should Tehran retaliate.

Against the backdrop of escalating hostilities in the Middle East, Poland’s foreign ministry advised on Sunday against all travel to Israel.

Spokesman Paweł Wroński told a press conference the ministry is not a “travel agency” after Polish authorities repatriated around 200 people from Israel last week.

“It is not the case that we will always be able to help people.” he said.

-1
EU top diplomat calls for restraint after US 'obliterates' Iran’s nuclear sites (tvpworld.com)
 

The European Union’s chief diplomat has called for all sides in the Middle East conflict to “step back” and return to negotiations after the U.S. struck key Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday.

Kaja Kallas posted on the X platform that an Iranian nuclear capability would represent a global security threat and urged all sides not to escalate.

“I urge all sides to step back, return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation,” she wrote, adding that EU foreign ministers will meet on Monday to discuss the latest developments.

The U.S. entered a conflict on Saturday that has raged between Israel and Iran since June 13 when Tel Aviv launched airstrikes against Iranian nuclear and military targets.

Since then, the two sides have exchanged air attacks resulting in hundreds of deaths and injuries.

Having said on Thursday he would decide within two weeks whether to enter the fray, U.S. President Donald Trump authorized a heavy assault on three Iranian nuclear development facilities on Saturday and warned of further action should Tehran retaliate.

Against the backdrop of escalating hostilities in the Middle East, Poland’s foreign ministry advised on Sunday against all travel to Israel.

Spokesman Paweł Wroński told a press conference the ministry is not a “travel agency” after Polish authorities repatriated around 200 people from Israel last week.

“It is not the case that we will always be able to help people.” he said.

Leaked surveillance of Tusk phone call published by opposition-linked Polish media in c/worldnews@lemmy.ml
[–] BubsyFanboy@szmer.info 1 points 2 weeks ago

Polish media outlets supportive of Poland’s national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party have published a recording of a private phone call involving Prime Minister Donald Tusk when he was president of the European Council.

They say it shows how he was continuing to interfere in Polish politics – and speaking in a dismissive and vulgar way about certain parts of Poland – while holding his supposedly neutral EU position.

But commentators and legal experts, as well as figures from Poland’s current ruling camp, say that the conversation reveals nothing of interest and that the real issue is how it was recorded and came to light. They believe it was produced as part of illegal surveillance conducted under PiS using Pegasus spyware.

On Friday and Saturday, right-wing broadcasters wPolsce24 and Republika released audio from two phone conversations involving Roman Giertych, who is currently an MP elected on the list of Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO). One was with Paweł Graś, Tusk’s current chief of staff, and the other with Tusk himself.

Though the recordings are undated, their content makes clear that they were made in the lead-up to the October 2019 Polish parliamentary elections, when KO was in opposition and Tusk was head of the European Council.

During the majority of his conversation with Tusk, which lasts around 16 minutes, Giertych – who at the time worked as a lawyer, including for Tusk and his children – was complaining about the then-leader of KO, Grzegorz Schetyna.

Giertych expressed frustration that Schetyna was blocking his attempts to become an election candidate for KO, saying that Schetyna was trying to suggest that Giertych stand in districts where he would have little chance of winning.

Here, Giertych described the places being suggested by Schetyna (eastern Wielkopolska province and the city of Radom) as “shits” (using the English word), at which point Tusk expressed agreement that they were places “where the fuck-ups are” (“gdzie zjeby są”).

When publishing the material, Republika noted that, at the time, “Tusk was the president of the European Council and, according to EU law, he should not interfere in domestic political disputes. And yet the tapes show something completely different”.

In response to the release of the recordings, Giertych issued a statement in which he said that they were made “as part of an illegal operation conducted against me by the CBA [Central Anticorruption Bureau]” using Pegasus spyware purchased by the PiS government.

PiS has been accused of illegally buying Pegasus and then using it to spy on opponents of its government, including Giertych and Krzysztof Brejza, who was the head of KO’s election campaign in 2019. Extracts of recordings made using Pegasus were then leaked to PiS-friendly media.

“Recording conversations between a lawyer and his clients, not destroying them, taking copies of the conversations from the CBA, passing them on to the media and publishing these conversations are very serious crimes,” wrote Giertych. “Those guilty of all these crimes will be punished.”

