Headline

Legal Chaos In Poland As President, New Govt Clash

Published

1 year ago

January 15, 2024

Editor

A standoff between Poland’s new pro-European government and its nationalist president, who is allied with the previous populist ruling party, is creating legal chaos and political instability.

During eight years of rule by the Law and Justice (PiS) party, Warsaw was at odds with Brussels over judicial reforms which the government said were needed to combat corruption.

The EU said the reforms undermined democratic freedoms and the rule of law in Poland and had blocked billions of euros in recovery funds.

“The institutions of the rule of law have been violated in Poland with the help of the president and the new government is now trying to re-establish them,” Marcin Zaborowski, an expert from the Globsec think tank, told AFP.

The new pro-European coalition headed up by former EU chief Donald Tusk, which came to power in December, has promised to restore rule of law.

Tusk has accused Duda, whose mandate only runs out in 2025, of being the “author of this constitutional and legal confusion”.

While the head of state’s responsibilities are relatively limited in Poland, Duda still has veto power on legislation which the new government is not in a position to overrule.

– ‘Legal dualism’ –

Duda is supported by Law and Justice, which is still a powerful force despite its electoral defeat in October as it has influence over institutions such as the Constitutional Court.

Tensions have been rising ever since the new coalition took power and embarked on major reforms of the judiciary and public media.

The refusal of the previous ruling party to accept a series of new nominations to key institutions has created a confusing situation.

“There is a de facto legal dualism,” Zaborowski said.

Wagner mercenaries train Belarus special forces near Polish border
“Within the Supreme Court, there is one chamber that says the president is right and another that says he is wrong,” he added.

The latest confrontation has been over two former Law and Justice MPs who have been jailed for a case dating back to 2007.

Mariusz Kaminski, a former interior minister, and his colleague Maciej Wasik were arrested last week in the presidential palace where they had been invited by the president.

“This is an unprecedented situation for a democratic country when the president gives refuge to two people who have been convicted by a court,” said Stanislaw Mocek, head of the Collegium Civitas university in Warsaw.

In 2015, the two men were sentenced to prison terms for making false accusations against a leading political figure when they were in charge of the anti-corruption agency.

They then both received a presidential pardon, which was questioned by the Supreme Court.

The Constitutional Court has since rejected the verdict of the Supreme Court, authorising the president to say his pardon was still in force.

– ‘Fuel to the fire’ –

The two were elected to parliament in October but have since had their convictions confirmed on appeal and their parliamentary mandates cancelled.

Now under arrest, they have begun hunger strikes and Duda has launched another pardon procedure.

“The president is adding fuel to the fire, while claiming that he wants to find a compromise. Only one compromise is possible — the rule of law,” Mocek said.

In the furore that ensued, Duda has spoken out against the “terror of the so-called rule of law” while Tusk has called it “a basic principle” that needs to be followed.

The stage is set for a prolonged confrontation that observers say could well last until the end of Duda’s mandate.

“The new government has already shown that it will not pull back from reforms while the president has shown that he will not hesitate to veto them,” Zaborowski said.

Headline

Crude Sinks As Trump Delays Decision On Iran Strike

Published

6 hours ago

June 20, 2025

Editor

Oil prices tumbled Friday and equity traders fought to end a volatile week on a positive note after Donald Trump said he would consider over the next two weeks whether to join Israel’s attacks on Iran.

Speculation had been swirling that Trump would throw his lot in with Israel, but on Thursday, he said he would decide “within the next two weeks” whether to involve the United States, giving diplomacy a shot to end the hostilities.

While tensions are sky high amid fears of an escalation, the US president’s remarks suggested the crisis could be prevented from spiralling into all-out war between the Middle East foes.

Since Israel first hit Iran last Friday, the two have exchanged deadly strikes and apocalyptic warnings, though observers said the conflict has not seen a critical escalation.

European foreign ministers were due to meet their Iranian counterpart on Friday in Geneva.

In a statement read out by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the president said: “Based on the fact that there’s a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.”

Leavitt added: “If there’s a chance for diplomacy, the president’s always going to grab it, but he’s not afraid to use strength as well.”

Both main oil contracts were down around two per cent Friday, but uncertainty prevailed, and traders remained nervous.

“Crude still calls the shots, and volatility’s the devil in the room — and every trader on the street knows we’re two headlines away from chaos,” said Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management.

“Make no mistake: we’re trading a geopolitical powder keg with a lit fuse.

“President Trump’s two-week ‘thinking window’ on whether to join Israel’s war against Iran is no cooling-off period — it’s a ticking volatility clock.”

Stocks were mixed following a public holiday in New York, with Hong Kong, Taipei, Mumbai and Bangkok all up with London, Paris and Frankfurt.

Seoul’s Kospi led the gains, rising more than one per cent to break 3,000 points for the first time in nearly three and a half years.

