BBC World Questions: Poland
The BBC World Service is holding a series of debates across the world in a time of real change.
BBC World Questions allows the public to question their politicians and leaders directly face to face. The debates are led entirely by questions from the audience who are able to have their say and be heard round the world.
Featuring a distinguished panel of key voices, BBC World Questions came to Poland on 7 February 2017.
Poland is experiencing a new era of political change. Its opposition leaders claim the ruling party, Law and Justice, is restricting democratic freedom and hobbling the Constitutional Tribunal so it cannot veto the government's programme. Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the party's leader, says the opposition refuses to accept his party's victory in the 2015 election and its continuing popularity throughout the country. There have been blockades at parliament, demonstrations in the streets and a determination by the government to implement its mandate for sweeping reform.
It is a pivotal moment in an EU country which has often been at the heart of historical events. Jonathan Dimbleby and a panel of politicians and opinion formers discussed Poland's new era of change with a public audience in the centre of Warsaw. The panel included: the film director Agnieszka Holland; the Editor of "wSieci" Jacek Karnowski; MP Rafał Trzaskowski from the Civic Platform party and MP Dominik Tarczyński from the governing Law and Justice Party.
The programme was recorded at the Ujazdowski Castle (Laboratorium building), 2 Jazdów Street, Warsaw on 7 February 2017.
As a cultural relations and educational organisation and partner of the BBC World Service, the British Council helps to enable a platform where the general public can join in on democratic debate on a global forum.
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BBC World Questions: Poland is available on www.bbc.com/worldserviceradio (see below)