Is Warsaw trying to block critical NGO?
Poland has registered Ludmila Koslovska, president of the NGO Open Dialog Foundation, in the Schengen Information System for "security reasons". Because she is now on the list of persona non grata in this database she was refused entry to Brussels on Thursday and forced to return to her home country, Ukraine. Journalists disagree about the authorities' motives.
PiS has models in Moscow and Budapest
The PiS is taking revenge for the fact that the Open Dialog Foundation supported the anti-government protests, home desk editor Roman Imielski writes in Gazeta Wyborcza:
“This is a warning to all NGOs active in Poland. ... Many PiS politicians looked on enviously as Putin kicked the NGOs out of Russia and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán then copied the Kremlin. ... I don't believe 'security reasons' are behind Kozlovska's expulsion. I assume that what this is really about is the security of the PiS. The government can convince me that I'm wrong, however: all it need do is present proof that the expulsion of the head of the Open Dialog Foundation was justified. ... Unlike an authoritarian system, a democratic state must answer to the people.”
Don't jump to conclusions
All the fuss over Koslovska is unnecessary, journalist Grzegorz Wszołek writes in Gazeta Polska Codziennie:
“We don't know any details yet some of the media are turning this into a big affair. At the same time they have to concede that no one knows the reasons for the entry ban. Bartosz Kramek, the Ukrainian activist's husband, is accusing the PiS of taking revenge and of political motives because the foundation protested against the judicial reforms. I can understand the feelings of the couple, which has never made any secret of its stance towards the Polish government since 2015. But I find the attitude of the journalists surprising. They are taking the narrative about supposed 'Russian standards' at face value. Yet we first need to find out what this whole thing is about.”