POLAND:A new law in Poland requires public figures to say if they were ever spies, writes Daniel McLaughlinin Warsaw
Poland's first post-communist prime minister and one of its leading members of the European Parliament are spearheading defiance of a new law that threatens some 700,000 Poles with the sack unless they prove that they did not spy for the communist secret police.
Politicians, academics, judges, journalists and company managers are among those obliged to file a declaration by May 15th stating whether they were communist agents, under a law backed by president Lech Kaczynski and his identical twin, prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
But several prominent public figures are vowing to boycott the law, and they have attracted high-profile support from leading figures including Lech Walesa, former leader of the pro-democracy Solidarity movement, and from France's presidential hopeful, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Bronislaw Geremek, a former Polish foreign minister and Solidarity activist, said this weekend that he would forfeit his seat in the European Parliament rather than answer to what he called the Kaczynskis' "Orwellian-style ministry of truth". "I am ready to pay that price," declared Mr Geremek (75).
"But I will not resign on my own because I would be validating a law that is bad by doing that," he said.
"The law in its present form is a scandal. I refuse to subjugate myself to such a demand."
Mr Geremek was joined in his defiance by Tadeusz Mazowiecki who, when he took power in August 1989, became eastern Europe's first non-communist premier since the second World War.
"This is an attempt to humiliate people . . . and I'm not sure that I am under any obligation to fill in this form," said Mr Mazowiecki (80), who was prime minister until January 1991.
"I've already submitted three similar declarations in the past. I have nothing to add to them. I did not collaborate with the secret services."
The Kaczynskis and their allies came to power in late 2005 promising a "moral revolution" for Poland, and pledging to dismantle what they claimed was a shadowy network of former communists who still controlled politics, security, the media and big business.
But their rule has been dogged by constant squabbling with the populist parties in their coalition government, rows with partners in the European Union and with Russia, and by allegations that they are obsessed with settling old scores and purging left-wingers from power.
French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy urged the European Parliament to demand that Poland allow Mr Geremek to retain his seat even if he boycotts the new law.
"His moral authority, his commitment to Europe and his fight for freedom have made him a symbolic figure in Europe and above all for the values that Europe carries," he said.
"I find it frightening that a democratically elected lawmaker can be called into question because of his opposition to a demand in the Polish law on de-communisation."
Mr Sarkozy also criticised the Warsaw government, which attracted fresh allegations of intolerance this month when a senior official said schoolteachers who spread "homosexual propaganda" would be fired.
"What's happening today in Poland is very worrying," said Mr Sarkozy.
It is not clear how many Poles will refuse to file a declaration on their communist-era activity by the May 15th deadline, and what action the government will take if a large proportion of the 700,000 people affected refuse to comply and thus risk dismissal.
The constitutional court is due to hold hearings on the legality of the legislation from May 9th-11th.
But for Lech Walesa - who was a Solidarity activist with the Kaczynskis but parted ways with them in the early 1990s - the law is clear proof that the twins have abandoned their old values.
"They have betrayed our ideals. And not just today and yesterday. They began to betray them a few years ago," he said, accusing the president and prime minister of acting out of a "personal desire for power and for their careers" rather than in the best interests of Poland's 38 million people.
"Such a [ political] climate deeply injures people who find themselves accused," he said. "Now that [ Polish] citizens are waking up, they must get organized. In the future, they must make better choices when they vote."