WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland’s parliament, which is dominated by the nationalist-minded, eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party, has adopted a bill assuming a 20 percent pay cut for parliament members after public criticism of financial rewards for ministers.

The parliament adopted the bill on Thursday with a majority of 240 votes, while the main opposition parties abstained, state news agency PAP reported.

The bill will cut MPs’ remuneration from the present level of 10,000 zloty ($2,802) per month after former prime minister Beata Szydlo last year decided to pay herself and her cabinet ministers bonuses worth more than 10 average monthly salaries.

Since then, support for the ruling party has weakened, influenced also by other factors.

Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski last month called on ministers to give their financial rewards to charity and announced pay cuts for parliament members. </s> Polish lawmakers have voted to cut their own pay by 20 percent, an effort by the ruling party to boost its standing ahead of elections.

The plan was first announced last month by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of the ruling Law and Justice party, following a scandal over bonuses that government ministers were awarded last year.

Lawmakers on Friday voted 240-2 in support of the measure, with five abstentions and 213 lawmakers from opposition parties boycotting the vote.

Last year's controversial bonuses were paid to several ministers by former Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, who fueled additional criticism by insisting the ministers deserved the money. Some of the bonuses were around $20,000, more than the average yearly wage in Poland.

Poland faces local elections this fall and parliamentary elections next year. </s> Poland's parliament on Thursday voted in favor of a 20 percent pay cut for lawmakers following a controversial bonus awarded to government ministers last year.

The draft legislation received 240 votes in favor, most of them cast by lawmakers of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. Opposition parties boycotted the vote, with some of their members shouting "thieves" during the vote.

Read more: Is Poland's new government a PR stunt or an actual change?

Last year, PiS came under fire after then-Prime Minister Beata Szydlo gave herself and her Cabinet ministers a bonus ranging from 15,000 euros to 19,000 euros ($17,900 to $22,700) on top of their annual salary.

At the time, Szydlo defended her decision, saying she and her government ministers deserved the bonuses for their "hard work." The bonuses amounted to an average worker's annual salary.

The draft legislation received 240 votes in favor and 2 against after the opposition decided to boycott

'Public demands humility'

PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who does not have a formal government position, announced the pay cut last month, saying lawmakers who received bonuses should donate the funds to charities.

"We've seen that the public demands humility and therefore humility will become reality," Kaczynski said.

Read more: Poland's Macron? Mateusz Morawiecki takes the helm

But analysts believe the move is aimed at shoring up support ahead of local elections in autumn and parliamentary elections next year.

"Kaczynski's retreat on the bonuses is part of a wider recalibration by Law and Justice," wrote Politico Europe's senior policy editor Jan Cienski last month.

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Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> The move, backed by members of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, will see their salaries drop from the current monthly level of 10,000 zloty (€2,348).

PiS chief Jaroslaw Kaczynski called for the pay cut last month after media claimed former prime minister Beata Szydlo gave herself and her cabinet colleagues up to €19,000 each on top of their basic pay last year.

The average monthly salary in Poland in April 2017 was €1,053.

On top of the salary decrease, Kaczynski also told ministers to give the bonuses to Catholic charity Caritas.

The scandal coincided with a drop in popularity for PiS. A survey in late March revealed support for the ruling conservatives fell to 28%, down 12% from the previous month, according to an opinion poll by Kantar Millward Brown for TVN television. It was the sharpest fall for PiS in the poll in at least a decade.

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Find out how Polish MPs’ pay compares with the rest of Europe. </s> The protest marked the biggest political standoff in years in European Union member Poland and the sharpest escalation of the conflict between the opposition and the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party since it came to power in October last year.

The police attempted in the early hours of Saturday to remove protesters by grabbing them and pulling them aside, but later ceased in their efforts as new protesters arrived at the scene, a Reuters witness said.

The police also called on protesters blocking the parliament to disperse, saying on loudspeakers that they might otherwise use force.

"Everybody sees that PiS has crossed a certain line and nothing will be the same anymore," Tomasz Siemoniak, deputy leader of the biggest opposition party Civic Platform told local media outside parliament.

The parliament was surrounded by hundreds of policemen, some of whom were carrying rubber bullet guns. Police reinforcements were arriving at the parliament as well.

The protesters chanted that lawmakers will remain blocked and called on the head of PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to come out and face them.

It was unclear how many lawmakers and staffers were inside waiting for the exits to be unblocked. Some opposition lawmakers said they would spend the night in parliament.

