Poland’s lower house voted in favor of a controversial media reform on Wednesday after a tumultuous debate. The Sejm voted in the evening with 228 votes for the law, which tightened the regulations for foreign participation in Polish media. 216 MPs voted against it.
The change provides that in the future Poland Broadcasting licenses may only be issued to foreigners if they “have their headquarters or their place of residence in the European Economic Area”. In addition, the condition applies that the licensee must not be dependent on someone who has headquarters or residence outside of this economic area. According to critics, the law targets the private broadcaster TVN, which is part of the US group Discovery through a holding company registered in the Netherlands. The news channel TVN24 represents a line that is critical of the PiS. After the Sejm, the first chamber of parliament, has approved the change in the law, it now goes to the Senate, the second chamber. He can still make suggestions for changes.
Bad for US relations
The reform is likely to strain relations with the US. A US State Department representative said that if TVN24 was not granted a new license, American investments could be made Poland endanger. A free and independent press makes a democracy stronger, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price on Wednesday afternoon (local time) in Washington shortly before the vote in Warsaw. “That is why we (…) asked the Polish government to demonstrate its commitment to these principles.”
High-ranking officials from the US State Department had contact with Polish officials in the past few hours, Price continued. “Poland is a key NATO ally who understands that the transatlantic alliance is based not only on mutual interests when it comes to our common security, but also on mutual commitment to shared democratic values and prosperity. “
“Illegal Action”
During the meeting of the Sejm there was a scandal when a narrow majority of the MPs initially voted in favor of postponing the vote on the reform. However, Parliament’s President Elzbieta Witek overturned the decision on the grounds that she had forgotten to specify the new date for a vote. Members of the ruling party had called for the vote to be repeated. In the second vote, the postponement was rejected. Opposition representatives called Witek’s actions illegal.
The governing coalition around the national-conservative PiS party managed to implement the media reform despite an open conflict with a previous coalition partner. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki of the PiS dismissed its boss, Labor Minister Jaroslaw Gowin, on Tuesday. Morawiecki referred to economic reforms in which the two parties crossed over. Gowin had also said of the country’s controversial judicial reforms that it made no sense to get into a dispute with the European Union over it.
