Ahead of the Polish legislature, there is currently a government proposal to amend the media law that would reshape Polish media regulation to make it impossible for US-based TVN, a government-critical news channel owned by the US Discovery Group. There were protests against the amendment in Warsaw, and the dissolution of the coalition governing the country was also expected. A government spokesman said in the morning that the media law will be voted on today, that the government has a majority to pass the law.
On August 4, a narrow group of US senators wrote a letter to the House of Lords expressing concern about political events in Poland and warning that the media law could have “negative consequences” for joint Polish-American defense cooperation, business and commercial cooperation. The letter was also signed by the chairmen of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs for Europe and Poland.
According to the Polish news portal Wirtualna Polska, the Capitol is currently investigating the possibility of moving some American soldiers stationed in Poland to Romania. It is alleged that some senators are already talking publicly about the need to use defensive pressure to ensure that Poland does not accept an amendment to the law, referred to as “lex TVN”.
Widomoussy writes that the letter was also signed by senators and members of Parliament who will also prepare the Defense Department’s document on the global allocation of US troops for soldiers which will be released in September and will also be responsible for implementing the 2022 defense budget.
“This is not retaliation for a TV station, but if both Democrats and Republicans see Poland as a country unfriendly to their interests, I will vote for a budget that benefits the Baltic states or the Black Sea region. Preferred,” a congressional source told Wiadomosc.
The Polish Foreign Ministry told the newspaper that it wanted to ask everyone to calm down because it is just a rumor that the Senate is trying to apply that kind of pressure at the moment.
If the proposal becomes law – which the government spokesperson has a good chance of saying this morning – Poland will almost certainly prepare for some negative consequences from the US, which could even be the withdrawal of the aforementioned troops.
Update: In the meantime, the Polish ruling coalition appears to have disintegrated, which is why it is possible that the disputed amendment to the law will not be adopted, until early elections may come in Poland:
As a result of the news, a slight weakness was observed in the crossover of the zloty and the euro on the side of the Polish currency.
Cover Photo: Getty Images Poland / Karol Serewis
