EESC Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law Group concludes a visit to Poland

EESC Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law Group concludes a visit to Poland

On 15-16 December 2025, the Fundamental Rights and Rule of Law (FRRL) Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) concluded a two-day visit to Warsaw.

This visit formed part of the second cycle of FRRL Group country visits (2024–2029), following the first cycle (2018–2024). The methodology of the Group combines exchanges with civil society, national authorities, and representatives of the European Commission, ensuring that all relevant perspectives are heard.

This visit gave the opportunity to the group of five EESC Members to hear civil society representatives about key trends in Poland concerning fundamental rights of social partners, freedoms of association and assembly, freedom of expression (including media freedom), the right to non-discrimination, and the rule of law.

Participants in the discussions particularly highlighted:

• a need to strengthen collective bargaining, give more time for consultations, respond to demands for simplification, address uncertainties of the legal system, improve low affiliation among social partners, ensure proper personal data protection;

• unrepaired damages to civic space, lack of accountability for past abuses during demonstrations, targeting and criminalisation of CSOs working on migration, persistent regulatory and funding barriers;

• concerns about the media regulator’s impartiality and the need for comprehensive reforms to ensure media pluralism and independence, alongside expectations for the European Media Freedom Act, insufficient support to help media address challenges such as disinformation;

• wide protection against workplace discrimination, but weak safeguards in other areas, weakening of international legal protections for asylum seekers, poor implementation of equality policies, attacks targeting foreign nationals, the absence of a comprehensive anti-homelessness policy;

• An urgent need to restore the rule of law, complicated by institutional conflict between the executive and the Presidency. Key challenges include ensuring separation of the Prosecutor-General from the Ministry of Justice, re-establishing the independence of the National Council for the Judiciary, and addressing the absence of an anti-corruption and lobbying framework.

The visit was the second one of the FRRL Group to Poland, following a visit in December 2018 (Report). Compared to the first visit in 2018, participants noted both persistent challenges and new trends, particularly regarding media freedom and the rule of law.

The EESC delegation also discussed with the representation of the European Commission and the authorities of Poland.

A report, including the observations of the Polish authorities, will be issued in the coming months and will be presented in the EESC.

Background

The EESC established in 2018 a Group on Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law (FRRL Group), which is tasked to provide a forum for European civil society organisations to meet and discuss fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law. The FRRL Group promotes respect for the European values listed in Article 2 TEU by raising awareness of and assessing the state of play of these values in the Member States and allowing for the exchange of good practices. To this end, the FRRL Group hosts hearings, conferences, and carries out country visits with the aim of identifying trends in Europe concerning fundamental rights and the rule of law, inasmuch as they develop in national contexts.

Country visit reports are issued along with the observations of the authorities, a few months after the visits (they can be accessed here). After a first cycle of visit to all EU Member States (2018-2024), the FRRL Group started a second cycle of visits in 2024 to the 27 Member States and candidate countries. The Report synthesising the first cycle of country visits led in 2018-2019,  2020-2021, 2022, and 2023-2024 are available, as is the report on the overall first cycle (2018-2024).

For more information about the EESC FRRL Group methodology, see this document.

The delegation of the FRRL Group to Poland was composed of:

• Pascal DEBAY (Group II, France)
• Marie-Pierre LE BRETON (Group I, France)
• Katrīna LEITĀNE (Group III, Latvia)
• Cristian PÎRVULESCU (Group III, Romania)
• Paul SOETE (Group I, Belgium)