In the response to ‘Anna Fotyga’s position regarding the calling for the destabilisation of the state’, published on the website of the MEP from the Law and Justice party on 27 July 2017, President of the Open Dialog Foundation Lyudmyla Kozlovska wrote a letter, in which she referred to the issues raised and accusations brought against ODF.
Anna Fotyga expressed her position shortly after Chairman of the Management Board of the Open Dialog Foundation, Bartosz Kramek published the article ‘Let the State Come to a Stop: Let’s Shut Down the Government’, which is a response to the ruling party’s actions in the area of the judiciary, and after the article had been shared by the Foundation itself. According to the MEP, the text is scandalous, it calls for the destabilisation of the state and shows the immaturity of the Foundation’s management. The MEP also suggests that the publication of the article could have been aimed at seeking funds in the liberal-leftist circles. The letter ends with the assurance: “Due to the content, purpose, and form of this abominable manifesto, please accept my assurance that all events and initiatives in which the Open Dialog will be involved, even if only negligibly, will be boycotted by me. I will also encourage people from other political groups as well as international partners to do the same”.
On 9 October 2017, President of the Open Dialog Foundation Lyudmyla Kozlovska addressed a letter to MEP Fotyga in which she referred to Ms Fotyga’s position.
She expressed her understanding for the loyalty towards one’s party, which can significantly determine the perception of the situation in Poland and be superior to numerous and serious reservations expressed with regard to the legislative draft laws, presented by Law and Justice; such reservations have been formulated even by the European Commission or the Venice Commission. In the Foundation’s opinion, these draft laws constituted an unambiguous attack on the rule of law and essentially brought Poland closer to the standards appropriate for the countries of the post-Soviet space.
“Our experience from Eastern countries teaches us that society cannot remain passive towards this kind of actions; strong reaction and effective exertion of peaceful (…) pressure on public authorities in order to stop their destructive policies which break the Constitution and European standards, is needed”, Kozlovska wrote. Assuming that ODF and MEP Fotyga may differ in their assessments of this matter, the President requested that elementary respect for the views of the Foundation’s management be shown and strivings to look for a deeper meaning of the article, for example, by labelling the text ‘an attempt to obtain new financing’, be ceased. She also expressed her gratitude for the past activities for Ukraine and human rights in the post-Soviet area, carried out jointly with ODF, and regretted the declaration of discontinuation of the cooperation. Still, the Foundation maintains a sense of rightness in the matter of limiting the independence of the judiciary.
Read our statements:
- Statement of the Open Dialog Foundation of 21 July 2017 on the dismantling of the rule of law in Poland
- Statement of the Open Dialog Foundation of 23 July 2017
- The statement of the decision of the President of the Republic of Poland of 24 July 2017 regarding the judiciary reform
- The Open Dialog Foundation’s statement of 31 July 2017 (funding and donors, or a few words about ‘soroses’)
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