Poland's Prime Minister has rejected criticism of bills on media ownership and property restitution passed by parliament.
During a tumultuous sitting of the lower house yesterday, lawmakers approved a bill that would strengthen a ban on companies from outside the European Economic Area controlling Polish broadcasters.
The opposition said the bill aimed to gag the news channel TVN24, which is owned by US-based media group Discovery and is critical of Poland's right-wing nationalist government.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington was "deeply troubled" by the passage of the bill, which he said targeted the most-watched independent news station in Poland and one of the largest US investments in the country.
Vera Jourova, European Commission Vice President for Values and Transparency, said the bill sent a "negative signal".
"We need a #MediaFreedomAct in the whole EU to uphold media freedom and support the rule of law," she tweeted.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki denied the bill was aimed at TVN.
"We do not have any intentions regarding a specific TV channel. It is just about tightening the regulations, so that there is no situation in which companies from outside the European Union would buy media in Poland," he told a news conference.
Media pluralism and diversity of opinions are what strong democracies welcome, not fight against.
— Věra Jourová (@VeraJourova) August 12, 2021
The draft Polish broadcasting law sends a negative signal. #lexTVN
We need a #MediaFreedomAct in the whole EU to uphold media freedom and support the rule of law.
Mr Blinken had also called on Poland not to proceed with legislation that is expected to make it harder for Jews to recover property seized by Nazi German occupiers during the Holocaust and kept by post-war Communist rulers.
Mr Morawiecki said the law would implement a 2015 ruling by Poland's Constitutional Tribunal that a deadline must be set after which faulty administrative decisions can no longer be challenged.
"This has nothing to do with the fears expressed by our American friends about us," he said.
The bills must clear both houses of parliament and be signed by President Andrzej Duda to become law.
He is close to the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) and is not expected to veto the legislation.