Legally, the CBA is supposed to destroy surveillance recordings that do not contain evidence of any crime. Giertych has not been charged with any crime in relation to the content of the recordings.

Przemysław Rosati, the president of Poland’s Supreme Bar Council, says that the newly released recordings “confirm that Pegasus was used for surveillance without a legal basis and unrelated to state security”.

“Monitoring a lawyer’s telephone is an action that directly violates attorney-client privilege and…is simply an abuse of power,” he added.

Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski also commented on social media, writing that he “hopes the media will not get excited about tidbits [contained in the recordings] but will help identify the criminals who recorded and distributed conversations between a lawyer and client”.

Tusk himself has not yet commented on the recordings.

Since replacing PiS in power in December 2023, Tusk’s ruling coalition has launched a number of investigations into the use of Pegasus by the former government.

Last year, prosecutor general Adam Bodnar revealed that almost 600 people in Poland were targeted for surveillance with Pegasus between 2017 and 2022. The interior minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, said that this had included “too many cases” when it was used “against inconvenient politicians, lawyers, judges and prosecutors”.

Subsequently, a former PiS deputy justice minister, Michał Woś was charged with abusing his powers for the alleged illegal transfer of justice ministry funds to finance the purchase of Pegasus in 2017. He denies the allegations.

In February this year, the head of the CBA, Agnieszka Kwiatkowska-Gurdak, resigned from her position after refusing to answer questions during an appearance before a parliamentary commission investigating the use of Pegasus spyware.

Leaked surveillance of Tusk phone call published by opposition-linked Polish media in c/world@lemmy.world
[–] BubsyFanboy@szmer.info 1 points 2 weeks ago

Polish media outlets supportive of Poland’s national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party have published a recording of a private phone call involving Prime Minister Donald Tusk when he was president of the European Council.

They say it shows how he was continuing to interfere in Polish politics – and speaking in a dismissive and vulgar way about certain parts of Poland – while holding his supposedly neutral EU position.

But commentators and legal experts, as well as figures from Poland’s current ruling camp, say that the conversation reveals nothing of interest and that the real issue is how it was recorded and came to light. They believe it was produced as part of illegal surveillance conducted under PiS using Pegasus spyware.

On Friday and Saturday, right-wing broadcasters wPolsce24 and Republika released audio from two phone conversations involving Roman Giertych, who is currently an MP elected on the list of Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO). One was with Paweł Graś, Tusk’s current chief of staff, and the other with Tusk himself.

Though the recordings are undated, their content makes clear that they were made in the lead-up to the October 2019 Polish parliamentary elections, when KO was in opposition and Tusk was head of the European Council.

During the majority of his conversation with Tusk, which lasts around 16 minutes, Giertych – who at the time worked as a lawyer, including for Tusk and his children – was complaining about the then-leader of KO, Grzegorz Schetyna.

Giertych expressed frustration that Schetyna was blocking his attempts to become an election candidate for KO, saying that Schetyna was trying to suggest that Giertych stand in districts where he would have little chance of winning.

Here, Giertych described the places being suggested by Schetyna (eastern Wielkopolska province and the city of Radom) as “shits” (using the English word), at which point Tusk expressed agreement that they were places “where the fuck-ups are” (“gdzie zjeby są”).

When publishing the material, Republika noted that, at the time, “Tusk was the president of the European Council and, according to EU law, he should not interfere in domestic political disputes. And yet the tapes show something completely different”.

In response to the release of the recordings, Giertych issued a statement in which he said that they were made “as part of an illegal operation conducted against me by the CBA [Central Anticorruption Bureau]” using Pegasus spyware purchased by the PiS government.

PiS has been accused of illegally buying Pegasus and then using it to spy on opponents of its government, including Giertych and Krzysztof Brejza, who was the head of KO’s election campaign in 2019. Extracts of recordings made using Pegasus were then leaked to PiS-friendly media.

“Recording conversations between a lawyer and his clients, not destroying them, taking copies of the conversations from the CBA, passing them on to the media and publishing these conversations are very serious crimes,” wrote Giertych. “Those guilty of all these crimes will be punished.”

Legally, the CBA is supposed to destroy surveillance recordings that do not contain evidence of any crime. Giertych has not been charged with any crime in relation to the content of the recordings.

Przemysław Rosati, the president of Poland’s Supreme Bar Council, says that the newly released recordings “confirm that Pegasus was used for surveillance without a legal basis and unrelated to state security”.

