#adam bodnar

[tomorrowusa]

In Poland, Donald Tusk (the GOOD Donald) was formally sworn in as prime minister on Wednesday along with the rest of his government. He gave a speech in the Sejm, parts of which you can see with subtitles above.

He has promised to undo much of what the previous rightwing PiS government had done for the past eight years.

Expect Poland to play an increasingly important role in EU affairs.

Things may be bumpy into mid 2025. Lame duck President Andrzej Duda, associated with PiS, will remain in office until the next presidential election set for May of 2025.

Tusk is pro-democracy, pro-NATO, pro-Europe, pro-Ukraine, pro-US, anti-Putin, and anti-bigotry. What's not to like? 😁

This is the new cabinet.

Several notable ministers...

Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz - A Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense. He's from Trzecia Droga (Third Way), one of Tusk's coalition partners.

Krzysztof Gawkowski - Another Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Affairs. He's from Nowa Lewnica (New Left), Tusk's other coalition partner.

Adam Bodnar - Minister of Justice. An anti-racist who previously served as Commissioner of Human Rights.

Barbara Nowacka – Minister of Education. She is an advocate of separation of church and state and leading opponent of the strict anti-abortion law passed by the recently defeated PiS government. IMHO, she's one of the best speakers in Polish politics.

Radosław "Radek" Sikorski - Minister of Foreign Affairs. A veteran colleague of Tusk who served as Foreign Minister and Defense Minister in previous governments. His wife happens to be American historian and journalist Anne Applebaum.

Speaking of Sikorski, he's already spoken with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba who invited him to Kyiv.

This government has hit the ground running.

[faktypress]

Poseł Marcin Warchoł składa doniesienie do prokuratury na działania ministra A. Bodnara

[mariacallous]

The Polish National Prosecutor’s Office laid out in a report published on Tuesday how the prosecution service under the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government allegedly either specially initiated or prematurely ended key investigations to serve the political interests of the ruling party.

“The law states prosecutors must be impartial and treat all citizens equally, but the last few years of functioning of the prosecution service in Poland brought many cases when this rule was broken, in a cynical manner and leading to absurd decisions,” Dariusz Korneluk, Poland’s current national prosecutor, told reporters following the release of an audit into the activity of Polish prosecutors between 2016-2023.

The report is the first part of a larger study ordered by the national prosecutor last year looking into around 600 alleged instances of politicised prosecution under the previous nationalist-populist government. In the section of the analysis published on Tuesday, the first batch of 200 cases was presented.

From 2015-2023, the PiS government undertook a number of controversial reforms to extend government control over the judicial system’s workings and personnel. The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) issued several separate rulings in which it declared those reforms were contrary to the principle of judicial independence enshrined in EU law. The current liberal-democratic government was elected in late 2023 on a promise to investigate alleged abuses of office committed by PiS and its allies while in power.

Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar received the first part of the report on December 31 and announced it would be published in the coming weeks. “Today I received the first part – counting about 200 pages – of a detailed report prepared by the National Prosecutor’s Office, looking at proceedings taking place between 2016-2023, for which there was a suspicion of political influence on their evolution and decisions made in relation to them,” Bodnar wrote on X on December 31.

“After a preliminary review of the findings, it can be concluded that the prosecution service was suffering from a systemic illness during the period under review,” Bodnar posted, adding that many cases had been conducted in an “unreliable manner” and would have to be reevaluated by independent prosecutors.

“The report will also be the basis for disciplinary liability, and in some cases criminal liability, in the cases of those prosecutors who violated their professional oath by making decisions contrary to the gathered evidence but instead implementing political orders or expectations,” Bodnar vowed.

Among the most prominent cases detailed in the report released on Tuesday are two referring to allegations of corruption or wrongdoing against PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski. In 2019, leaked recordings seemed to indicate that Kaczynski – whose public image has always been an austere one – was steering plans to construct two skyscrapers in the centre of Warsaw that would have generated large profits for PiS leaders. The scandal came to be dubbed the “Twin Towers”.

