The Polish parliament on Friday voted to create a body to distribute funds to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), a move slammed by the opposition as a bid by the rightwing government to control NGOs.
The National Institute for Freedom — Civil Society Development Centre will be attached to the prime minister’s office and supervised by another new body, the Public Affairs Committee, comprising senior officials from several ministries.
A minister acting as the committee’s chairman will appoint the institute’s director.
The government has drawn ire both at home and abroad for a string of reforms that the EU has warned undermine democratic standards and the rule of law.
Minister of Culture Piotr Glinski said that the new organization “addresses the needs of NGOs, especially smaller, local NGOs, which have not received adequate support to date.”
However, opposition parties spoke of a hidden agenda.
“Government surveillance of NGOs is nothing more than an attempt to liquidate them,” Polish People’s Party member of parliament Krystian Jarubas said.
Liberal Civic Platform Member of Parliament Monika Wielichowska said the law “opens the door to ideologically motivated decisions.”
Polish Ombudsman Adam Bodnar and the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights have also expressed concern.
Bodnar said in July that some of the bill’s measures “contradict norms that are clearly defined” by bodies like the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe, and that it fails to protect NGOs against “political pressure.”
The Helsinki Foundation also said that the law “represented a step backward” for civil society and “created a systemic danger for the operation and independent development of NGOs in Poland.”
To take effect, the new law must be endorsed by the Senate and the president. Both have indicated their intention to approve it.
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