Polish Deputy Speaker Calls for Parliamentary Pause to Resolve Crisis

Poland's deputy speaker of the lower-house Sejm from the main opposition Civic Platform party suggested to the Sejm presidium to call a pause in sessions until January 18 to resolve the parliamentary and budgetary crises, according to local media.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Poland's deputy speaker of the lower-house Sejm from the main opposition Civic Platform party proposed on Wednesday to pause parliamentary proceedings to resolve a month-old crisis, local media reported.

A sit-in protest by opposition lawmakers blocked the main chamber of the Sejm in mid-December, forcing the ruling party lawmakers who have enough members for a constitutional quorum, to approve several bills, including the draft budget, in another part of the building. The opposition called the vote illegal and demanded a rerun.

"Deputy Marshal of the Sejm, Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska, has suggested to the Sejm presidium to call a pause in sessions until January 18 to resolve the parliamentary and budgetary crises," Civic Platform leader Grzegorz Schetyna said, as quoted by the TVN24 news channel.

The sit-in was prompted by a decision of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party to restrict journalists’ right to cover the work of the lower house. The PiS has since dropped this plan.