Polish opposition parties accused PiS earlier on Friday of violating the constitution after Speaker Marek Kuchcinski moved a key vote on next year's budget outside of the main chamber of parliament and blocked the media from recording the vote.

It was the first time since Poland's transition from communism in 1989 that a sitting of the lower chamber of parliament was conducted outside of the main chamber.

"The 'sitting' was illegal. Period. This is a constitutional crisis," Civic Platform head Grzegorz Schetyna said on social media.

Kuchcinski decided to transfer the sitting and the budget vote outside the main chamber after opposition lawmakers occupied the parliamentary podium protesting against a plan to curb media access and against Kuchcinski's decision to exclude one lawmaker.

Ruling party lawmakers said the transfer of the vote was legal and the vote itself was valid.

"What the opposition did was a scandal. And we were working," said PiS lawmaker Jaroslaw Zielinski, who took part in the budget vote.

Opposition parties Civic Platform and Nowoczesna together with the PSL party said in a statement that the speaker has violated the constitution. Opposition lawmakers also said they had problems in accessing the budget vote.

The parties demanded that the parliament sitting be held once again next week.

Since coming to power last year, the nationalist-minded, eurosceptic PiS has tightened its control over public news media and state prosecution and moved to weaken the country's highest court.

PiS is the first party since Poland's transition to democracy to hold an outright majority in parliament. (Writing Marcin Goettig; Editing by Mary Milliken) </s> STRASBOURG: The European Parliament removed Polish lawmaker Ryszard Czarnecki as the assembly's vice president on Wednesday after he insulted a fellow Polish MEP by comparing her to a Nazi collaborator.

MEPs voted by 447 votes to 196 to strip Czarnecki, of Poland's ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, of the largely ceremonial office for "serious misconduct".

Czarnecki, 55, last month branded MEP Roza Thun a "szmalcownik" -- an insult referring to Polish collaborators during World War II who handed over Jews to the Nazis for money.

Czarnecki, who is one of 14 European Parliament vice presidents, then refused to apologise during a radio interview.

In January, heads of the main political groups wrote to the parliament president Antonio Tajani to "denounce an unacceptable and degrading declaration" and ask for sanctions for "this deplorable attitude".

The spat comes in the midst of an ongoing crisis between the EU and the PiS-led government in Warsaw over highly controversial judicial reforms which Brussels says threaten the rule of law.

The EU has threatened to impose unprecedented sanctions that could strip the Polish government of its voting rights in Brussels.

"It's good that so many people are shocked, we cannot tolerate that," Thun told AFP, who had criticised the nationalist policy of the current Polish government on Franco-German broadcaster Arte.

Czarnecki remains a member of parliament and a new vice president must now be chosen from his European Conservatives and Reformists political group, which also includes Britain's ruling Conservative party. </s> Polish opposition leaders called on Saturday for days of anti-government protests and vowed to maintain a blockade of parliament’s main hall that the ruling party condemned as an illegal attempt to seize power.

About two dozen members of the opposition Civic Platform (PO) took turns to sit in the legislature’s plenary hall through the night and the party’s leader said they would remain there for the next few days.

“We will be on the streets until they are done destroying the country,” Mateusz Kijowski, the leader of the Committee for the Defence of Democracy movement, told protesters.

Several thousand people protested in Warsaw and other cities after police broke up a blockade of the entrances of the parliament building in Warsaw in the early hours.

Poland’s biggest political standoff in years began on Friday when opposition lawmakers objecting to plans by the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party to curb media access to parliament blocked the plenary hall podium ahead of a budget vote.

PiS lawmakers later moved voting to another area without media access, prompting accusations they had passed the 2017 budget illegally, breaching the constitution.

The clash with the opposition has highlighted a growing divide in eastern Europe’s largest economy, with some Poles increasingly angry over the PiS government’s efforts to assert more control over state institutions.

“If it becomes clear that it is impossible to talk to (PiS lawmakers), we should have early elections,” Ryszard Petru, head of the liberal Nowoczesna grouping, told protesters at parliament.

A snap election is unlikely, however, as PiS holds an outright majority in parliament and would be able to overrule any vote of no confidence.

Poland’s Western allies have also expressed concerns over a push by the government to reform the constitutional court, saying it contravened democratic standards.