Gerald Birgfellner, an Austrian architect and relative of Kaczynski, filed a complaint against Kaczynski with prosecutors, alleging that the PiS leader had halted construction plans without paying him compensation. In a separate case, prosecutors were supposed to investigate evidence from multiple sources which pointed to Kaczynski paying a bribe to a priest sitting on the board of the PiS-related foundation that owned the land on which the Two Towers project was supposed to be built, to get him to agree to the construction plans. Under PiS, prosecutors suspended both investigations.

Other examples of cases not pursued by prosecutors despite the existence of evidence include the car accident caused by former PiS prime minister Beata Szydlo; how allies of former PiS defence minister Antoni Macierewicz (who is suspected of links to Russia) irregularly entered the NATO-accredited Counter Intelligence Centre of Excellence in Krakow and accessed documents there; and corruption allegations against Daniel Obajtek, former head of state energy giant PKN Orlen and a Kaczynski ally.

The analysis presented on Tuesday also includes cases of prosecutors pursuing opposition activists or business leaders who were in conflict with PiS, where the prosecution seemed to lack sufficient evidence.

[beardedmrbean]

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — European Union Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders on Friday praised efforts by Poland’s new pro-EU government to restore the rule of law and said they may lead to the release of billions of euros in EU funds for the country that were frozen under the previous government.

Reynders was holding talks in Warsaw with new Justice Minister Adam Bodnar, the foreign and European affairs ministers and parliament speakers about the steps that Poland's month-old government is taking to reverse the controversial judicial policies of the previous administration that the EU had criticized as undemocratic.

Reynders said at a news conference that he was pleased by the determination of Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his Cabinet in restoring the rule of law, in line with Poland's Constitution and the requirements of the EU and the European Convention on Human Rights.

He said the European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-member bloc, was supporting the government's efforts.

He expressed hope that the steps would soon allow the approval of Poland’s request for the release of about 7 billion euros ($7.6 billion) from the post-pandemic recovery funds earmarked for the country. The EU froze the money as a result of rule-of-law disputes with Poland’s previous right-wing government of the Law and Justice party.

Among its key steps, Tusk's government has imprisoned two members of the previous government who were convicted of abuse of power and document forging and is making personnel changes in vital judicial bodies and some courts where rule-of-law principles had been questioned.

Bodnar's steps have been harshly criticized by the opposition which lost power in October elections, but he told the news conference that they were well thought-out and necessary.

[tunneldweller]

dziś, gazetapeel:

Jak wynika z komunikatu opublikowanego we wtorek na oficjalnej stronie Prokuratury Krajowej, 29 stycznia Prokurator Generalny Adam Bodnar "cofnął wniosek o podjęcie uchwały o charakterze abstrakcyjnym przez skład siedmiu sędziów Sądu Najwyższego w przedmiocie zagadnienia prawnego odnoszącego się do kręgu osób uczestniczących w procedurze uzgodnienia płci". [...] Obecny Prokurator Generalny stwierdził, że celem skierowania wniosku było utrudnienie przeprowadzania procedury uzgodnienia płci. Miało temu służyć zaangażowanie do udziału w postępowaniu dodatkowych podmiotów, w tym m.in. dzieci osób, które starają się o uzgodnienie płci. Włączenie ich w procedurę miało także prowadzić do naruszenia ich praw. "Podobny pogląd" na sprawę miał wyrazić Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich.

[celuloideycarbono]

Tour de France 2014

Ag2r La Mondiale: Romain Bardet, Christophe Riblon, Jean-Christophe Péraud, Samuel Dumoulin, Biel Kadri...

Belkin: Laurens Ten Dam, Steven Kruijswijk, Sep Vanmarcke, Bauke Mollema, Lars Boom, Bram Tankink...

Lotto - Belisol: Andre Greipel, Adam Hansen, Marcel Sieberg...

Sky: Chris Froome, Vasil Kiriyenka, Mikel Nieve, Richie Porte, Bernhard Eisel, Xabier Zandio...

Cannondale: Peter Sagan, Alessandro De Marchi, Elia Viviani, Maciej Bodnar, Marco Marcato, Kritjan Koren...

