The US attacks the new media law approved by Poland

The approval on Wednesday night in the Polish Parliament of a controversial amendment to the broadcasting law to limit foreign capital in the media has not only sentenced the crisis of the coalition that allowed the prime minister, the ultra-conservative Mateusz Morawiecki, to govern. Rather, it has provoked a harsh reaction from the United States, whose Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, even urged the country's president, Andrzej Duda, on Thursday not to sign the regulation.

The reason is that this legislation may force the US group Discovery to sell most of its stake in the private television channel TVN, practically the only critical audiovisual medium left in Poland.

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In a statement disseminated through its social networks, Blinken did not limit itself to underlining Washington's "deep concern" about this law, which, according to the Polish opposition, has the sole objective of silencing the channel of US capital.

In a thinly veiled threat, the head of US diplomacy added that "free and independent media strengthen our democracies, make the transatlantic alliance more resistant and are fundamental to our bilateral relations," reports Reuters.

Blinken also warned that the new Polish media law may harm the investment climate in Poland. The value of the TVN channel amounts to more than 1,000 million dollars (about 843 million euros) and is the largest US investment in that country.

During the stormy parliamentary session in which the new law was enacted, another legal text was also approved, which in turn provoked criticism from Blinken. This is the rule that prohibits claiming looted property after a period of 30 years has elapsed. In practice, the aim of this law is to prevent Polish Jews from claiming property that was taken from them by the Nazis. Once the Third Reich was defeated in Poland, not a few of these properties went to the hands of high-ranking officials of the communist regime. The US Secretary of State asked Warsaw to approve "a global law for the return of property" of the victims of Nazism.

After this harsh statement, the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, of the ultra-conservative nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) tried this Thursday to calm things down in an appearance before the press.

"Our American friends have nothing to fear," he said.

He later refuted Blinken's criticism by arguing that the new audiovisual law "is not directed against any specific station."

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Demonstration against

Neither the Polish opposition nor the country's analysts share this view about the amendment that establishes the ban on working in Poland for the media that are not owned by countries of the European Economic Area. Nor the thousands of Poles who on Tuesday night demonstrated across the country against the new audiovisual law. In fact, this reform is known as the "anti-TVN law" because this medium, whose news programs have been distinguished by their investigative reports, is practically the only one affected. In 2018, this television broadcast images of a gathering of Polish neo-Nazis celebrating Adolf Hitler's birthday in SS uniforms and swastikas. Among the participants, the personal assistant of a PiS parliamentarian was identified. The government then accused the chain of "spreading hatred"

The angry reaction of the United States comes at a time of deep crisis for a government whose stability is compromised. The parliamentary session in which the new media law was approved was the culmination of 24 hours of tension, marked by the abandonment of the Morawiecki governing coalition of its minority partner, the moderate conservative party Agreement, which outright rejects that rule. The prime minister had unexpectedly removed Vice President and Accord leader Jaroslaw Gowin Tuesday, followed by the resignation of three vice ministers from the formation.

In his appearance this Thursday, Mateusz Morawiecki announced "immediate" changes in his government, a movement with which he tries to face the crisis opened by the schism in the United Right alliance, which has allowed him to govern until now. Agreement, which until Wednesday supported him with its 10 seats, has formed its own parliamentary group

On August 31, the increasingly fragile Polish Government will have to face another of the fronts that it has open. On that day, the twice-delayed ruling of the Constitutional Court on the primacy of the Polish Constitution over European legislation is expected, a dispute that has strained relations between Warsaw and Brussels and whose outcome could open the door to a “Polexit ”, Something that also aroused criticism from the leader of the Agreement and contributed to precipitating the crisis in the government coalition. On August 7, Poland announced its decision to backtrack on the establishment of a disciplinary regime for judges, the withdrawal of which had been demanded by the EU on the grounds that it violated judicial independence.