“Monitoring a lawyer’s telephone is an action that directly violates attorney-client privilege and…is simply an abuse of power,” he added.

Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski also commented on social media, writing that he “hopes the media will not get excited about tidbits [contained in the recordings] but will help identify the criminals who recorded and distributed conversations between a lawyer and client”.

Tusk himself has not yet commented on the recordings.

Since replacing PiS in power in December 2023, Tusk’s ruling coalition has launched a number of investigations into the use of Pegasus by the former government.

Last year, prosecutor general Adam Bodnar revealed that almost 600 people in Poland were targeted for surveillance with Pegasus between 2017 and 2022. The interior minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, said that this had included “too many cases” when it was used “against inconvenient politicians, lawyers, judges and prosecutors”.

Subsequently, a former PiS deputy justice minister, Michał Woś was charged with abusing his powers for the alleged illegal transfer of justice ministry funds to finance the purchase of Pegasus in 2017. He denies the allegations.

In February this year, the head of the CBA, Agnieszka Kwiatkowska-Gurdak, resigned from her position after refusing to answer questions during an appearance before a parliamentary commission investigating the use of Pegasus spyware.

Leaked surveillance of Tusk phone call published by opposition-linked Polish media in c/news@beehaw.org
[–] BubsyFanboy@szmer.info 1 points 2 weeks ago

Polish media outlets supportive of Poland’s national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party have published a recording of a private phone call involving Prime Minister Donald Tusk when he was president of the European Council.

They say it shows how he was continuing to interfere in Polish politics – and speaking in a dismissive and vulgar way about certain parts of Poland – while holding his supposedly neutral EU position.

But commentators and legal experts, as well as figures from Poland’s current ruling camp, say that the conversation reveals nothing of interest and that the real issue is how it was recorded and came to light. They believe it was produced as part of illegal surveillance conducted under PiS using Pegasus spyware.

On Friday and Saturday, right-wing broadcasters wPolsce24 and Republika released audio from two phone conversations involving Roman Giertych, who is currently an MP elected on the list of Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO). One was with Paweł Graś, Tusk’s current chief of staff, and the other with Tusk himself.

Though the recordings are undated, their content makes clear that they were made in the lead-up to the October 2019 Polish parliamentary elections, when KO was in opposition and Tusk was head of the European Council.

During the majority of his conversation with Tusk, which lasts around 16 minutes, Giertych – who at the time worked as a lawyer, including for Tusk and his children – was complaining about the then-leader of KO, Grzegorz Schetyna.

Giertych expressed frustration that Schetyna was blocking his attempts to become an election candidate for KO, saying that Schetyna was trying to suggest that Giertych stand in districts where he would have little chance of winning.

Here, Giertych described the places being suggested by Schetyna (eastern Wielkopolska province and the city of Radom) as “shits” (using the English word), at which point Tusk expressed agreement that they were places “where the fuck-ups are” (“gdzie zjeby są”).

When publishing the material, Republika noted that, at the time, “Tusk was the president of the European Council and, according to EU law, he should not interfere in domestic political disputes. And yet the tapes show something completely different”.

In response to the release of the recordings, Giertych issued a statement in which he said that they were made “as part of an illegal operation conducted against me by the CBA [Central Anticorruption Bureau]” using Pegasus spyware purchased by the PiS government.

PiS has been accused of illegally buying Pegasus and then using it to spy on opponents of its government, including Giertych and Krzysztof Brejza, who was the head of KO’s election campaign in 2019. Extracts of recordings made using Pegasus were then leaked to PiS-friendly media.

“Recording conversations between a lawyer and his clients, not destroying them, taking copies of the conversations from the CBA, passing them on to the media and publishing these conversations are very serious crimes,” wrote Giertych. “Those guilty of all these crimes will be punished.”

Legally, the CBA is supposed to destroy surveillance recordings that do not contain evidence of any crime. Giertych has not been charged with any crime in relation to the content of the recordings.

Przemysław Rosati, the president of Poland’s Supreme Bar Council, says that the newly released recordings “confirm that Pegasus was used for surveillance without a legal basis and unrelated to state security”.

“Monitoring a lawyer’s telephone is an action that directly violates attorney-client privilege and…is simply an abuse of power,” he added.

Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski also commented on social media, writing that he “hopes the media will not get excited about tidbits [contained in the recordings] but will help identify the criminals who recorded and distributed conversations between a lawyer and client”.

Tusk himself has not yet commented on the recordings.

Since replacing PiS in power in December 2023, Tusk’s ruling coalition has launched a number of investigations into the use of Pegasus by the former government.

Last year, prosecutor general Adam Bodnar revealed that almost 600 people in Poland were targeted for surveillance with Pegasus between 2017 and 2022. The interior minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, said that this had included “too many cases” when it was used “against inconvenient politicians, lawyers, judges and prosecutors”.

Subsequently, a former PiS deputy justice minister, Michał Woś was charged with abusing his powers for the alleged illegal transfer of justice ministry funds to finance the purchase of Pegasus in 2017. He denies the allegations.

In February this year, the head of the CBA, Agnieszka Kwiatkowska-Gurdak, resigned from her position after refusing to answer questions during an appearance before a parliamentary commission investigating the use of Pegasus spyware.

Leaked surveillance of Tusk phone call published by opposition-linked Polish media in c/Europe@europe.pub
[–] BubsyFanboy@szmer.info 1 points 2 weeks ago

Polish media outlets supportive of Poland’s national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party have published a recording of a private phone call involving Prime Minister Donald Tusk when he was president of the European Council.

They say it shows how he was continuing to interfere in Polish politics – and speaking in a dismissive and vulgar way about certain parts of Poland – while holding his supposedly neutral EU position.

But commentators and legal experts, as well as figures from Poland’s current ruling camp, say that the conversation reveals nothing of interest and that the real issue is how it was recorded and came to light. They believe it was produced as part of illegal surveillance conducted under PiS using Pegasus spyware.

On Friday and Saturday, right-wing broadcasters wPolsce24 and Republika released audio from two phone conversations involving Roman Giertych, who is currently an MP elected on the list of Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO). One was with Paweł Graś, Tusk’s current chief of staff, and the other with Tusk himself.

Though the recordings are undated, their content makes clear that they were made in the lead-up to the October 2019 Polish parliamentary elections, when KO was in opposition and Tusk was head of the European Council.

During the majority of his conversation with Tusk, which lasts around 16 minutes, Giertych – who at the time worked as a lawyer, including for Tusk and his children – was complaining about the then-leader of KO, Grzegorz Schetyna.

Giertych expressed frustration that Schetyna was blocking his attempts to become an election candidate for KO, saying that Schetyna was trying to suggest that Giertych stand in districts where he would have little chance of winning.

Here, Giertych described the places being suggested by Schetyna (eastern Wielkopolska province and the city of Radom) as “shits” (using the English word), at which point Tusk expressed agreement that they were places “where the fuck-ups are” (“gdzie zjeby są”).

When publishing the material, Republika noted that, at the time, “Tusk was the president of the European Council and, according to EU law, he should not interfere in domestic political disputes. And yet the tapes show something completely different”.

In response to the release of the recordings, Giertych issued a statement in which he said that they were made “as part of an illegal operation conducted against me by the CBA [Central Anticorruption Bureau]” using Pegasus spyware purchased by the PiS government.

PiS has been accused of illegally buying Pegasus and then using it to spy on opponents of its government, including Giertych and Krzysztof Brejza, who was the head of KO’s election campaign in 2019. Extracts of recordings made using Pegasus were then leaked to PiS-friendly media.

“Recording conversations between a lawyer and his clients, not destroying them, taking copies of the conversations from the CBA, passing them on to the media and publishing these conversations are very serious crimes,” wrote Giertych. “Those guilty of all these crimes will be punished.”

Legally, the CBA is supposed to destroy surveillance recordings that do not contain evidence of any crime. Giertych has not been charged with any crime in relation to the content of the recordings.

Przemysław Rosati, the president of Poland’s Supreme Bar Council, says that the newly released recordings “confirm that Pegasus was used for surveillance without a legal basis and unrelated to state security”.

“Monitoring a lawyer’s telephone is an action that directly violates attorney-client privilege and…is simply an abuse of power,” he added.

Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski also commented on social media, writing that he “hopes the media will not get excited about tidbits [contained in the recordings] but will help identify the criminals who recorded and distributed conversations between a lawyer and client”.

Tusk himself has not yet commented on the recordings.