But despite criticism at home and abroad, the euroskeptic PiS enjoys steady support among many Poles eager to hear its message of higher welfare, more Catholic values in public life and less dependence on foreign capital.

European Union Council President Donald Tusk, former head of the PO – Poland’s largest opposition party – urged authorities to respect the constitution and warned about the risks of disregarding “the European model of democracy.”

“I appeal to those who have real power to respect and regard the people, constitutional principles and morals,” Tusk, who has a long-standing feud with PiS head Jaroslaw Kaczynski, told a cultural conference in Poland’s western city of Wroclaw.

“Those who undermine the European model of democracy, attack the constitution and good customs, expose all of us to strategic risks. By throwing away the spirit of freedom and community, they write the next act of Poland’s solitude,” he added.

Government officials deny behaving undemocratically and have accused opposition leaders of fomenting dissent.

Interior Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said the opposition blockade of parliament was an “illegal attempt to seize power,” while Prime Minister Beata Szydlo accused opposition lawmakers of being focused on “brawls”.

Later in the day, however, Kaczynski told the speaker of the upper house of parliament to organize a meeting with media outlets on Sunday to discuss the new plan for journalists’ access, PAP news agency reported, citing government sources.

Meanwhile, Polish President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, called on all sides to calm down. “I am ready to mediate in this matter,” he said in a statement.

A Reuters correspondent in Warsaw and other journalists were not allowed to enter parliament on Saturday, which PO leader Grzegorz Schetyna called unacceptable.

“Parliament cannot be governed by censorship,” he told a news conference. “It cannot be without journalists.” </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Poles protest outside parliament in Warsaw

Thousands of Poles have held rallies in the capital Warsaw and other cities to condemn a controversial reform of the judiciary.

Protesters say the bill, passed by the Senate on Saturday, will erode judges' independence and undermine democracy.

It gives MPs and the justice minister the power to appoint judges without consulting judicial circles.

The government says the move is needed because the judiciary is corrupt and serves only the interests of elites.

The bill must still be signed by President Andrzej Duda in order to become law. He has given no indication that he plans to veto it.

Since it came to power in 2015, the government of the conservative, populist Law and Justice party (PiS), has passed a series of controversial reforms, triggering mass protests.

How deep is opposition to the reform?

Opposition supporters and human rights activists gathered in Warsaw under Polish and EU flags, and other banners, blowing klaxons, in a demonstration which continued after dark.

Police say about 4,500 people turned out in the capital while another estimate puts the number closer to 10,000. Smaller rallies were held in Krakow, Katowice and elsewhere.

Chats of "shame, shame" and "we will defend democracy" could be heard, correspondents say.

Instead of Law and Justice, one placard in Warsaw read "Lawlessness and Injustice", the BBC's Adam Easton reports from Warsaw.

Image copyright EPA Image caption Grzegorz Schetyna addressed the crowd, with Ryszard Petru at his side

Opposition leaders like former Foreign Minister Grzegorz Schetyna of Civic Platform and Ryszard Petru of the Modern party took to the stage in Warsaw.

"Today we know that a great fight has begun and we know we must be together, we know we must fight against them together," Mr Schetyna told the crowd, Reuters news agency reports.

Image copyright Karolina Stawinska Image caption Thousands tuned out under Polish and EU flags and other banners

The opposition fear the law will give parliament - dominated by PiS lawmakers - indirect control over judicial appointments, violating the constitutional separation of powers.

Włodzimierz Wróbel, a Supreme Court justice, told the BBC Poland would lose its independent judiciary.

Why is the government doing this?

The leader of the PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, says the reforms are needed because the judiciary is corrupt and only serves the elites. His party has previously passed legislation giving it control over the public media and civil service.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Opponents fear the reform will erode the independence of Poland's judiciary

Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro said the current system of appointing judges was undemocratic.

"We want to end corporatism and introduce the oxygen of democracy there," he said. "Because Poland is a democracy based on the rule of law. This is not court-ocracy."

Many Poles agree with the government, our correspondent reports.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Paul Adams examines the political scene in Poland

A separate bill was also presented in parliament this week, which would allow the justice minister to get rid of all of Poland's Supreme Court judges and appoint new ones.

This piece of legislation was not consulted on beforehand and introduced to parliament in the middle of the night, our correspondent says. It is still being discussed.

Under the PiS government, he adds, the justice minister already wields considerable power over the prosecution service in his role as prosecutor general because he can influence prosecutors to launch investigations.