BMC: Greg Van Avermaet, Daniel Oss, Marcus Burghardt, Tejay Van Garderen...

Fdj: Thibaut Pinot, Arnaud Démare, Arthur Vichot...

Astana: Vincenzo Nibali, Jakob Fuglsang, Maxim Iglinskiy, Michele Scarponi...

Orica - GreenEdge: Simon Yates, Simon Gerrans, Simon Clarke, Michael Matthews, Michael Albasini, Matthew Hayman, Svein Tuft, Luke Durbrige, Jens Keukeleire.

Giant: Marcel Kittel, John Degenkolb, Tom Dumoulin, Dries Devenyns...

Team selfies!

[korrektheiten]

Polen: Justiz hebt Immunität des ehemaligen Premiers Morawiecki auf

Tichy:»Dem ehemaligen polnischen Ministerpräsidenten Mateusz Morawiecki wird vorgeworfen, dass er während der Corona-Pandemie 2020 unzulässigerweise eine Fernwahl des Präsidenten organisieren wollte. Staatsanwalt und Justizminister Adam Bodnar fordert die Aufhebung seiner parlamentarischen Immunität, damit er vor Gericht gestellt werden kann. Morawiecki, inzwischen Mitglied des Europäischen Parlaments, sieht darin eine politische Kampagne gegen ihn. Die Ereignisse gehen Der Beitrag Polen: Justiz hebt Immunität des ehemaligen Premiers Morawiecki auf erschien zuerst auf Tichys Einblick. http://dlvr.it/THRCk1 «

[goalhofer]

2024 olympics Romania roster

Archery

Mădălina Amăistroaie (Suceava)

Athletics

Alin Firfirică (Timișoara)

Andrei Toader (Râmnicu Vâlcea)

Alexandru Novac (Adjud)

Andrea Miklós (Cluj-Napoca)

Stella Rutto (Bucharest)

Delvine Relin-Meringor (Bucharest)

Joan Chelimo-Melly (Bucharest)

Alina Rotaru-Kottmann (Bucharest)

Diana Ion (Bucharest)

Elena Taloș (Câmpulung)

Bianca Ghelber (Roman)

Daniela Stanciu (Buftea)

Boxing

Lenuța Perijoc (Siret)

Canoeing

Oleg Nuță (Bucharest)

Ilie Sprîncean (Criuleni, Moldova)

Cătălin Chirilă (Tulcea)

Cycling

Molnár Ede-Károly (Suceava)

Fencing

Mălina Călugăreanu (Bucharest)

Gymnastics

Andrei Muntean (Sibiu)

Ana Bărbosu (Focșani)

Lilia Cosman (Deva)

Amalia Ghigoarță (Lugoj)

Andreea Preda (Constanța)

Sabrina Maneca-Voinea (Constanța)

Annaliese Dragan (Bucharest)

Judo

Alex Creț (Oradea)

Rowing

Andrei Lungu (Bucharest)

Iliuță-Leontin Nuțescu (Suceava)

Andrei Mândrilă (Chișinău, Moldova)

Bogdan-Sabin Baitoc (Bucharest)

Claudiu Neamțu (Dorohoi)

Mihai Chiruță (Suceava)

Andrei Cornea (Broșteni)

Marian Enache (Târgu Cărbunești)

Florin Horodișteanu (Dorohoi)

Ioan Prundeanu (Fălticeni)

Florin Arteni-Fîntînariu (Suceava)

Florin Lehaci (Câmpulung)

Sergiu Bejan (Suceava)

Ștefan Berariu (Dumbrăveni)

Ciprian Tudosă (Fălticeni)

Marius Cozmiuc (Suceava)

Constantin Adam (Călărași)

Mugurel Semciuc (Suceava)

Mihăiță Țigănescu (Suceava)

Adrian Munteanu (Orșova)

Emanuela-Ioana Ciotău (Radauti)

Ioana-Madalina Moroșan (Siliștea)

Alexandra Ungureanu (Bucharest)