Since replacing PiS in power in December 2023, Tusk’s ruling coalition has launched a number of investigations into the use of Pegasus by the former government.

Last year, prosecutor general Adam Bodnar revealed that almost 600 people in Poland were targeted for surveillance with Pegasus between 2017 and 2022. The interior minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, said that this had included “too many cases” when it was used “against inconvenient politicians, lawyers, judges and prosecutors”.

Subsequently, a former PiS deputy justice minister, Michał Woś was charged with abusing his powers for the alleged illegal transfer of justice ministry funds to finance the purchase of Pegasus in 2017. He denies the allegations.

In February this year, the head of the CBA, Agnieszka Kwiatkowska-Gurdak, resigned from her position after refusing to answer questions during an appearance before a parliamentary commission investigating the use of Pegasus spyware.

Leaked surveillance of Tusk phone call published by opposition-linked Polish media in c/europe@lemmy.dbzer0.com
[–] BubsyFanboy@szmer.info 1 points 2 weeks ago

Polish media outlets supportive of Poland’s national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party have published a recording of a private phone call involving Prime Minister Donald Tusk when he was president of the European Council.

They say it shows how he was continuing to interfere in Polish politics – and speaking in a dismissive and vulgar way about certain parts of Poland – while holding his supposedly neutral EU position.

But commentators and legal experts, as well as figures from Poland’s current ruling camp, say that the conversation reveals nothing of interest and that the real issue is how it was recorded and came to light. They believe it was produced as part of illegal surveillance conducted under PiS using Pegasus spyware.

On Friday and Saturday, right-wing broadcasters wPolsce24 and Republika released audio from two phone conversations involving Roman Giertych, who is currently an MP elected on the list of Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO). One was with Paweł Graś, Tusk’s current chief of staff, and the other with Tusk himself.

Though the recordings are undated, their content makes clear that they were made in the lead-up to the October 2019 Polish parliamentary elections, when KO was in opposition and Tusk was head of the European Council.

During the majority of his conversation with Tusk, which lasts around 16 minutes, Giertych – who at the time worked as a lawyer, including for Tusk and his children – was complaining about the then-leader of KO, Grzegorz Schetyna.

Giertych expressed frustration that Schetyna was blocking his attempts to become an election candidate for KO, saying that Schetyna was trying to suggest that Giertych stand in districts where he would have little chance of winning.

Here, Giertych described the places being suggested by Schetyna (eastern Wielkopolska province and the city of Radom) as “shits” (using the English word), at which point Tusk expressed agreement that they were places “where the fuck-ups are” (“gdzie zjeby są”).

When publishing the material, Republika noted that, at the time, “Tusk was the president of the European Council and, according to EU law, he should not interfere in domestic political disputes. And yet the tapes show something completely different”.

In response to the release of the recordings, Giertych issued a statement in which he said that they were made “as part of an illegal operation conducted against me by the CBA [Central Anticorruption Bureau]” using Pegasus spyware purchased by the PiS government.

PiS has been accused of illegally buying Pegasus and then using it to spy on opponents of its government, including Giertych and Krzysztof Brejza, who was the head of KO’s election campaign in 2019. Extracts of recordings made using Pegasus were then leaked to PiS-friendly media.

“Recording conversations between a lawyer and his clients, not destroying them, taking copies of the conversations from the CBA, passing them on to the media and publishing these conversations are very serious crimes,” wrote Giertych. “Those guilty of all these crimes will be punished.”

Legally, the CBA is supposed to destroy surveillance recordings that do not contain evidence of any crime. Giertych has not been charged with any crime in relation to the content of the recordings.

Przemysław Rosati, the president of Poland’s Supreme Bar Council, says that the newly released recordings “confirm that Pegasus was used for surveillance without a legal basis and unrelated to state security”.

“Monitoring a lawyer’s telephone is an action that directly violates attorney-client privilege and…is simply an abuse of power,” he added.

Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski also commented on social media, writing that he “hopes the media will not get excited about tidbits [contained in the recordings] but will help identify the criminals who recorded and distributed conversations between a lawyer and client”.

Tusk himself has not yet commented on the recordings.

Since replacing PiS in power in December 2023, Tusk’s ruling coalition has launched a number of investigations into the use of Pegasus by the former government.

