Mr President, as a Portuguese person who lived under totalitarian rule for part of her life, I should like to say to the Prime Minister that I feel a lot of sympathy and admiration for the Polish people and their liberation from totalitarian rule.

But I can only share the concerns and the outrage of my colleagues who see the rule of law being put under attack by your Government, Prime Minister. The brave people of Poland have become divided as you have been making slurs against people who are critics of your position - such as some Members of our Parliament, like Róża Gräfin von Thun und Hohenstein, Danuta Maria Hübner and Barbara Kudrycka and other brave women, who have been slurred as anti-patriotic.

I believe that the Polish people deserve much better. The Polish people are protesting vibrantly in the streets against the attacks on the rule of the law and basic human rights, in particular the rights of women, and I can only pay tribute to the head of the Supreme Court who went to work today - a brave, patriotic Polish woman.