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Report | Doc. 6289 | 19 September 1990
Poland's application for membership of the Council of Europe
Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy
The problem
Poland was, on 4 June 1989, the first country of Central and Eastern Europe to organise pluralistic elections which were free for the Senate (the Lower House elections were subject to a formula designed to allow the ruling Communists to save face but not, as it turned out, to retain power). It was also the first country to achieve a post-Communist government based on democratic legitimacy. However, having paved the way for neighbours in the region, Poland may be among the last (probably in March 1991) to hold wholly free parliamentary elections despite the fact that it was also the first country, on 25 May 1990, to hold fully free local elections.
The solution
In view of these pioneering achievements and the fact that the existing parliament already leads that European region in drawing up democratic legislation and guaranteeing human rights, it is proposed that Poland be invited to become a member of the Council of Europe without delay.
A. Draft opinion
(open)1. The Assembly has received from
the Committee of Ministers a request for an opinion on the accession of
Poland to the Council of Europe (Doc. 6188), in pursuance of Statutory Resolution (51) 30 A adopted
by the Committee of Ministers on 3 May 1951.
2. It recognises that Poland set an example to all the countries
of Central and Eastern Europe by organising parliamentary elections
on 4 June 1989, which, although completely free only for the Senate,
soon led to the formation of the region's first government based
on democratic legitimacy.
3. The Assembly appreciates the vigorous contribution made by
Poland to the work of the Council of Europe, both at parliamentary
level since being granted special guest status on 8 June 1989, and
at intergovernmental level since acceding to several European conventions,
including the European Cultural Convention, signed on 16 November
1989.
4. It also notes that the local and municipal elections organised
on 25 May 1990 were pronounced free and fair by the observer delegation
from the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of
Europe and that the first completely free parliamentary elections
are likely to be called in March 1991.
5. The Assembly considers that Poland is able and willing:
i. to fulfil the provisions of Article 3 of the Statute, which stipulates that "every member of the Council of Europe must accept the principles of the rule of law and of the enjoyment by all persons within its jurisdiction of human rights and fundamental freedoms";
ii. to collaborate sincerely and effectively in the realisation of the aim of the Council of Europe as specified in Chapter I of the Statute of the Council of Europe, thereby fulfilling the conditions for accession to the Council of Europe as laid down in Article 4 of the Statute.
6. The Assembly therefore recommends that the Committee of Ministers,
at its next meeting:
i. invite the Republic of Poland to become a member of the Council of Europe immediately following free general elections in that country;
ii. ii. attribute twelve seats to Poland in the Parliamentary Assembly.
B. Explanatory memorandum by Sir Geoffrey FINSBERG
(open)1. Introduction
1. The history of Poland can best
be described as phoenix-like after several ruthless attempts to
obliterate it. Poland, after all, disappeared from the map between
1795 and 1918 – partitioned between Prussia, Russia and Austria.
But its proud and patriotic people always rose again. On the latest
occasion, the enemy was within and the genuine spirit of Poland
was oppressed for some forty years by an alien political creed.
Despite a brutal regime which even encouraged the murder of a priest,
the spirit of freedom was kept alive by the Church and, later, by
an alliance between Solidarity and the Church.
2. The events of the past five years have represented a triumph
of the human spirit, and Poland has pioneered the emergence of a
democratic system in Eastern and Central Europe. Guest membership
of our Assembly was granted in June 1989 and we are now considering
an application for full membership. Our guidelines are strict and
represent, at the minimum, the requirement to have a democratic
constitution, a freely elected parliament, an independent judiciary
and a strict observance of human rights.
2. The Constitution, human rights and independence of the judiciary
3. The immediate outcome of last
year's round table accords between the then-ruling Communists and Solidarity
was the adoption of the first amendment to the Constitution on 7
April 1989, which introduced the principle of the separation of
powers and that of political pluralism. Legislative power is vested
in the National Assembly, composed of the Sejm and the Senate. The
latter had disappeared after the war; at present, its powers are
important because it may initiate legislation, is empowered to reject
the decisions of the Sejm and examines the draft budget. Executive
power is vested in a government, which is answerable to the Assembly. Lastly,
the office of President of the Republic was created. The President
is elected by the Assembly.
4. An important step was taken to guarantee the independence
of the judiciary, which – as the "round table" observed – "is vital
to the existence of a constitutional state and the protection of
citizens' rights and interests". The Act of 7 April 1989 introduced
into the Constitution the principle of the irremovability of judges.
It also established a National Council of the Judiciary, thereby
putting an end to the administrative dependence of the courts and
guaranteeing the independence of judges.