The index has risen every day except one since the June 4 election of a new president, which ended months of political crisis and fuelled hopes for an economic rebound.

Tokyo fell as Japanese core inflation accelerated, stoked by a doubling in the cost of rice, a hot topic issue that poses a threat to Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba ahead of elections next month.

There were also losses in Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Manila and Jakarta.

The Middle East crisis continues to absorb most of the news but Trump’s trade war remains a major obstacle for investors as the end of a 90-day pause on his April 2 tariff blitz approaches, with few governments reaching deals to avert them being imposed.

“While the worst of the tariffs have been paused, we suspect it won’t be until those deadlines approach that new agreements may be finalised,” said David Sekera, chief US market strategist at Morningstar.

“Until then, as news emerges regarding the progress and substance of trade negotiations, these headlines could have an outsize positive or negative impact on markets.”

Key figures at around 0715 GMT: Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 2.6 percent at $76.85 per barrel, West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.9 percent at $73.62 per barrel, Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.2 percent at 38,403.23 (close), Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.8 percent at 23,421.80, Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,359.90 (close), London – FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 8,819.26 Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1517 from $1.1463 on Thursday, Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3467 from $1.3429, Dollar/yen: DOWN at 145.38 yen from 145.63 yen Euro/pound: UP at 85.51 pence from 85.36 pence.

AFP

Headline

‎Italian PM Trumpets Plan To Boost African Economies At EU Summit

Published

6 hours ago

June 20, 2025

Editor

‎Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni on Friday will host European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in Rome for a summit aimed at boosting African economies in a bid to curb illegal migration to the bloc.
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‎Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party has prioritised cutting irregular immigration, has launched a 5.5-billion-euro ($6.3-billion) plan targeting 14 countries including Ethiopia, Ivory Coast and Senegal to support industries from energy to health care.
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‎Irregular border crossings detected into the European Union stood at 239,000 last year, down 38 percent from an almost 10-year peak in 2023, according to European border agency Frontex.

READ ALSO: Israel’s Netanyahu Says Iran Will ‘Pay Heavy Price’ After Hospital Hit
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‎Meloni’s plan aims to strengthen trade relations between Italy and African nations in the energy sector particularly, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced Rome to seek new supplies of oil and gas.
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‎Rome also wants a stake in financing a railway line between Zambia and Angola, and is planning a 65-million-euro investment in biofuel production in Kenya.
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‎Kenyan President William Ruto has praised the plan as “ambitious”, but noted “that investment alone is not enough” and African economies continue to be burdened by debt.
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‎African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat has also warned that the continent “cannot rely solely on promises that are often broken”.

READ ALSO: Italian Town Revokes Mussolini Honorary Citizenship
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‎Experts say that Italy has “promised too much” by implying that these investments could reduce the number of migrants by creating jobs and growth.
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‎”The funding that Italy can provide is not at the right scale,” Giovanni Carbone, head of the University of Milan’s Africa programme, told AFP.
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‎The plan serves to benefit the interests of “large companies in the Italian fossil fuel industry”, said Simone Ogno from the NGO ReCommon.
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‎Major Italian companies are already involved in the plan, including oil giant Eni, electricity carrier Terna and agro-industrial group Bonifiche Ferraresi.
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‎Undocumented migration via the Central Mediterranean route — between North Africa and Italy — saw around 67,000 migrant arrivals in 2024, Frontex said, down 59 percent from the year prior.
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‎AFP

Headline

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, Deserves Not To Live – Israel’s Defence Minister

Published

1 day ago

June 19, 2025

Editor

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei

Israel’s Defence Minister on Thursday issued a direct threat against Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accusing him of orchestrating attacks on Israel through proxy forces and calling for his elimination.

The minister’s remarks, reported by Al Jazeera, reflect growing tensions between the two countries following an Iranian missile strike on Beersheba, which reportedly caused damage to the Soroka Medical Center.

The minister stated that Khamenei has consistently sought Israel’s destruction, adding that preventing him from continuing his actions is now considered part of Israel’s broader campaign.

According to him, as reported by Al Jazeera, “A man like [Khamenei] has always aimed at destroying Israel through his agents.

“This man, who is willing to attack us, must not stay alive. This matter, the matter of stopping this man, eliminating him, is part of the campaign, and we now understand his role because before, he was talking about the destruction of Israel.”

In recent days, Israel has launched strikes on Iranian nuclear and military facilities, prompting retaliatory missile and drone attacks from Iran.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently addressed the Iranian people in a video message, expressing hope that military operations would help pave the way for Iranians to achieve freedom.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump also weighed in on Khamenei, stating in a social media post: “We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now… Our patience is wearing thin.”

Earlier, Khamenei warned the US that any strikes on its territory would have “serious irreparable consequences”.

As reported by Al Jazeera, the death toll from Israel’s attacks on Iran has risen to more than 240, including 70 women and children. At least 24 people have been killed in Iranian attacks on Israel.