Claudia Ciobanu

Nov 3, 2024 | balkaninsight.com | Claudia Ciobanu

“When I saw the report on TVN24, I just thought, ‘oh, it’s finally confirmed’,” Suchanow tells BIRN in an interview at the central Warsaw offices of her women’s rights movement Strajk Kobiet (Women’s Strike).

Sep 30, 2024 | balkaninsight.com | Claudia Ciobanu

The rise of these ‘patriotic’ patrols roaming the forests, together with the loss of hope among migrants and the activists who help them that international law will ever be fully respected on this border, is creating an oppressive, bleak atmosphere in the area that many feel is near the tensest it’s ever been.

Sep 17, 2024 | balkaninsight.com | Claudia Ciobanu

PolandPiotr Serafin, 50, got the portfolio of Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration, as had been agreed already in August by Polish Prime Minister Tusk and Commission President von der Leyen; Polish President Andrzej Duda also agreed to Serafin’s nomination at the time. Serafin is Poland’s current permanent representative to the EU and a long-term Brussels insider. As such, he is expected to pass the obligatory European Parliament hearings on nominations without serious difficulty.

Sep 12, 2024 | balkaninsight.com | Claudia Ciobanu |Nicholas Watson

While Germany’s neighbours expressed dismay at Berlin’s decision to reimpose border controls, Hungary’s anti-immigration PM gleefully tweeted to the German chancellor: ‘Welcome to the club!’

Sep 3, 2024 | balkaninsight.com | Claudia Ciobanu

The clarification from the government is meant to make doctors feel more confident in applying the law without fear of legal repercussions, which became more common under the previous conservative government of Law and Justice (PiS). Since Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal in 2021 further tightened access to abortion, hospitals have tended to make it difficult for women to access legal abortions, asking for more paperwork beyond a psychiatrist statement.