5. This amended Constitution is purely transitional. It will
be replaced in spring 1991, probably on 3 May, which marks the bicentenary
of the first Polish Constitution. Two parliamentary commissions
are currently working on the new Constitution: one in the Senate,
composed of thirteen members of the Citizens' Parliamentary Club
(chaired by Mrs Grzeskowiak), the other composed of forty-five members
of various parties, including twenty from the Citizens' Club (chaired
by Mr Geremek). Each commission is working on a draft of its own
with the help of experts in constitutional law. The Senate commission
is planning to consult the European Commission for Democracy through
Law in Venice. Common provisions will then be drawn up by a group
composed of Senators and Deputies from each commission who can claim
to have been democratically elected. The text will be finalised
by the Senate commission.
6. Once the new Constitution has been adopted by Parliament,
a referendum will be held with a view to its ratification. Spain,
it should be remembered, was less far advanced in this respect when
invited to join the Council of Europe in 1977, and the previous
year Portugal had been invited to join at a time when a military "Council
of the Revolution" was the guarantor of a constitution whose explicit
aim was the installation of a "socialist society".
7. The constitutional amendment of 7 April 1989 paved the way
for a series of reforms which are transforming, clarifying or supplementing
existing provisions and removing the obstacles which prevented Poland
from acceding to the European Convention on Human Rights.
8. This first amendment introduces freedom to form and join trade
unions, freedom to form political parties and freedom of association.
The introduction of freedom to form and join trade unions is accompanied
by an amnesty for persons convicted on the grounds of their previous
political or trade union activities (29 May 1989) and legislation
permitting the reinstatement of persons dismissed from their jobs
on the same grounds (24 May 1989).
9. Parliament is hard at work on measures to guarantee fundamental
freedoms. All draft legislation is submitted to a Committee on Human
Rights and Legality, whose function is to check whether the texts
are in keeping with European standards.
10. Among the many measures adopted, mention should also be made
of the Act guaranteeing freedom of conscience and freedom to practise
the religion of one's choice (17 May 1989), the Press Act (29 May
1989) and the abolition of censorship (11 April 1990).
11. The Constitution guarantees citizens the same rights and equality
before the law. This provision also applies to national and ethnic
minorities, who, for example, have the right to be taught their
mother tongue. In 1989, 6 346 pupils in 122 schools were learning
their native tongue, mostly Belorussian but also Ukrainian, Lithuanian
and Slovak. It should be noted that an agreement signed by the governments
of the Federal Republic of Germany and Poland on 14 November 1989
confirmed the rights of the German ethnic minority.
12. A Constitutional Court was established in 1986 (reformed on
20 December 1989). Its role is to give rulings on the constitutionality
of legislation. Its interpretation of the law is binding. A reform
aimed at extending the Constitutional Court's jurisdiction is in
preparation.
These measures put Poland far ahead of any other country of Central and Eastern Europe in the field of democratic legislation.
3. Democratic pluralism
3.1. National Assembly
13. Legislative elections were
held on 4 June 1989. There was to be one round of voting, with 65%
of the seats in the Sejm reserved for the government coalition.
The elections to the Senate were totally free. The result of the
voting was that the opposition had won all the possible seats. It
agreed to the holding of a previously unscheduled second round so
that all the "reserved" seats could be filled and the negotiated
process could continue.
14. The newly elected Assembly was therefore composed as follows:
Senate: 99 of the 100 seats to the Citizens' Parliamentary Club
(candidates fielded by Solidarity), 1 independent. In the Sejm,
the Citizens' Club won 161 seats. As for the coalition: 173 seats
went to the Polish United Workers' Party (PUWP), 76 to the United
Peasants' Party, 27 to the Democratic Party, 10 to Pax, 8 to the
Christian Social Union and 5 to the Catholic Social Union. It was
a cruel test of truth for the ruling coalition, which would not
fail to note the discrepancy between representation in the Sejm
and the wishes of the electorate.
15. The National Assembly, in which each side possessed a majority
large enough to block legislation, had no choice but to reach an
understanding. The opposition reluctantly agreed to have General
Jaruzelski elected to the presidency, while, for its part, the coalition
could not oppose the appointment of Mr Mazowiecki, who formed his
government on 12 September 1989.
16. Since 1989, there has been intense political activity and
a multitude of parties have reappeared or been formed. The entire
political spectrum is represented, from anarchists to royalists.
In the recent local elections, over 250 socio-political organisations,
including 85 parties, fielded candidates. Only a few of these formations have
a programme and are properly organised.
