A bipartisan group of US senators, mostly made up of Democrats but additionally such as the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a joint statement on August 4 expressing concern over the “troubling trajectory for Poland’s democracy”, warning that could scare off US purchase of the nation.
The statement comes just two weeks following the European Union slammed Poland (in addition to Hungary) for eroding media freedoms inside a rule-of-law report published on July 20.
“The Polish government's continued democratic backsliding, recently through efforts designed to undermine independent media and something from the largest US investments in the country, is deeply concerning,” the senators said within their statement.
“Like a bipartisan group of US senators, we want to make clear towards the Polish government that we're watching these events carefully. We're monitoring legislation under consideration in the Polish parliament that, if passed and signed into law, would discriminate against non-EU companies and likely force from Poland a major US investor employing several thousand people.
“This legislation, along with Poland's refusal to resume the license for the firm TVN, continues a troubling trajectory for Poland's democracy. This isn't the best way to attract foreign investments and would further undermine media freedoms that Poles have long fought,” added the Senators.
They continued, “These and other steps, which Poland – a NATO ally and shut friend and partner of the us – has taken, do not reflect the shared values that underpin our bilateral relationship. Any decision to apply these laws might have negative implications for defence, business and trade relations. We urge the Polish government to pause before functioning on any measure that will impact our longstanding relationship.”
Lex TVN
The US investor that the senators make reference to is Discovery, the owner of TVN, a channel that is critical in the reporting from the Polish government.
PiS lawmakers recently submitted legal amendments to Poland’s Broadcasting Act that would prevent companies from outside the ecu Economic Area holding more than a 49 percent stake in Polish tv and radio stations.
It continues to be dubbed “Lex TVN”.
According to opposition lawmakers, what the law states means TVN that will lose its licences. The ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) says the law aims to stop countries such as Russia and China taking control of Polish TV and radio stations.
Assertive EU, US action needed
TVN continues to be awaiting more than 1 . 5 years because of its current license to be renewed by Poland’s National Broadcasting Council, an agency which Markus Loening, a human rights expert who has served as the German government's commissioner for human rights, is “packed with government apparatchiks”.
Loening states that while TVN's US-links have so far shielded it from more aggressive state meddling, “without assertive action from the EU and US, TVN could still succumb to a similar fate as German-owned Polska Press”.
In December 2022, Poland's state-controlled energy giant PKN Orlen bought German-owned Polska Press, giving it control over 20 regional dailies, 120 magazines and hundreds of online portals across the country.
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), in Poland, the government's drive to subjugate the judicial system and a growing tendency to criminalise defamation are starting with an effect on the freedom of expression of independent media outlets.
“Press freedom has been under attack in Poland ever since PiS was elected in 2022,” RSF said earlier this year. “A law adopted in December of that year, over the objections of many international organisations including RSF, gave the ruling party close control of the general public media, enabling it to gag them, using them as propaganda outlets and fire their bosses when needed.”
A new ambassador
US President Joe Biden meanwhile on August 4 nominated the son of Zbigniew Brzezinski, one of the most prominent figures in Cold War politics, as US ambassador to Poland, despite reported hesitation by Warsaw’s right-wing government.
Marek Brzezinski, who will need Senate confirmation, is definitely an investor who served in foreign policy roles in the past Democratic administrations including as ambassador to Sweden under Barack Obama.
A Polish news site, Onet.pl, has previously reported that the government in Warsaw had raised objections to the proposed appointment – first put forward several weeks ago – by arguing that Brzezinski holds Polish citizenship through his father, making him ineligible to become ambassador.
The Polish government has denied the claims.
On August 5, a PiS MP and former foreign minister, Witold Waszczykowski, said he welcomed Brzezinski’s nomination, but not with no most undiplomatic dig at Bix Aliu, the Chargé d’Affaires at the US Embassy in Warsaw.