Last year, prosecutor general Adam Bodnar revealed that almost 600 people in Poland were targeted for surveillance with Pegasus between 2017 and 2022. The interior minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, said that this had included “too many cases” when it was used “against inconvenient politicians, lawyers, judges and prosecutors”.

Subsequently, a former PiS deputy justice minister, Michał Woś was charged with abusing his powers for the alleged illegal transfer of justice ministry funds to finance the purchase of Pegasus in 2017. He denies the allegations.

In February this year, the head of the CBA, Agnieszka Kwiatkowska-Gurdak, resigned from her position after refusing to answer questions during an appearance before a parliamentary commission investigating the use of Pegasus spyware.

Leaked surveillance of Tusk phone call published by opposition-linked Polish media in c/europa@lemmy.world
[–] BubsyFanboy@szmer.info 1 points 2 weeks ago

Polish media outlets supportive of Poland’s national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party have published a recording of a private phone call involving Prime Minister Donald Tusk when he was president of the European Council.

They say it shows how he was continuing to interfere in Polish politics – and speaking in a dismissive and vulgar way about certain parts of Poland – while holding his supposedly neutral EU position.

But commentators and legal experts, as well as figures from Poland’s current ruling camp, say that the conversation reveals nothing of interest and that the real issue is how it was recorded and came to light. They believe it was produced as part of illegal surveillance conducted under PiS using Pegasus spyware.

On Friday and Saturday, right-wing broadcasters wPolsce24 and Republika released audio from two phone conversations involving Roman Giertych, who is currently an MP elected on the list of Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO). One was with Paweł Graś, Tusk’s current chief of staff, and the other with Tusk himself.

Though the recordings are undated, their content makes clear that they were made in the lead-up to the October 2019 Polish parliamentary elections, when KO was in opposition and Tusk was head of the European Council.

During the majority of his conversation with Tusk, which lasts around 16 minutes, Giertych – who at the time worked as a lawyer, including for Tusk and his children – was complaining about the then-leader of KO, Grzegorz Schetyna.

Giertych expressed frustration that Schetyna was blocking his attempts to become an election candidate for KO, saying that Schetyna was trying to suggest that Giertych stand in districts where he would have little chance of winning.

Here, Giertych described the places being suggested by Schetyna (eastern Wielkopolska province and the city of Radom) as “shits” (using the English word), at which point Tusk expressed agreement that they were places “where the fuck-ups are” (“gdzie zjeby są”).

When publishing the material, Republika noted that, at the time, “Tusk was the president of the European Council and, according to EU law, he should not interfere in domestic political disputes. And yet the tapes show something completely different”.

In response to the release of the recordings, Giertych issued a statement in which he said that they were made “as part of an illegal operation conducted against me by the CBA [Central Anticorruption Bureau]” using Pegasus spyware purchased by the PiS government.

PiS has been accused of illegally buying Pegasus and then using it to spy on opponents of its government, including Giertych and Krzysztof Brejza, who was the head of KO’s election campaign in 2019. Extracts of recordings made using Pegasus were then leaked to PiS-friendly media.

“Recording conversations between a lawyer and his clients, not destroying them, taking copies of the conversations from the CBA, passing them on to the media and publishing these conversations are very serious crimes,” wrote Giertych. “Those guilty of all these crimes will be punished.”

Legally, the CBA is supposed to destroy surveillance recordings that do not contain evidence of any crime. Giertych has not been charged with any crime in relation to the content of the recordings.

Przemysław Rosati, the president of Poland’s Supreme Bar Council, says that the newly released recordings “confirm that Pegasus was used for surveillance without a legal basis and unrelated to state security”.

“Monitoring a lawyer’s telephone is an action that directly violates attorney-client privilege and…is simply an abuse of power,” he added.

Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski also commented on social media, writing that he “hopes the media will not get excited about tidbits [contained in the recordings] but will help identify the criminals who recorded and distributed conversations between a lawyer and client”.

Tusk himself has not yet commented on the recordings.

Since replacing PiS in power in December 2023, Tusk’s ruling coalition has launched a number of investigations into the use of Pegasus by the former government.

Last year, prosecutor general Adam Bodnar revealed that almost 600 people in Poland were targeted for surveillance with Pegasus between 2017 and 2022. The interior minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, said that this had included “too many cases” when it was used “against inconvenient politicians, lawyers, judges and prosecutors”.

