Freedom in the World 1999 - Poland

1999 Scores

Status: Free
Freedom Rating: 1.5
Civil Liberties: 2
Political Rights: 1

Overview

Two events that seemed unlikely in Poland ten years ago occurred in 1999: Poland joined NATO, and Pope John Paul II visited in June to help his country celebrate the tenth anniversary of communism's demise. Yet ten years of democracy, free markets, and integration with Europe was matched in 1999 by economic slowdown, budget cuts, and bungled reforms that made the coalition government of Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek increasingly unpopular.

Poland was partitioned by Prussia, Russia, and Austria in the eighteenth century and reemerged as an independent republic after World War I. In 1939, it was invaded and divided by Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia, coming under full German control after the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. After the war, its eastern territories remained part of Ukraine, but it acquired large tracts of eastern Prussia. The Communists gained control after fraudulent elections in 1947.

Roundtable discussions between the Communist regime and the opposition, led by the Solidarity Trade Union, ended Communist rule in 1989. In 1990 Lech Walesa, the former Solidarity leader, was directly elected president. A highly fragmented parliament and a powerful president led to a series of failed governments while market reforms steadily improved economic conditions.

In 1993, voters swept the former Communists back into power, and the reformed-Communist Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) governed with the support of the Peasant Party (PSL). In March 1995, Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak, of the PSL, was replaced by Jozef Oleksy after a three-month crisis during which opposition groups called for a caretaker nonparty government of national unity. Later that year, Alexander Kwasniewski of the SLD defeated Walesa in a runoff for the presidency. In 1997, the Solidarity Electoral Action (AWS) coalition ousted the ruling SLD in parliamentary elections. Buzek, a veteran Solidarity activist, was named to lead a coalition government with the pro-market Freedom Union (UW).

Poland joined NATO on March 12, 1999. Reforms and agricultural policies to make the country ready for European Union (EU) membership by the year 2003 sparked protests by farmers, and June polls showed that public support for EU membership dropped from 64 percent in 1998 to 55 percent in 1999. Public concerns about reform were further heightened by the botched privatization of the country's health care system. The economy slowed in 1999, marked by 12 percent unemployment, 6 percent inflation, falling foreign investment, and lower exports. The gross domestic product (GDP) was expected to decrease, from 4.8 percent in 1998 to 3.6 in 1999. The government's popularity sank to an all-time low in September, but Buzek defused calls to step down with a cabinet shuffle in October.

Political Rights and Civil Liberties

Poles have the means to change their government democratically under a multiparty system. In 1997, Polish citizens approved a new constitution by referendum. The document confirmed civil and political rights and weakened some of the appointive powers of the president. It also allowed a presidential veto to be overridden by a three-fifths parliamentary vote. In May, the lower house followed up on 1997 constitutional provision, allowing for citizen-initiated referendums on issues not related to the constitution, the budget, or the public debt.

The constitution guarantees freedom of the press and of expression, though there are laws proscribing publicly insulting or deriding the nation and its political system. More than 85 percent of the media have been privatized. There are more than 300 newspapers, 119 commercial radio stations (six national stations, five of which are state- owned), as well as ten commercial television stations. In August 1999, the Roman Catholic Church in Poland began plans for a national commercial television station. Private broadcasters face stiff competition from state media, but most are partly owned by well-financed foreign media companies. Major newspapers also have foreign investors, and the print media are restricted to no more than 33 percent foreign ownership. PAP, the national wire service, was privatized in 1997. The National TV and Radio Council is ostensibly independent of the government, but since its nine members are nominated by parliament, the senate, and the president's office, politics play a role in its composition. In September, the director of the state Television Information Agency resigned, claiming that council members sympathetic towards the Polish Peasants' Party were pressuring journalists and editors to give the party disproportionate coverage.

Religious freedom is guaranteed in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country. Tensions exist between the Roman Catholic majority and the Ukrainian Catholic minority in parts of the country with a sizable Ukrainian population. In August, a Jewish community center was vandalized. During the last year, the Roman Catholic church established Radio Plus as a more moderate and tolerant alternative to Radio Maryja, a popular national station owned by the Redemptionist fathers, which has aired anti-Semitic views by listeners and programs critical of the EU and foreign investment.

The law provides for freedom of assembly, and the government generally respects this right in practice.

Poland has a wide range of political parties estimated to total more than 200, but most are small or exist mainly on paper. Poland has about 25,000 NGOs, ranging from professional associations and think tanks to civil society organizations and youth groups.

The constitution allows for the formation of independent trade unions. The principal union federations are the former Communist National Alliance of Trade Unions (OPZZ) and the Independent Self-governing Trade Union Solidarity (NSZZ). In September, more than 30,000 farmers, miners, and industrial workers protested in Warsaw over government budget cuts, low wages, and EU reforms that lowered or eliminated subsidies. Doctors, nurses, and civil servants also protested over low pay and work conditions in 1999. The lack of reforms to the deteriorating agriculture sector, which employs more than 20 percent of Poland's work-force, contributed to the farmers' activism and to the growing prominence of the nationalist farm union leader Andrzej Lepper.

The criminal justice system has been dramatically restructured over the last eight years. Judges rule fairly in criminal and civil cases, but the courts are plagued by poor administration and financial problems. In 1999 the government expedited the process of investigating and removing nonelected officials who had been involved with the previous Communist regime. In March, three prosecutors and the deputy minister of the economy resigned because they had not disclosed their involvement with the Communist-era secret services. In October, Burzek dismissed Deputy Prime Minister Janusz Tomaszewski, a long-time Solidarity activist, for supposedly cooperating with Communist security services. Although September 1999 surveys indicated 79 percent of Poles supported the investigations, the resignations and dismissals renewed criticism that the process had become a destabilizing witch-hunt.

Freedom of movement is not restricted, and Poles can choose their place of residence and employment. Property rights are secure under law, though registries of land, companies, and property liens are not fully developed. In July 1999, the government initiated laws, to take effect by the end of the year, that would increase copyright protection and ease restrictions on foreigners owning land.

The constitution guarantees equality of the sexes. Women are represented in government, business, and educational institutions. There are scores of women's organizations and advocacy groups concerned with issues ranging from domestic violence to women's rights.