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Poland's post-communist 'system': between myth and reality

Poland's political battle over an overhaul of the judicial system saw conservatives go to war against what they deem a nebulous alliance of ex-communists and friends of theirs issued from the former opposition. After President Andrzej Duda vetoed judicial reforms that protesters, liberals and the European Union said jeopardised the independence of the judiciary, the ruling conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party responded that the alliance of ex-communists was protecting itself. "The system that defends itself so hysterically has a temporary advantage," PiS parliamentary caucus chief Ryszard Terlecki said with emotion after Duda's vetoes. The concept of a "system" was forged at the political level by the powerful PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his circle in the early 1990s, historian Andrzej Paczkowski told AFP. The theory is notably backed by two well-known intellectuals -- sociologists Jadwiga Staniszkis and Andrzej Zybertowicz. For them, Poland's peaceful revolution was planned in advance in a way that would let communist elites retain power over the economy and other key sectors, including the judiciary, diplomacy and the secret services. According to the theory, common interests link this elite to those in the opposition who helped negotiate a peaceful end to communist rule during historic discussions in 1989. "Conspiracy theories, so the idea that every event was prepared by some secret power that wants to gain profit from it, are attractive for large swaths of the public," Paczkowski said. - Fabric of ties - The head of The Freedom Institute conservative think tank, Igor Janke, refuses to use the word "system". But he describes to AFP "a fabric of informal economic and social ties, without leader or structure" born out of an encounter between ex-communists and some of their foes. In his view, ex-communists have indeed continued to wield influence, including within the judicial system. "Pathologies piled up in the system. There was no de-communisation nor reform. A corporation of individuals issued from the previous system closed in upon itself... and even new entrants were drawn in," Janke said. Janke also uses the term "caste of judges" that is popular with the conservatives. He believes there had been similar political complicities under the previous centrist government of Donald Tusk, then prime minister and now European Council president. "Within the NGOs there were no conservatives" who could count on public funding, he said. He added that his political website Salon 24 "could not count on advertisements from state-owned companies," while the private sector "worried about looking bad" if it sought tie-ups. As for the judiciary, "the current team in power wanted to break this system, but in a way that I find controversial," Janke said of the PiS attempt to submit certain parts of the judicial system to political control. Yet he is critical of the way the judiciary currently functions and how it is "often influenced by special interests." For Janke, "such cases were neither publicised nor condemned. Judicial circles were incapable of self-purification." In his first public remarks since the presidential veto, Kaczynski on Thursday vowed not to back down. "The reform of the judiciary must be radical, because partial reform won't change anything." "We'll achieve our goal. This goal is a complete reconstruction of our country, in the sense that everything that remains of communism must be rejected."