Politics
Reality Dawns for Poland
The populist government's power grab may have just gone a step too far.
Protesters shout slogans and hold posters reading "No to dictatorship" during a protest in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw.
Photographer: JANEK SKARZYNSKI/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
The Polish crusade to “take back control” just got a dose of reality.
By vetoing key parts of its overhaul of the judiciary, President Andrzej Duda put a brake on the nationalist government’s drive to cement its power beyond any previous leadership since the fall of communism almost three decades ago. With Polish financial markets rattled and thousands of Poles on the streets, it may also have represented a peace offering to the European Union after it threatened sanctions.