Dismay over Poland’s death-penalty day veto

Ministers and diplomats shook their heads in disbelief last week after a symbolic move to establish a European day against the death penalty was stopped abruptly in its tracks.

Much to the annoyance of the Portuguese presidency, the European Commission and most EU capitals, Poland told a meeting of justice ministers that it could not support the establishment of such a day.

The whole of Europe bar Belarus has already outlawed the practice but the real issues at stake were euthanasia and abortion, Andrzej Duda, Poland’s deputy justice minister, told the meeting, reportedly listing abortion figures for Denmark, Sweden and Finland. "We believe that abortion and euthanasia are threats to our societies. If we discuss the death penalty, we should approach the subject in a broader way and debate the protection of life," he said afterwards.

The move puzzled many. Other EU states that, like Poland, ban abortion and euthanasia, do their best to keep these issues off the EU agenda. The Irish government fought for a protocol to be inserted into the Maastricht treaty removing abortion from the jurisdiction of EU law. Malta likewise insists that abortion and divorce issues are kept away from EU discussions.

But Konrad Szymanski, an MEP for the Law and Justice Party, the senior partner in Poland’s government coalition, believes that EU states should be more open with each other on issues which matter to them. "I think the EU should be not only a diplomatic network. I see it as a club of friends and would like to see it as open as possible on any declaration of feelings or beliefs," he said.

Szymanski sees an inherent hypocrisy in the EU being held up across the world as a beacon for human rights. "I am not sure the EU is at the peak of the world when it comes to sound choices on ethical issues."

For some in Poland these moral issues should be brought up at EU level. "Conservatives accept this justification of a broader view on this issue. On the one hand the EU is concerned about the death penalty, on the other many states don’t see a problem with abortion," says Sergiusz Trzeciak, head of Sobieski Institute, a think-tank in Warsaw.

But with a general election scheduled for 18 October in Poland the view in Brussels is that the government is banging a campaign drum by vetoing a day against the death penalty.

Some diplomats even believe that the Law and Justice Party may be pandering to a constituency which they previously courted - of people in favour of reintroducing the death penalty.

"We got a sense it wasn’t necessarily a principled position and had a lot to do with domestic Polish politics," said one EU diplomat.

Some Polish politicians were aghast at the government’s stance and have condemned the action. "It has left my country on a ranking with Belarus and Iran," Socialist MEP Józef Pinior told a plenary debate this week (25 September). His fellow Socialist MEP Genowefa˛ Grabowska˛ put the move down to internal politics adding: "It’s not Poland that has changed its position, it’s the Polish government."

The subsequent actions of the Polish government have left open to question their stance in Brussels. A United Nations resolution which will go before the general assembly in New York next week calling for a moratorium on the death penalty has the backing of EU countries including Poland. Szymanski says this is a separate issue from moves to establish a day against the death penalty but Warsaw does not appear to have attempted to broaden the debate out on this issue to include abortion or euthanasia.

Similarly Poland, it is understood, chose to abstain from voting for a European day against the death penalty in the Council of Europe last night (26 September). All the other 46 countries voted for the day, which will be held on 10 October.

There are other EU diplomats who say that it is unfair to accuse the Poles of deliberately vetoing the issue at EU level for the sake of it. "It really wouldn’t be a tactic. They are not illogical, they are grown up enough to know the parameters," said one diplomat. It is accepted that they do have sensitive positions on moral issues - the reason why they also have problems with subscribing to the reform treaty’s Charter on Fundamental Rights. At the same time, others say the veto will not endear Warsaw to their EU counterparts at the negotiating table. Polish hardline positions on voting weights in the reform treaty and the decision to hold the elections three days before EU leaders are expected to agree the treaty deal next month have not won Warsaw many friends. "They are certainly not flavour of the month with the Portuguese presidency," said another diplomat.

Ministers and diplomats shook their heads in disbelief last week after a symbolic move to establish a European day against the death penalty was stopped abruptly in its tracks.