14 PiS MPs, including Deputy Prime Minister Jacek Sasin and Minister of Maritime Economy Marek Gróbarczyk, voted on Friday against adding another edition of the anti-crisis shield to the agenda of the Sejm, including releasing officials from responsibility for the decisions taken. The project was dealt with by the parliamentary public finance committee.
Responsibility of officials during an epidemic?
Contrary to the recommendation of the Presidium, the Sejm will not deal with the draft amendment to the act on special solutions related to the prevention, prevention and combating of COVID-19, other infectious diseases caused by them, crisis situations. The bill was submitted by PiS MPs. It is a proposal of further changes to the anti-crisis shield. The project assumes, among others supplementing the so-called Anti-crisis shield 2.0 with the following provision: “A person who, in order to counteract COVID-19, violates his official duties or applicable regulations shall not commit a crime, if he acts in the public interest and without violating these obligations or regulations, the action taken would not be possible or would be significantly impeded”.
On Thursday, KO deputies expressed opposition to these proposals. The Secretary General of the Civic Platform, Marcin Kierwiński, argued that with this provision “PiS officials want to ensure impunity”. On Friday, KO parliamentarians objected to the inclusion of this item on the agenda and the opposition was taken into account by the chamber.
178 MPs voted in favor of adding this item, 201 against and 8 abstained.
Opposition clubs were primarily against this point, but 14 PiS MPs also voted against. They were: Krzysztof Czarnecki, Grzegorz Gaża, Jarosław Gonciarz, Marek Gróbarczyk, Wiesław Janczyk, Marta Kubiak, Tomasz Ławniczak, Jerzy Materna, Kazimierz Moskal, Anna Pieczarka, Kacper Płażyński, Paweł Rychlik, Jacek Sasin and Rafał Weber.
In turn, two deputies from the KO – Rajmund Miller and Sławomir Neumann – voted in favor of adding the item to the agenda. Just like Zdzisław Wolski from the Left, Radosław Lubczyk and Jan Łopata from KP-PSL-Kukiz15.
The commission is proceeding with the project
Preventing and combating the infectious disease COVID-19 requires special solutions – Anna Milczanowska (PiS) pointed out on Friday, justifying the essence of the solutions proposed in the draft regarding responsibility for actions during an epidemic.
At the session of the parliamentary public finance committee, the first reading of the deputy’s draft amendment to the act on special solutions related to the prevention, counteracting and combating COVID-19, other infectious diseases and the crisis situations caused by them, proposed by parliamentarians of Law and Justice, is underway.
The draft includes a provision that “does not commit a crime, who, in order to counteract COVID-19, violates official duties or applicable regulations, if he acts in the public interest and without violating these obligations or regulations, the action taken would not be possible or would be significantly impeded”.
Milczanowska pointed out that COVID-19 requires non-standard and quick actions. She argued that many people deal with the problem of whether to strictly follow the procedures or take non-standard actions. The regulation, as she argued, has, inter alia, support the health service in the fight against the epidemic.
The purpose of the act – as she explained – is to introduce a solution that will exclude the unlawfulness, and consequently crime, of an act consisting in a breach of official duties or other regulations by a person acting to prevent and combat the infectious disease COVID-19.
The proposed provision – as she pointed out – will apply to acts committed also before the entry into force of this provision. The date of entry into force of the Act is set on the day following the date of its publication
kpc/PAP
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