A silent coup in Poland?

[icymist]

The days-old Polish government has wasted no time in making use of its new power. Critics are already worrying that their mandate has been stretched too far.

As defense minister she appointed Antoni Macierewicz, who shares his hardline stance towards Moscow with the chief of the ruling Party for Law and Justice (PiS) Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Macierewicz eagerly spreads conspiracy theories about the plane crash in the Russian city of Smolensk five years ago that killed former President (and Jaroslaw's twin) Lech Kaczynski as well as a number of other high-ranking dignitaries. Worried he would scare away moderate conservative voters, Syzdlo promised in her campaign that Macierewicz would not take part in her government. And now he is in office.

http://www.dw.com/en/a-silent-coup-in-poland/a-18877537

[Hortensis]

1. Wow. New right-wing government also intends to replace constitutional

judges with its own appointees. If this were happening in the U.S., I'd be very frightened. Oh, yes, the right has been packing the courts with hard-right ideologues for decades, and the next president will almost certainly name 2 justices, and perhaps 4... Those poor Poles who once thought they were moving away from totalitarianism and fascism.

From EUObserver:

Poland’s newly installed right-wing governing party is showing off its confrontational style by trying to replace already appointed constitutional judges with its own appointees on Thursday (27 November) and by upping its rhetoric against Russia.
The ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) used its majority in the Sejm, Poland’s lower house of parliament, to passed resolutions reversing recent appointments of five judges to the highest court.

It will now be able to push for its own judges, who it hopes will clear the way for planned sweeping constitutional changes.
PiS plans to create new administrative regions, amend the constitution, and restructure the judiciary.

The move resembles Hungary prime minister Viktor Orban’s tactics, who amid international criticism curbed the rights of constitutional judges to cripple their ability to scrutinise legal changes.

Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski often praised Orban’s governing style, using his majority to rewrite Hungary’s constitution and override opponents.

Thanks for posting, Icymist, although news like this always makes me feel a little sick.