Thomas Regnier, acting as European Commission Ombudsman announced on Tuesdaythat this body is inactive curious in organising the alleged circular table concerning the presidential elections in Poland. The condition is to request this from the Warsaw authorities. Will Tusk ask for “brother help” on the way to Trzaskovsky's victory?
The Romanian variant in Poland is getting closer. To ask journalists if the EC plans to cooperate with the Tusk government to "To counter electoral disinformation"As was the case with Germany and Romania, Regnier stated that the EC is inactive declaring its willingness to do so. However, he pointed out that this should be done at the request of national authorities and with the engagement of national digital service coordinators for abroad districts as regards the organisation of a circular table.
– Berlin called for a circular table before the February parliamentary elections in Germany. The Romanian authorities besides asked us to do the same. If Poland so requests, we will be happy to participate said Regnier.
Let's remember how it all started. A paper was published in January by the EU Venice Commission. According to its authors, under circumstantial circumstances the constitutional court of a given State may annul the elections on a Romanian basis. It has been explained that global standards neither impose on constitutional courts nor prohibit decisions on this matter. It was reserved that specified a provision could be made to "hold public assurance in the electoral process".
According to the Venice Commission, on the basis of a paper based on the European Commission, the main criterion recognised by global standards is "whether irregularities affected the result of the vote". In addition, a violation of electoral rights, freedoms and interests not only by the State but besides by public and private entities was listed as the basis for the annulment of the elections. At the same time, the Venice Commission recalled that the State is required to warrant free elections and a fair campaign.
The advisory body of the Council of Europe highlighted the request to defend the procedures in the event of decisions to cancel elections due to evidence of serious irregularities, and stressed the request for a transparent and in-depth explanation of specified a decision.
The issue of propaganda has besides been raised in the electoral campaign, which, as has been recalled, is allowed under the freedom of opinion, unless it exceeds the allowed restrictions, e.g. in the issue of "talk of hatred" towards political opponents.
In this context, it has been noted that specified social media activity must meet the requirements for backing campaigns and transparency. The Commission experts acknowledged that it is simply a major challenge to prove the breach of electoral law in relation to online and social media campaigns. It called for rules on this issue.
In practice, the wording utilized by the Venice Commission is out of focus and can lead to abuse, specified as those we have encountered in Romania. The conclusion seems simple: specified phrases can be utilized by the current ruling Polish agreement to neglect to recognise the upcoming presidential elections if they were won by Sławomir Mentzen or Karol Nawrocki. It cannot be excluded that the Government of Tusk will apply to the European Commission for "brotherly assistance" as long as Trzaskovsky loses his first round.
The presidential elections will take place in Poland on 18 May, and a possible second circular will take place on 1 June.
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