The Polish president vetoed a media ownership law that critics said was designed to silence TVN24, a news channel owned by the United States. As tensions in the east increased, he avoided a dispute with Washington. Europe In some countries, Russia’s self-confidence has increased.
After the European Union and the United States severely criticized the law, Andrzej Duda said in a television statement: “I will veto it.”
The law will prevent companies outside the European Economic Area from holding controlling rights in Polish media companies. This will force the American Discovery Group to sell its majority stake in TVN, one of Poland’s largest private TV networks. TVN24 is its news channel.
U.S. Chargé d’affaires in Warsaw, Bix Alliu, thanked Duda for his “leadership and commitment to common democratic values, as well as protecting Poland’s investment environment”.
“Allies are strong together!” he said.
The TVN board of directors welcomed the announcement “with appreciation and joy” in a statement, stating that the president “stands up to maintain good relations with the United States.”
Although the move allows NATO member Poland to avoid potentially explosive quarrels with Washington, the decision means that the ruling Nationalist Law and Justice Party (PiS) voted through parliament to block the project by the president elected as its ally.
Polish lawmakers passed the law this month, and the government argued that the law would protect Poland’s media landscape from potential hostile actors such as Russia.
Duda said he agrees with this principle, but it should not be applied to existing commercial arrangements and investment treaties.
Earlier this month, thousands of Poles protested against the violation of the law outside the Presidential Palace in Warsaw. Many in the crowd waved EU flags and chanted “free media.”
Donald Tusk, the former chairman of the European Council who leads the opposition Civic Platform Party, said that Duda’s decision shows that “the pressure is justified”.
Before Tusk’s veto, European Commission spokesperson Christian Wigander said that the proposed legislation would “pose a serious risk to media freedom and pluralism in Poland”.
Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party controls the public television broadcaster TVP, which has become the government’s mouthpiece, as well as most regional media.
Since PiS was elected to power in 2015, Poland has dropped 46 places in the World Press Freedom Index of Reporters Without Borders, reaching 64th place.
Duda said in a televised statement on Monday that if the law goes into effect, it may violate economic and trade relations treaties signed with the United States.
“One of the arguments considered when analyzing this law was the issue of an international agreement concluded in 1990… The treaty talks about the protection of investments,” he said.
“There is a clause that says media-related investments may be excluded, but it involves future investments.”
PiS MP Joanna Lichocka told public broadcaster Polskie Radio 24 that Duda did not mention legal loopholes in the foreign ownership of media companies when defending his decision, which was “surprising”.
“I don’t see it as a betrayal, but a different view of what the Republic of Poland is doing right,” she said.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report