Ionela Cozmiuc (Câmpulung Moldovenesc)

Gianina Van Groningen (Gura Humorului)

Nicoleta Bodnar (Vatra Moldoviței)

Simona Radiș (Botoșani)

Patricia Cireș (Bucharest)

Roxana-Iuliana Anghel (Câmpulung Moldovenesc)

Iona Vrînceanu (Târgu Neamț)

Adriana Adam (Văleni)

Amalia Bereș (Pașcani)

Maria Lehaci (Câmpulung)

Maria-Magdalena Rusu (Vaslui)

Victoria-Ștefania Petreanu (Constanța)

Sailing

Ebru Bolat (Constanța)

Swimming

David Popovici (Bucharest)

Vlad-Ștefan Stancu (Bucharest)

Rebecca-Aimee Papuc-Diaconescu (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Table tennis

Ovidiu Ionescu (Buzău)

Andrei Ionescu (Buzău)

Szőcs Bernadette (Bremen, Germany)

Elizabeta Samara (Constanța)

Adina Diaconu (Slatina)

Tennis

Irina-Camelia Begu (Bucharest)

Ana Bogdan (Cluj-Napoca)

Jacqueline Cristian (Bucharest)

Monica Niculescu (Bucharest)

Triathlon

Felix Duchampt (Clermont-Ferrand, France)

Water polo

Marius-Florin Țic (Oradea)

Francesco Iudean (Bucharest)

Matei Luțescu (Bucharest)

Tudor-Andrei Fulea (Bucharest)

Andrei-Radu Neamțu (Bucharest)

Andrei Prioteasa (Slatina)

Andrei Țepeluș (Bucharest)

Nicolae Oanță (Slatina)

Silvian Colodrovschi (Aix-En-Provence, France)

Vlad-Luca Georgescu (Bucharest)

Sebastian Oltean (Bucharest)

Levente Vancsik (Bucharest)

Eduard Drăgușin (Bucharest)

Weightlifting

Mihaela Cambei (Dofteana)

Loredana Toma (Botoșani)

Wrestling

Răzvan Arnăut (Constanța)

Alin Alexuc-Ciurariu (Botoșani)

Andreea Ana (Mangalia)

Ince Kriszta (Sfântu Gheorghe)

Cătălina Axente (Galați)

[head-post]

Global media control gaining momentum

Poland discusses reforming state media while a lawsuit in Greece threatens to silence journalists, with social streaming and media giants collecting user data.

The Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR) consortium completed a two-day mission to Poland on 16-17 September, holding meetings with the Minister of Justice, Adam Bodnar, the Ministry of Culture, as well as journalists, publishers, regulators, and media law experts.

The mission focused on measures to reform public media, the protection of journalists from Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPP) and proposals to reform the media landscape in line with the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA).

The meetings discussed changes in the state media after Donald Tusk’s government used legal mechanisms to remove senior figures from the public broadcaster Telewizja Polska S.A. The ministry also said it had swiftly withdrawn 37 SLAPP cases brought by the previous cabinet.

The government has been criticised for being slow to implement reforms and provide legal and financial certainty for the public broadcaster, which has been in a state of “liquidation” since the beginning of the year.

Press freedom in Greek court

MFRR expressed its full support to Greek journalist Stavroula Poulimeni and media outlet Alterthess ahead of their appeal hearing on 19 September. The hearing followed a court ruling. The judgement partially upheld a civil suit seeking damages for Poulimeni’s reporting on the conviction of two Hellas Gold executives for water pollution.

Alterthess was ordered to pay €3,000 to one of the executives in 2023 for reporting on his court conviction in October 2020. The judge ruled that although the sentence was publicly available information, the publication of his name was a breach of his privacy protected by GDPR rules and caused moral damage.

If the judgement stands, the future of judicial journalism and the public’s right of access to court decisions will be jeopardised. Moreover, the court’s ruling risks fuelling new SLAPP aimed at silencing media outlets in Greece, where journalists are already facing increasing legal harassment.

