Venice Commission to assess "surveilance" act in June

Spokesman for the Council of Europe, Panos Kakaviatos said on Monday that the Venice Commission will hold a seating on June 10 and 11 to assess the changes Poland has introduced to step up the powers of police and special services. The spokesman also said that the Venice Commission will visit Poland, however a date has yet to be decided. The amendments to the new law give greater freedom to government workers and public services in their acquisition of data. This has attracted some controversy, with government ombudsman Adam Bodnar filing a complaint with the Constitutional Court about certain subsections of the bill. On March 11, the Council of Europe's Venice Commission criticized the amendments made to Poland's top constitutional court.