Democracy Digest: ECHR Strikes Again Against Poland’s Judicial Reform

It is the first case in which the court has addressed the issue of the penalization of a judge for criticizing PiS reforms. Zurek is one of the best-known Polish judges to be critical of the ruling party's politicization of the judiciary.

Meanwhile, Poland and Ukraine pledged to connect their power grids by building a new power line between the two countries. Piotr Naimski, the Polish secretary of state in charge of strategic energy infrastructure, announced that the power line will connect Rzeszow, in southeast Poland, and Khmelnytskyi, in western Ukraine, and have a voltage of 400 kV.

Poland has been leading the way in turning away from Russian energy and building regional energy self-reliance in Central and Eastern Europe. It recently announced the doubling of the capacity of a planned LNG unit on the Baltic coast to potentially accommodate the import needs of its neighbours, Czechia and Slovakia.

At the same time, Poland announced it would fix the price for coal to avoid panic over rising fuel costs in a country where a third of households still use the fossil fuel for heating. The government said it would guarantee a price of 996 zloty (about 214 euros) per ton, the average price last year.

Demand for coal has been rising globally in the context of the war in Ukraine and with the discontinuation or reduction of Russian gas deliveries to some countries.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala attends the presentation of the political priorities of the Czech EU Presidency, at Hrzan Palace, in Prague, Czech Republic, 15 June 2022. Photo: EPA-EFE/MARTIN DIVISEK New Czech govt pumps up anti-corruption drive

The deputy mayor of Prague and ten other people have reportedly been charged with racketeering and drug...