17. The present period is one of shifting alliances and groupings.
Mr Geremek, leader of the Solidarity parliamentary group, said recently
that the single-party regime had totally destroyed the country's
political culture and that ideological references had to be rebuilt.
This search for an identity is the distinctive feature of the present
political forces. Alliances change and groupings are formed on an ad hoc basis around ideas, goals and
challenges facing the country.
18. The composition of the National Assembly, where coalitions
are made and unmade, reflects this state of affairs, which was further
compounded by the dissolution of the PUWP in January. Although the
coalition formed by the PUWP and its allied parties held 65% of
the seats in the Sejm after the elections of June 1989, the composition
of the lower house by mid-June 1990 was as follows: the Citizens'
Parliamentary Club: 156 seats, the Democratic Party: 23 seats, the
United Peasants' Party: 76 seats (these three clubs formed a coalition
to support Mr Mazowiecki's government), the Democratic Left: 111
seats (11 deputies belonging to the Social Democracy of the Polish
Republic and 100 deputies without any political label), the Social Democratic
Union: 44 seats, the clubs formed by the Catholic groups: 23 seats
in total and the Club of independent deputies: 27 seats.
19. Political activity is dominated by Solidarity, which, without
actually being a party, gives its support to the candidates of its
choice. In the Assembly, these are grouped together within a Citizens'
Parliamentary Club, which gives some ldnd of unity to the movement
despite the various tendencies within it. The last Solidarity Congress
in April confirmed the trade union's choice not to turn itself into
a political party, but to continue for the time being to support
candidates in elections.
3.2. Grass-roots democracy
20. From the Polish standpoint,
the change of Constitution and the holding of totally free legislative
elections will be the end result of a process of learning and gradually
consolidating grass-roots democracy.
21. The reasonable deadline which has been set should enable the
political parties to organise themselves in order to offer the electorate
a real choice. The local elections (Electoral Act of 8 March 1990)
are considered vital because they are "the precondition for grass-roots
democracy and the best training school there is".
22. According to Mr Balcerowicz, Minister of Finance, it is also
vitally important to avoid over-hasty action because of the need
to stabilise the economic situation. Economic chaos is a constant
threat to democracy because it acts as a catalyst for extremism.
23. The "calm and deep" course which Poland is following will
continue, says the Prime Minister. The approach is an overall one,
linking together political, economic and social reforms.
24. The Solidarity candidates won a wide majority in the local
elections of 25 May, but it was not a landslide. Other political
forces will be represented on local councils. It may be inferred
from this that the electorate have been given the right to choose
and are exercising it.
25. In response to an invitation from the Polish Government, a
delegation of observers from the Standing Conference of Local and
Regional Authorities of Europe visited Poland from 26 to 28 May
1990 to be present during the local elections. The delegation was
as follows: Mr Morgan (Conservative, United Kingdom), Mr Haegi (Liberal,
Switzerland), Mr Tchernoff (Liberal, Netherlands), Mrs Farrington
(Labour, United Kingdom), Mr Mentz (CDU, Federal Republic of Germany).
26. The Polish authorities told the delegation that these municipal
elections were as important as the national elections; they constituted
a basic step in the construction of grass-roots democracy, the aim
being to destroy the powers and networks of the nomenklatura existing at local level,
hitherto a mere administrative step in the state administration.
27. The delegation found that Poland had, through the free and
democratic elections and the new local self-government legislation,
broken new ground in its advance towards a true democracy built
upon the grass roots of everyday life in the local community. The
new local councils completely replace the local foundations of the former
nomenklatura. Thus, Poland is the first country to emerge from a
communist regime and the first to tackle genuinely political change
in depth and lay the foundations on which a democratic state can
be built.
28. It can be argued that, although Poland has now a freely elected
Senate, freely elected multiparty local government, a revised constitution
and a judiciary which is not dominated by the state, it still does
not have a fully freely elected lower-chamber as only one-third
of its members were genuinely elected. On strict terms this could
imply that full membership should wait until the holding of new
elections for the Sejm in 1991, at which all seats would be freely
contested.
29. Yet it should be remembered that the Council of Europe has
not always insisted on full compliance with this requirement. Liechtenstein
was invited to join in 1978 at a time when the female half of the
population was disfranchised. Women's organisations in the principality
argued at the time in favour of entry. They saw their cause as being
more successfully pursued within Europe's most prestigious "Democratic
Club" — and their analysis proved right since this anomaly was soon
corrected.
