Walesa, ex-leaders ask EU to defend Polish democracy
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ex-Polish President Lech Walesa and several other former leaders are asking the European Union to defend the rule of law in their country under a populist government that is overhauling the judiciary.
In a statement published Wednesday in the daily Gazeta Wyborcza, the former leaders said they fear that a new law regulating the Supreme Court that takes effect on July 3 will destroy the democratic system of checks and balances in Poland.
Their open letter to the European Commission says "there will be no democratic Poland without a state of law."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The signatories include former presidents Aleksander Kwasniewski and Bronislaw Komorowski as well as former prime ministers, foreign ministers and leading Solidarity activists.
Walesa was the leader of the anti-communist Solidarity movement 1980s and the first democratic-era president.