Go back

MEPs visiting Poland to probe academic freedom

Image: Oleksandr Dudnyk, via Shutterstock

Visit comes amid concern around government criticism of Polish Holocaust historian

Members of the European Parliament have gone on a fact-finding mission to Poland to shed light on concerns around academic freedom in the country.

Representatives of the Parliament’s Culture and Education Committee will visit Poland from 15 to 17 May, where they are set to discuss education policy with science and education minister Przemysław Czarnek.

They will also hold a debate on academic freedom with representatives of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools, and educational non-governmental organisations.

The seven MEPs on the trip will also discuss recent developments in the country’s culture and media policies.

Repeated concerns

“The attention of our committee has been repeatedly brought to issues in the culture, education, and research and media policy in Poland,” said Sabine Verheyen, who is the committee chair and is leading the delegation.

“During our fact-finding mission, we want to [assess] the situation for ourselves, and to talk to people and organisations on the ground.”

Although the Parliament and MEPs did not mention any specific concerns, in recent weeks there have been clashes over academic freedom in Poland after its government criticised Polish historian Barbara Engelking for saying that Poles “failed” Jewish people during the Holocaust.

Czarnek reportedly said on Polish television that he would review the funding for the Polish Centre for Holocaust Research, of which Engelking is the director, because he would “not finance on a larger scale an institute that supports the kind of people who insult Poles” and would “not make positive [funding] decisions in relation to academics who constantly insult Poles”.