4. Poland and Europę
30. Foreign Minister Skubiszewski
said on 20 April that he refused to use the traiditional phrase
"return to Europe" in referring to his country because, he added,
"Poland has never left Europe".
31. Contact was established between the Council of Europe and
Poland at parliamentary level when the then President of the Parliamentary
Assembly, Mr Jung, visited the Polish Parliament in Warsaw in November 1988
on the occasion of the Conference of Presidents of the Parliaments
of Europe, the United States and Canada. Since then, Poland's participation
in the activities of the Council of Europe has gradually expanded, resulting
in the award of special guest status on 8 June 1989. Polish special
guests have contributed most dynamically – of this members of the
Political Affairs Committee need no reminding.
32. Previous to this committee's meeting in Warsaw on 10 and 11
September 1990, the following Assembly meetings were held in Poland:
the Colloquy of the Committee on Culture and Education on linguistic
diversity in Europe (Warsaw, 19-20 December 1989) and the meeting
of the Sub-Committee on International Economic Relations (Warsaw,
19-20 April 1990).
33. At the intergovernmental level, contacts were established
during a visit to Warsaw in March 1988 by the then Secretary General,
Mr Oreja, at the invitation of the Polish Government. The visit
to Poland on 1 March of this year by Mrs Lalumière and Mr de Deus
Pinheiro, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers, confirmed the Council
of Europe's interest in co-operation with this country.
34. Poland's accession to the European Cultural Convention on
16 November 1989 makes it a Contracting Party to that convention
which participates as of right in all activities in the field of
education, culture and sport, as well as in intergovernmental activities
in the youth field. On the same date, Poland signed the European Convention
on Transfrontier Television and the Anti-doping Convention, and
has subsequently been invited to accede to several others conventions.
35. By a decision of the Ministers' Deputies in February 1990,
Poland has a general invitation to participate as an observer in
all the intergovernmental committees in which it has an interest.
Furthermore, Poland has asked to participate as an observer in the
conferences of specialised ministers in a large number of fields. Active
co-operation has begun in the fields of legal co-operation, human
rights and local government. Poland also took part in the special
meeting of the Committee of Ministers held in Lisbon on 23 and 24
March 1990.
5. Conclusion
36. It is an indisputable fact
that the Senate has had fully free elections, that the Lower House
has had free elections for one-third of its seats and that national
local elections have taken place in fully free conditions resulting
in multi-party administrations. It is also important to note that
the legislation proposed, the constitutional changes and the legal
processes which are now in force, as a result of the Solidarity
government proposals, have all been endorsed by Parliament even
in its partially unreconstructed state, and that the Communist deputies
have not attempted to obstruct such matters. Moreover, the (originally)
Communist Ministers of Defence and of the Interior recently resigned
(6 July 1990).
37. In the light of the above, I have come to the conclusion that
full membership should be offered now. Progress towards greater
democracy will continue and can be monitored in the case of Poland
– as in the case of existing members whose credentials can be challenged
if we observe a falling off in standards or a return to a system
which is not fully democratic. In the case of Poland, I believe
our faith in its progress will be fully rewarded.
Reporting committee: Political Affairs Committee.
Committees for opinion: Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights and Committee on Relations with European Non-Member Countries.
Budgetary implications for the Assembly: none.
Reference to committee: Doc. 6188 and Reference No. 1667 (21 March 1990).
Draft opinion adopted by the committee on 10 September 1990 by 28 votes to 0 and I abstention.
Members of the committee: MM. L. Steiner (Chairman), Martinez, Sir Dudley Smith (Vice-Chairman, Alternate: Coleman), MM. Alemyr, Ålvarez-Cascos (Alternate: Fabra), Antretter, Mrs Baarveld-Schlaman, MM. Baumel, Björklund (Alternate: Särkijärvi), De Bondt. Candal, Caro (Alternate: Forni), Cem (Alternate: Genç), Collart (Alternate: Noerens), Sir Geoffrey Finsberg, MM. Gabbuggiani, Ghiotti, Giatrakos, Hardy, Mrs Helgadottir, MM. de Hoop Scheffer (Alternate: Verbeek), Hyland, Irmer, Kindle, Mrs Lentz-Cornette, MM. Lyssarides, Miville, Natali (Alternate: Scovacricchi), Norgaard, Pangalos (Alternate: Rokofyllos), Pontillon, Portelli, Reddemann, Sager, Sarti, Schieder, Soares Costa, Tarschys, Tascioğlu, Thoresen.
NB. The names of those members who took pail in the vote are printed in italics.
See 16th sitting 2 October 1990 (adoption of the draft opinion as amended), and Opinion No. 154.