On the eve of the demonstration in Warsaw on January 11, 2024, the CÖF held an extraordinary press conference in the Hungarian capital in solidarity with the threat to Polish democracy.
According to the organization, dark clouds are gathering over Polish statehood. In connection with the civil actions, he warned everyone to be more careful, and drew attention to the importance of the guard fires, which were symbolized by the young people with torches who appeared at the press conference.
László Csizmadia, the president of the CÖF, described the situation as follows:
Almost 500 civil clubs of Gazeta Polska in several countries of the world follow the Christian-national-conservative ideology. Our more than 10-year strategic cooperation contract obliges CÖF-CÖKA to show comradely solidarity.
In Poland, the coup-like attack on civil courage and public television means that the campaign against the rule of law and democracy has begun.
Political scientist Tamás Fricz , curator of the CÖF, said:
Dear Polish friends! We are with you now, in these days and weeks, when we can see that a liberal government has come to power in your country, which wants to break with everything that was sacred and inviolable for you, and what is also sacred and inviolable for us, national and Christian Hungarians.
We are united in our faith, we are united in our goals, we are united in our value system. This does not make us expand, we remain in the government, and you are forced into the opposition and fight to protect our common values! You can count on us for everything we can do!
junior dr. Constitutional lawyer Zoltán Lomnici , CÖF spokesperson, announced the following:
The Polish constitution clearly states the freedom of speech, the right to information, and the protection of the public interest of radio and television, as well as the institutional obligation to protect all of these (Article 213 of the constitution refers to the National Radio and Television Council here). IX of the Polish Constitution. state bodies should ensure the protection of these rights, not liquidate them. The replacement of the entire management of the public media is specifically covered by Article 54 (2) of the Polish Constitution, which states that "preventive censorship of means of social communication is prohibited" and the authorization of the press in this way, namely the censorship efforts, as well as the legal certainty, i.e. the individual public service damage to the predictable functioning of institutions also arises in connection with such drastic political actions without any transition.
Cover photo: political scientist Tamás Fricz, curator of the Civil Solidarity Forum (CÖF) – Civil Solidarity Public Foundation (CÖKA), László Csizmadia, chairman of the CÖF-CÖKA board of trustees and junior constitutional lawyer Zoltán Lomnici, CÖF-CÖKA spokesperson (bj) at Bem tér in Budapest at a press conference held on January 10, 2024.
CÖF-CÖKA stands in solidarity with the nearly 500 civil clubs of the Polish Gazeta Polska, with the Christian-national-conservative ideology. MTI/Péter Lakatos