How are Poland's EU partners reacting?

The European Commission, which is already investigating Poland for a serious breach of the rule of law, will urgently discuss the developments next week

The Council of Europe's Human Rights Commissioner, Nils Muiznieks, said the reforms were a "major setback for judicial independence".

Manfred Weber, leader of the European Parliament's largest grouping the EPP, said: "Law and Justice is putting an end to the rule of law and leaving the European community of values." </s> WARSAW (Reuters) - Police early Saturday forcefully broke up an hours-long blockade of exits from the Polish parliament by protesters who said ruling party lawmakers violated the constitution by illegally passing the budget for next year.

The passage sparked the biggest political standoff in years in European Union member Poland and the sharpest escalation of the conflict between the opposition and the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party since it came to power in October 2015.

The head of the PiS party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, left parliament in the early hours of Saturday after police used force to remove protesters blocking the exit from parliament, television footage showed.

“PiS has crossed a certain line and nothing will be the same again,” Tomasz Siemoniak, deputy leader of the biggest opposition party Civic Platform told local media outside parliament.

Opposition party lawmaker Jerzy Meysztowicz told television network TVN24 that police used tear gas to disperse the protesters who tried to prevent the convoy of cars carrying Kaczynski and Prime Minister Beata Szydlo from leaving.

Warsaw police spokesman Mariusz Mrozek denied use of tear gas, but confirmed physical force was used to remove protesters.

Mrozek said the gathering before the parliament has been declared illegal starting from midnight.

By 0237 GMT, many protesters had left, but some remained. Several opposition lawmakers said they would spend the night in parliament.

CRISIS

Polish opposition parties accused PiS of violating the constitution after Speaker Marek Kuchcinski moved a key vote on next year’s budget outside of the main chamber of parliament and blocked the media from recording the vote.

It was the first time since Poland’s transition from communism in 1989 that a sitting of the lower chamber of parliament and a budget vote were held outside of the main chamber.

“The ‘sitting’ was illegal. Period. This is a constitutional crisis,” Civic Platform head Grzegorz Schetyna said on social media.

Kuchcinski transferred the sitting after opposition lawmakers occupied the parliamentary podium protesting against a plan to curb media access and Kuchcinski’s decision to exclude one opposition lawmaker.

Demonstrators hold banners "Free Parliamnent, Free Media, Free Poles" during a protest in Gdansk, Poland December 17, 2016. REUTERS/Bartosz Banka/Agencja Gazeta

PiS earlier this week announced a plan to curb access of the media to the parliament, spurring widespread protests by non-state media and the opposition amid concern the right-wing government is intent on curtailing freedom of press.

The opposition said the budget vote was illegal as it was impossible to confirm that the required number of lawmakers was present.

“There is no proof that a quorum of lawmakers was present. We suspect that people who were not allowed to vote took part,” leader of the opposition Nowoczesna party Ryszard Petru said.

Before leaving parliament, Kaczynski said the vote was legal and involved the required number of MPs. Other PiS lawmakers echoed his comments.

“What the opposition did was a scandal. And we were working,” said PiS lawmaker Jaroslaw Zielinski.

AFTERMATH

Since coming to power, PiS has passed laws that made it more difficult for the constitutional court to pass rulings, a move that led the European Commission to say democracy and rule of law were threatened in Poland.

The nationalist-minded, eurosceptic PiS party has also tightened control over public news media and state prosecution. The party has approved legislation that human rights groups said would curtail freedom of assembly.

PiS is the first party since Poland’s transition to democracy to hold an outright majority in parliament.

Civic Platform lawmakers said they had difficulties accessing the hall where PiS lawmakers voted.

“I was able to enter the hall only after pushing aside guards,” Civic Platform (PO) lawmaker Slawomir Nitras told Reuters. “The access routes to microphones were blocked by chairs.”

Direct access for media to the hall was denied, with reporters only able to observe an official camera feed.

Opposition parties Civic Platform, Nowoczesna together with the PSL party said the speaker violated the constitution and demanded parliament continue its sitting next week.

Slideshow (6 Images)

Commentators warned that further escalation of the conflict might lead to violence, like in Ukraine during anti-government protests in 2013 and 2014.

“It may lead to a nation-wide tragedy. We have to be aware of this,” former head of the constitutional court Jerzy Stepien told local media.
Polish MPs vote to vote to cut their pay by 20% after opposition lawmakers boycott the vote.