Marek Belka asks EU Commission about anti-TVN bill and rule of law violation

The Sejm Culture and Media Committee on Tuesday approved - along with changes added during the session - the draft amendment to the Broadcasting Act. The legislation, proposed by the ruling PiS party, directly targets the independence of TVN. Out 29 total votes, 16 were in favour, 12 - against, with 1 abstention.

Poland's former prime minister and finance minister MEP Marek Belka has filed an interpellation regarding the bill to the European Commission. He explained that "in Poland a draft law is being processed, that would allow for granting TV broadcasting licences to foreign companies based outside the EEA".

"17 months ago, TVN filed a request to the KRRiT (National Broadcasting Council) for licence extension for TVN24 news channel - one of the largest and most popular in Poland. The motion hasn't been examined to the present day, although based on the current law, it doesn't raise any concerns," the MEP said in the interpellation.

He added that "TVN S.A. is owned by a Dutch company, which is owned by an American concern, and therefore presenting the draft law in such a form cannot be considered a coincidence". "The project should be viewed as aimed against TVN channel, which has often been critical towards the actions of the current government," he wrote.

In his interpellation, Belka addressed the Commission with three questions. In the first one he asked, "if the Commission sees further processing of a draft law, that limits Polish citizens' access to independent media, as a case of rule of law violation by the Polish government".

"In 2020, the Polska Press media group (owned by German Verlagsgruppe Passau) was taken over by the state-controlled Orlen company. Seeing these two cases, does the Commission see a risk of Polish media market being monopolised?" - was the second question in the interpellation.

In the third question, Marek Belka asked "if the potential rule of law violation in Poland, done through this kind of attacks on media and freedom of speech, could result in EU funds for Poland being taken away or suspended".

Authors of a bill, put forward by a group of PiS MPs on July 7, argue that it aims at "clarifying regulations enabling the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) to effectively counteract the possibility of radio and television broadcasters to be taken over by any entities from outside the European Union, including entities from countries posing an immediate threat to state security".

Commentators and experts agree that the planned changes are meant to target TVN. TVN24 channel is still waiting for the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT) to extend its licence. The current one expires on September 26. The station filed for an extension in February 2020.

The KRRiT claims the problem lies in the "ownership situation" of the TVN Group. The company said in a statement that in 2015 the council had approved entry of American capital into TVN.