Polish dictatorship?

Poland lives a political turmoil. The new government has approved laws to undermine justice and media. It raised concerns by European Union. EU commissioner for the Digital Economy, Guenther Oettinger, said: “There are solid grounds for us to activate the rule of law mechanism and put Warsaw under monitoring.”

The new media law give powers to government a direct control over top appointments in public broadcasting. It undermines free speech, critics say. On Saturday, The directors of four channels of TVP has resigned to protest against it. The Polish news website Dziennik named them as: Piotr Radziszewski (TVP1), Jerzy Kapuscinski (TVP2), Katarzyna Janowska (TVP Kultura) and Tomasz Sygut (Television Information Agency).

In an interview with Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper, Oettinger said he would raise the Polish media law issue at a meeting of the Commission on 13 January. Under the EU’s rule of law mechanism, adopted last year, the Commission can escalate pressure on a member state to amend any measure that is considered a “systemic threat” to fundamental EU values.

The populist government of Justice and Law Party want to reshape Poland under its point of view. But EU commission could be veto new media law. In the last resort, a state’s voting rights in the EU Council – where government ministers shape EU policy – can be suspended. The Commission is the EU’s top regulator, enforcing EU treaties.

Last week, Polish parliament has approved a new Constitutional Court reform which undermines their powers.  Over Media Law, the PiS says new managers are needed at the top of state institutions because the previous centre-right Civic Platform party allowed corruption to flourish. Poles, goes to the streets again.