Subsequently, a former PiS deputy justice minister, Michał Woś was charged with abusing his powers for the alleged illegal transfer of justice ministry funds to finance the purchase of Pegasus in 2017. He denies the allegations.

In February this year, the head of the CBA, Agnieszka Kwiatkowska-Gurdak, resigned from her position after refusing to answer questions during an appearance before a parliamentary commission investigating the use of Pegasus spyware.

Leaked surveillance of Tusk phone call published by opposition-linked Polish media in c/europe@lemmy.ml
[–] BubsyFanboy@szmer.info 1 points 2 weeks ago

Polish media outlets supportive of Poland’s national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party have published a recording of a private phone call involving Prime Minister Donald Tusk when he was president of the European Council.

They say it shows how he was continuing to interfere in Polish politics – and speaking in a dismissive and vulgar way about certain parts of Poland – while holding his supposedly neutral EU position.

But commentators and legal experts, as well as figures from Poland’s current ruling camp, say that the conversation reveals nothing of interest and that the real issue is how it was recorded and came to light. They believe it was produced as part of illegal surveillance conducted under PiS using Pegasus spyware.

On Friday and Saturday, right-wing broadcasters wPolsce24 and Republika released audio from two phone conversations involving Roman Giertych, who is currently an MP elected on the list of Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO). One was with Paweł Graś, Tusk’s current chief of staff, and the other with Tusk himself.

Though the recordings are undated, their content makes clear that they were made in the lead-up to the October 2019 Polish parliamentary elections, when KO was in opposition and Tusk was head of the European Council.

During the majority of his conversation with Tusk, which lasts around 16 minutes, Giertych – who at the time worked as a lawyer, including for Tusk and his children – was complaining about the then-leader of KO, Grzegorz Schetyna.

Giertych expressed frustration that Schetyna was blocking his attempts to become an election candidate for KO, saying that Schetyna was trying to suggest that Giertych stand in districts where he would have little chance of winning.

Here, Giertych described the places being suggested by Schetyna (eastern Wielkopolska province and the city of Radom) as “shits” (using the English word), at which point Tusk expressed agreement that they were places “where the fuck-ups are” (“gdzie zjeby są”).

When publishing the material, Republika noted that, at the time, “Tusk was the president of the European Council and, according to EU law, he should not interfere in domestic political disputes. And yet the tapes show something completely different”.

In response to the release of the recordings, Giertych issued a statement in which he said that they were made “as part of an illegal operation conducted against me by the CBA [Central Anticorruption Bureau]” using Pegasus spyware purchased by the PiS government.

PiS has been accused of illegally buying Pegasus and then using it to spy on opponents of its government, including Giertych and Krzysztof Brejza, who was the head of KO’s election campaign in 2019. Extracts of recordings made using Pegasus were then leaked to PiS-friendly media.

“Recording conversations between a lawyer and his clients, not destroying them, taking copies of the conversations from the CBA, passing them on to the media and publishing these conversations are very serious crimes,” wrote Giertych. “Those guilty of all these crimes will be punished.”

Legally, the CBA is supposed to destroy surveillance recordings that do not contain evidence of any crime. Giertych has not been charged with any crime in relation to the content of the recordings.

Przemysław Rosati, the president of Poland’s Supreme Bar Council, says that the newly released recordings “confirm that Pegasus was used for surveillance without a legal basis and unrelated to state security”.

“Monitoring a lawyer’s telephone is an action that directly violates attorney-client privilege and…is simply an abuse of power,” he added.

Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski also commented on social media, writing that he “hopes the media will not get excited about tidbits [contained in the recordings] but will help identify the criminals who recorded and distributed conversations between a lawyer and client”.

Tusk himself has not yet commented on the recordings.

Since replacing PiS in power in December 2023, Tusk’s ruling coalition has launched a number of investigations into the use of Pegasus by the former government.

Last year, prosecutor general Adam Bodnar revealed that almost 600 people in Poland were targeted for surveillance with Pegasus between 2017 and 2022. The interior minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, said that this had included “too many cases” when it was used “against inconvenient politicians, lawyers, judges and prosecutors”.

Subsequently, a former PiS deputy justice minister, Michał Woś was charged with abusing his powers for the alleged illegal transfer of justice ministry funds to finance the purchase of Pegasus in 2017. He denies the allegations.

