Abstract :
For millions of my fellow average citizens, decent ‘Solidarity’ members
in 1980-1991, living in poverty then and now,
who, believing in justice, heroically fought for democracy
and the rule of law and not for personal gain,
and without whom this change would not be possible.
This year we celebrate 20 years since the transfer of power from communist regimes
started in Poland’s first (semi-free) election of 4th June 1989, which ushered
in Europe’s first post-communist, non-communist, government. It had snowball
effects in other countries. With the exception of Romania the transfer of power
was peaceful and based on agreements usually called ‘round table talks’.
There is no doubt that each of these countries has made substantial progress
since 1989. But serious problems remain. The states do not function as expected
by their citizens, basic institutions of administration of justice do not work as they
should, the level of corruption is too high and politics, while passionate operates
rather as a façade, with a great deal of real activity happening behind the scenes
and elsewhere. Citizens do not believe in their impact on the political processes
and plenty of them complain that the institutions of the administration of justice
do not act properly.
