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The ombudsman Adam Bodnar and his office are the spearhead of PiS politicians. There are many reasons – the most important is Bodnar's defense of the independence of the judiciary, which examines the authorities in matters related to the activities of the services and the prosecutor's office, or which oversees the rights of persons LGBT. Reluctance towards the RPO has just been felt when working on amendments to the state budget for next year.
– I have long believed that it was difficult to talk about the ombudsman institution, now look at the spokesman of the citizens of the Republic of Poland. This is the extreme politicization of one of the offices – said Janusz Szewczak, MP at the Ministry of Justice and Justice, Chief Economist of the National Credit Union, quoted by Gazeta Wyborcza. The words fell during the debate on the budget of the Sejm Public Finance Committee. Szewczak stated that Bodnar was "involved in defamatory statements of the Polish government abroad" and that his actions are "very detrimental to the reason for being Poland, (…) extremely politicized, tendentious ". To underline his dislike, he presented an amendment reducing the budget proposal for the following year by 7 million zlotys. Two other amendments, previously proposed by the Deputy Minister of Law and Justice, Łukasz Schreiber, implied a budget cut of 7 million additional zlotys. If they were adopted together, the POR budget would be reduced to about the 2011 level.
Ombudsman Adam Bodnar and his cabinet winners of the prestigious Rafto Award
Cut the mediator
The ROP, which remains one of the last independent institutions of the camp, has asked for an increase in the budget. He hoped that his office would get 48.1 million zlotys for its activity in 2019, which is 8.6 million more than the budget for 2018. The ombudsman's office has good reason to demand additional funds – the Sejm votes with the votes of PiS obligations related to the extraordinary complaint – a new procedure introduced in the presidential amendment to the Supreme Court Law. Only the Attorney General and (to a lesser extent only with regard to their jurisdiction) a few other institutions have the right to file such complaints. The ROP Office has already received more than 2500 requests in this case. Money is enough to employ eight employees. The problem is also to fill the positions of the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture, which has the task of combating torture and inhuman treatment.
MP Michał Szczerba discussed these issues at the committee meeting. We have a report (…) from the Council of Europe, produced last year. This report is simple: the Ombudsman's budget is not enough to cover the operational needs of the National Preventive Mechanism. What's more, it has been found that the budget has been decreasing in recent years, which has necessitated a reduction of control activities – said Szczerba.
– You deprive the Defender, at the moment he is, of the possibility of fulfilling his legal obligations, but also his international obligations (related to the prevention of torture and inhuman treatment -). This is a complete misunderstanding – he added.
Szczerba also pointed out that extraordinary complaints would not be examined without an increase in the budget. – The pillar of these changes in the justice system, which you just mentioned, will not be implemented – said Szczerba.
MP Schreiber explained that the reduction in spending did not only concern the ROP, but also the Chancellery of the Sejm, the Senate, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Administrative Court and other institutions. He also explained that the money thus raised was to be used for … salary increases in the prison administration.
Finally, the PiS MEPs approved, with the approval of the Deputy Minister of Finance at the meeting, the proposals of MP Schreiber. Deputy Szewczak graciously withdrew his amendment and the budget of the Bureau was finally reduced by more than 7 million zlotys compared to the project presented by them.
Reduction after reduction
The lack of acceptance of the draft budget of the POR is unfortunately not new. Since the PiS came to power and Adam Bodnar has first been involved in the defense of the independence of the Constitutional Court, then of the judiciary, funds for the activities of the Ombudsman are systematically reduced. For the first time, the budget cut took place in 2016 – at the 2011 level.
In the next fiscal year, the Bodnar office proposed an increase in expenditures. And again, the deputies did not accept.
In 2017, when Adam Bodnar again beat him for a budget increase (from 5.5 million to 42.6 million zlotys), thus justifying the need for money for new offices in Bialystok, increases of 3% for employees, additional positions, repairs, whether it is a computer exchange, his project was once again the subject of a negative evaluation. – The Commissioner for the Rights of Citizens is engaged in political and anti-government activities, the judicial reform of the boycott and the functioning of the legally elected authorities, and acts abroad against the Polish government. At that time, Krystyna Pawłowicz (PiS) justified the sessions of the Parliamentary Committee on Justice and Human Rights.
Although, theoretically, the PiS can not control the officially independent mediator, emptying him of his money is a major obstacle to his activity. This has nothing to do with the interests of ordinary citizens, but it fits perfectly with the political interests of PiS.
– I must say that I am a little used. As the ombudsman's office, we ask for an extra budget for actions justified by real needs, but our arguments are not taken into account at all. It's sad, but we will not give up. I launch a new call for reflection. I will ask these questions for the benefit of citizens – commented on the latest cuts from Adam Bodnar in an interview with Onet.
Source: "Gazeta Wyborcza", Onet
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