No data protection

Social media companies collect, share, and process vast amounts of information about their users without transparency or oversight, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) report.

The document published on Thursday analyses how Meta Platforms, ByteDance’s TikTok, Amazon’s Twitch gaming platform, and other companies manage user data. The FTC concludes that data management and storage policies at many of them are “woefully inadequate.”

Media companies collected data through tracking technologies used in online advertising, by buying information from data brokers, and in other ways, FTC Chair Lina Khan stated.

While lucrative for the companies, these surveillance practices can endanger people’s privacy, threaten their freedoms, and expose them to a host of harms, from identity theft to stalking.

Data privacy, especially for children and teens, is a hot topic. The US House is considering bills passed by the Senate in July to address the impact of social media on young users. Meta recently released accounts for teens that include enhanced parental control features.

In addition to collecting data, most of the companies reviewed by the FTC collected users’ ages and genders or guessed them based on other information. Some also gathered information about users’ income, education, and marital status.

However, advertising industry groups criticised the report on Thursday. David Cohen, chief executive of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, an advertising and marketing group including Snapchat, TikTok and Amazon, said:

We are disappointed with the FTC’s continued characterisation of the digital advertising industry as engaged in ‘mass commercial surveillance.

Meta recently said it would ban Russian state media from using its apps, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Threads. The measure was taken after US prosecutors claimed that RT allegedly funded influence campaigns through social media.

Read more HERE

[atheistmediablog]

Bischöfe kritisieren Leitlinien zu Abtreibungen

Die katholische Kirche in Polen kritisiert neue Leitlinien des Gesundheitsministeriums und des Generalstaatsanwalts Adam Bodnar zu Abtreibungen. „Der Inhalt der Leitlinien und die Art und Weise ihrer Veröffentlichung geben Anlass zu größter Sorge“, heißt es in einer Stellungnahme. weiterlesen: [https://religion.orf.at/stories/3226592/

[leontiucmarius]

Echipa României de 8+1 feminin la canotaj a obținut Aurul la Jocurile Olimpice de la Paris

Echipa României de 8+1 feminin la canotaj s-a impus cu timpul de 5 min 54 sec. România a urcat pe locul 11, cu șase medalii câștigate la Jocurile Olimpice. David Popovici s-a întors în țară cu cele două medalii câștigate. Magdalena Rusu, Roxana Anghel, Ancuţa Bodnar, Maria Lehaci, Adriana Adam, Amalia Bereş, Ioana Vrînceanu, Simona Radiş și Victoria Petreanu ne-au făcut o mare bucurie, câștigând…

[polish-lgbt-zone]

The Polish Ombudsman, Adam Bodnar, said today that the President should apologize to the LGBT community. “The President shouldn’t use words that contest the sense of our national community, that undermine the fact that all our citizens should be equal. I think that the President should apologize for his words,” said Bodnar. 

The Ombudsman hopes that in the future the situation of sexual minorities will improve. He notes that the bashing of the LGBT made it so that many voices in the opposition expressed their support for the most basic postulates of the LGBT community in Poland.

[mariacallous]

Hungarian Minister of European Affairs Janos Boka took aim at Warsaw on Tuesday for its actions and words since Poland took over the six-month presidency of the Council of the EU from Hungary on January 1, making remarks that are likely to inflame the already tense relations between the two former allies.

“The Polish [EU] presidency did not start well,” Boka told a press conference on Tuesday, held in order to highlight the successes of Hungary’s stint at the helm of the EU. “The Polish presidency is doing things it should not be doing and not doing things it should be doing.”

Asked by BIRN about his government’s move on December 19 to grant asylum to an accused former Polish deputy justice minister, Boka replied: “I don’t think that granting asylum to [Marcin Romanowski] should affect bilateral political relations.”

However, he said the reaction of the Polish authorities to its decision “is incompatible with a loyal [EU] presidency and raises concerns about Poland being an honest broker.”

Boka was referring to Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski calling the grant of asylum a “hostile act” and recalling the Polish ambassador to Hungary.

On Friday, Polish Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Adam Bodnar sent a letter to his Hungarian counterpart requesting Romanowski’s extradition.

