Thursday

30th Mar 2023

Poland hammered on women's rights in EU debate

  • Warsaw: women's rights protest erupted after court ruling last month (Photo: Piotr Pawłowski)

The European Commission has urged Poland not to abandon a treaty against domestic violence, as Warsaw continues to drift further from EU norms.

"The Istanbul Convention is the gold standard in terms of policy in this area," equality commissioner Helena Dalli said in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday (25 November), referring to a 2011 international treaty.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Access to abortion was "essential" to women and girls' health, EU commissioner Helena Dalli said (Photo: European Parliament)

All EU countries have signed it, but not all have ratified it, while Poland's right-wing government, earlier this year, said it might exit the accord, in a question which remains open.

But Dalli pledged that if, by mid-2021, the EU still faced shortcomings in this area, then the commission would propose a "legal initiative ... to reach the same objectives as the Istanbul Convention".

And she would propose making violence against women a "eurocrime", Dalli added, referring to designated offences, such as terrorism and human trafficking, where the EU sets minimum penalties for the whole bloc.

Manon Aubry, a French left-wing MEP, read out a list of 86 women in Wednesday's debate, who were killed at home by their partner or ex in France in 2020, in what Dalli also called "barbarism versus civilisation".

But the problem with Poland came to the fore when Sylwia Spurek, a Polish Green MEP, said:

"There are still countries in the European Union that call the fight for women's rights an 'ideology'. They use tradition, religion, and protection of family as an excuse".

Meanwhile, women's rights protests continued in Poland this week, following a Polish Constitutional Court ruling in October, which made almost all abortions illegal.

Police detained several people and charged a female journalist with assaulting a police officer at one demonstration in Warsaw on Monday, the AP news agency reported.

And Dalli voiced empathy in Brussels on Wednesday, saying access to abortion was "essential" to women and girls' health.

She admitted that, "from a legal perspective, it's clear the EU has no competence on abortion rights within a member state".

But she underlined the commission's "concern" on the political bias of the Polish Constitutional Court, which is a subject of EU sanctions procedures and potential budget fines.

And Poland's image took a political hammering in the EP debates.

"It's utterly unacceptable that a Constitutional Court controlled by the government of Mr Kaczyński wants to attack one of the fundamental rights of women", Iratxe García Pérez, a Spanish MEP in charge of the Socialists & Democrats group, said, referring to Polish ruling party chairman Jarosław Kaczyński.

Poland was taking "a step backward in time," for Dutch liberal MEP Samira Rafaela.

'One party, one religion'

Polish MEP Jadwiga Wiśniewska, from Kaczyński's Law and Justice party, said the EP was irresponsible for encouraging street protests, due to the pandemic.

"Trying to impose this left-wing agenda is going to lead to illness and death due to Covid-19," Wiśniewska said.

A handful of other anti-abortion MEPs spoke of their Christian beliefs.

But for Spurek, the Polish Green deputy, Kaczyński's vision of Poland clashed with normal EU values and politics.

"There is no rule of law in Poland anymore. There is no free public media. There are no rights for women. Every year in Poland we move further away from Paris, from Berlin, from Rome," she said.

"We [Polish women] don't want to continue to suffer because of one party and one religion," Spurek said.

Von der Leyen tells Poland and Hungary to go to court

Poland and Hungary should ask the EU's top court to assess linking EU funds to the respect of the rule of law instead of blocking the budget and recovery package, the EU Commission chief said, most MEPs backed her up.

Opinion

Could we found a new EU without Hungary and Poland?

Mark Rutte's comment is the first time the leader of an EU country has publicly considered the possibility of the EU integration project continuing without recalcitrant states.

Opinion

Nationwide protests reveal awakening of Poland's youth

The impact of Covid-19 on the scale, demography and length of current protests cannot be underestimated. Newspapers have hailed them "the biggest demonstrations since the fall of communism in 1989".

Poland and Hungary battle to eradicate 'gender' in EU policies

The efforts by the two nationalist-conservative governments, which have both attacked LGBTIQ-rights and women' rights at home, is causing angst among several member states, who see it as a possible roll-back on gender rights.

Opinion

Why can't we stop marches glorifying Nazism on EU streets?

Every year, neo-Nazis come together to pay tribute to Nazi war criminals and their collaborators, from Benito Mussolini to Rudolf Hess, Ante Pavelić, Hristo Lukov, and of course Adolf Hitler, in events that have become rituals on the extreme-right calendar.

Latest News

  1. The overlooked 'crimes against children' ICC arrest warrant
  2. EU approves 2035 phaseout of polluting cars and vans
  3. New measures to shield the EU against money laundering
  4. What does China really want? Perhaps we could try asking
  5. Dear EU, the science is clear: burning wood for energy is bad
  6. Biden's 'democracy summit' poses questions for EU identity
  7. Finnish elections and Hungary's Nato vote in focus This WEEK
  8. EU's new critical raw materials act could be a recipe for conflict

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. InformaConnecting Expert Industry-Leaders, Top Suppliers, and Inquiring Buyers all in one space - visit Battery Show Europe.
  2. EFBWWEFBWW and FIEC do not agree to any exemptions to mandatory prior notifications in construction
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersNordic and Baltic ways to prevent gender-based violence
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Economic gender equality now! Nordic ways to close the pension gap
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: Pushing back the push-back - Nordic solutions to online gender-based violence
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersCSW67: The Nordics are ready to push for gender equality

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Azerbaijan Embassy9th Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting and 1st Green Energy Advisory Council Ministerial Meeting
  2. EFBWWEU Social Dialogue review – publication of the European Commission package and joint statement of ETUFs
  3. Oxfam InternationalPan Africa Program Progress Report 2022 - Post Covid and Beyond
  4. WWFWWF Living Planet Report
  5. Europan Patent OfficeHydrogen patents for a clean energy future: A global trend analysis of innovation along hydrogen value chains

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us