In February this year, the head of the CBA, Agnieszka Kwiatkowska-Gurdak, resigned from her position after refusing to answer questions during an appearance before a parliamentary commission investigating the use of Pegasus spyware.

Leaked surveillance of Tusk phone call published by opposition-linked Polish media in c/europe@feddit.org
[–] BubsyFanboy@szmer.info 2 points 2 weeks ago

Polish media outlets supportive of Poland’s national-conservative opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party have published a recording of a private phone call involving Prime Minister Donald Tusk when he was president of the European Council.

They say it shows how he was continuing to interfere in Polish politics – and speaking in a dismissive and vulgar way about certain parts of Poland – while holding his supposedly neutral EU position.

But commentators and legal experts, as well as figures from Poland’s current ruling camp, say that the conversation reveals nothing of interest and that the real issue is how it was recorded and came to light. They believe it was produced as part of illegal surveillance conducted under PiS using Pegasus spyware.

On Friday and Saturday, right-wing broadcasters wPolsce24 and Republika released audio from two phone conversations involving Roman Giertych, who is currently an MP elected on the list of Tusk’s centrist Civic Coalition (KO). One was with Paweł Graś, Tusk’s current chief of staff, and the other with Tusk himself.

Though the recordings are undated, their content makes clear that they were made in the lead-up to the October 2019 Polish parliamentary elections, when KO was in opposition and Tusk was head of the European Council.

During the majority of his conversation with Tusk, which lasts around 16 minutes, Giertych – who at the time worked as a lawyer, including for Tusk and his children – was complaining about the then-leader of KO, Grzegorz Schetyna.

Giertych expressed frustration that Schetyna was blocking his attempts to become an election candidate for KO, saying that Schetyna was trying to suggest that Giertych stand in districts where he would have little chance of winning.

Here, Giertych described the places being suggested by Schetyna (eastern Wielkopolska province and the city of Radom) as “shits” (using the English word), at which point Tusk expressed agreement that they were places “where the fuck-ups are” (“gdzie zjeby są”).

When publishing the material, Republika noted that, at the time, “Tusk was the president of the European Council and, according to EU law, he should not interfere in domestic political disputes. And yet the tapes show something completely different”.

In response to the release of the recordings, Giertych issued a statement in which he said that they were made “as part of an illegal operation conducted against me by the CBA [Central Anticorruption Bureau]” using Pegasus spyware purchased by the PiS government.

PiS has been accused of illegally buying Pegasus and then using it to spy on opponents of its government, including Giertych and Krzysztof Brejza, who was the head of KO’s election campaign in 2019. Extracts of recordings made using Pegasus were then leaked to PiS-friendly media.

“Recording conversations between a lawyer and his clients, not destroying them, taking copies of the conversations from the CBA, passing them on to the media and publishing these conversations are very serious crimes,” wrote Giertych. “Those guilty of all these crimes will be punished.”

Legally, the CBA is supposed to destroy surveillance recordings that do not contain evidence of any crime. Giertych has not been charged with any crime in relation to the content of the recordings.

Przemysław Rosati, the president of Poland’s Supreme Bar Council, says that the newly released recordings “confirm that Pegasus was used for surveillance without a legal basis and unrelated to state security”.

“Monitoring a lawyer’s telephone is an action that directly violates attorney-client privilege and…is simply an abuse of power,” he added.

Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski also commented on social media, writing that he “hopes the media will not get excited about tidbits [contained in the recordings] but will help identify the criminals who recorded and distributed conversations between a lawyer and client”.

Tusk himself has not yet commented on the recordings.

Since replacing PiS in power in December 2023, Tusk’s ruling coalition has launched a number of investigations into the use of Pegasus by the former government.

Last year, prosecutor general Adam Bodnar revealed that almost 600 people in Poland were targeted for surveillance with Pegasus between 2017 and 2022. The interior minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, said that this had included “too many cases” when it was used “against inconvenient politicians, lawyers, judges and prosecutors”.

Subsequently, a former PiS deputy justice minister, Michał Woś was charged with abusing his powers for the alleged illegal transfer of justice ministry funds to finance the purchase of Pegasus in 2017. He denies the allegations.

In February this year, the head of the CBA, Agnieszka Kwiatkowska-Gurdak, resigned from her position after refusing to answer questions during an appearance before a parliamentary commission investigating the use of Pegasus spyware.

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