Meanwhile, Hungary’s ambassador to Poland, who returned to Warsaw after the Christmas holidays, has effectively been barred from appearing at public events, like the opening ceremony of the Polish EU presidency on January 3. According to the Polish daily Wyborza Gazeta, Poland’s Foreign Ministry recommended that all state institutions should avoid any event where the Hungarian ambassador would be present – a highly unusual diplomatic move and indicative of how far bilateral relations have deteriorated, say experts.

Romanowski, a close ally of former hardline Polish justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, is accused of having overseen the misuse of public money from a Solidarity Fund meant for victims of violence. Large amounts of the fund were illegally allocated to foundations close to the leadership of the previous Law and Justice (PiS) government, while another part was used to purchase the Pegasus surveillance software for use by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA).

On December 19, the new Polish government, which campaigned on a pledge to investigate alleged abuses of office committed by PiS and its allies while in power from 2015 to 2023, issued a European Arrest Warrant for Romanowski after fearing he had fled the country. Romanowski turned up in Budapest later that day, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, explaining to the media the asylum claim was granted on the basis that the new Polish government “uses the criminal law against its political opponents”.

The normally soft-spoken Boka, a lawyer by training, also openly questioned whether Romanowski would have a fair trial in Poland and even raised concerns about the legitimacy of the country’s prosecutor general, Adam Bodnar.

Boka said an independent Hungarian court would examine the arrest warrant and decide on its validity. “I hope Poland is not trying to put pressure on the independent Hungarian judiciary,” he added.

Yet the extent to which Hungarian courts can be considered free of political influence is a matter of some debate in Hungary and beyond. Recently, Orban’s government offered judges a Faustian deal: pay rises in exchange for agreeing to as-yet unknown judicial reforms. There is speculation that certain cases are often assigned to judges sympathetic to the government.

At his international press conference at the end of last year, Prime Minister Orban did not rule out granting asylum to other Polish politicians, if necessary.

Should this happen, Wyborza Gazeta reported Polish Foreign Ministry sources as saying, the Hungarian ambassador would be promptly expelled.

[sensoryqualia]

Photo of a sweet friend smoking somehing that appears to be a cigarette. Bohinj, 2018

[zyciestolicy]

Nowa fucha Adama Bodnara. Sprawdź gdzie będzie pracował były Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich!

Nowa fucha Adama Bodnara. Sprawdź gdzie będzie pracował były Rzecznik Praw Obywatelskich!

W czwartek 15 lipca Adam Bodnar zakończył urzędowanie na stanowisku RPO. To konsekwencja wyroku Trybunału Konstytucyjnego, który w kwietniu orzekł, że przepis ustawy o RPO, który pozwala na pełnienie przez rzecznika obowiązków po upływie 5-letniej kadencji, do czasu powołania następcy, jest niekonstytucyjny. Przepis straci moc obowiązującą właśnie 15 lipca. Ustawowo kadencja Bodnara upłynęła we…

[humanrightsupdates]

Poland’s Top Watchdog Removed at Government’s Behest

A government-captured court has removed Poland’s Human Rights Ombudsmen Adam Bodnar from his post, likely spelling the end of one of last independent checks on the country’s abusive government.

The battle for the future of the Ombudsman has been going on for months. When Bodnar’s mandate ended in September, the law provided that he should stay in office until a successor is appointed.

But the candidate proposed by Poland’s ruling party, Law-and-Justice, was rejected by the Polish Senate. To break this stalemate, the party used the coopted Constitutional Tribunal to rule that the continuity provision was unconstitutional and shouldn’t be applied anymore. Today the tribunal ordered Bodnar be removed from his position.

This is the same court that carried out the government’s wishes in October and eliminated one of few grounds for abortion when the government could not get legislation to do so through parliament.

The Bodnar case is yet another example of Poland’s assault on the rule of law. Since 2015, the government has politicized judicial appointments, refused to implement judgements and severely undermined the Constitutional Tribunal’s independence and effectiveness. - Human Rights Watch