The German and US ambassadors to Poland have met to discuss media freedom in Poland. It comes as the Polish government says it is taking steps to reduce foreign – mostly German and American – ownership of media outlets in the country.
Meanwhile, Germany’s envoy to Warsaw, who finally took up his post in September after his arrival was delayed for months by the Polish government, met this week for the first time with Poland’s foreign minister.
Serdecznie dziękuję Georgette Mosbacher @USAmbPoland za wspaniałą przyjacielską kolację! Tematy naszych rozmów to stosunki transatlantyckie, Trójmorze i wolność mediów w Polsce.@USEmbassyWarsaw pic.twitter.com/xcqL624RjW
— Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven (@Amb_Niemiec) October 20, 2020
On Tuesday, Arndt Freytag von Loringhoven, the German ambassador, tweeted thanks to his US counterpart Georgette Mosbacher for hosting him for a “friendly” dinner.
“The topics of our conversation were transatlantic relations, the Three Seas Initiative, and media freedom in Poland,” wrote Loringhoven in Polish. His announcement met with an immediate response from members of Poland’s ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party.
“Perhaps this is a form of pressure on us to soften our position,” PiS MP Jan Mosiński told state broadcaster TVP. “But there is no turning back. A decision has been made. We will introduce media deconcentration.”
“Deconcentration” is a term used by PiS to describe its aims to prevent single firms from owning a large number of different media outlets. The party has declared that it wants to reduce ownership of Polish media by German firms in particular.
“Germany can react very aggressively to the issue of media deconcentration in Poland because it controls a significant part of the media market in our country and through that can support pro-German opposition candidates in elections,” said Adam Andruszkiewicz, a former far-right youth leader who is now secretary of state in the prime minister’s office, in response to the ambassadors’ meeting.
Retweeting the German ambassador, Polish deputy foreign minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk said he agreed that “media freedom is a foundation of the democratic state”. He added that he would be happy to “share with you, Mr Ambassador, my thoughts and observations on media freedom and pluralism in Germany”.
The Polish government has faced criticism for attacks on media freedom, with Poland this year falling to its lowest ever position in Reporters’ Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index. However, figures associated with the ruling camp claim it is western countries such as Germany, not Poland, that lack media freedom and pluralism.
The ambassadors’ meeting follows recent news that Polish state-owned oil refiner Orlen is in talks with German publishing group Verlagsgruppe Passau over buying its Polish arm, Polska Press, which owns 20 out of Poland’s 24 regional daily newspapers as well as dozens more local weeklies and news websites.
Such a move would be in line with the Polish government’s aim to “repolonise” the media by reducing foreign ownership, which it argues is a threat to Polish national interests. “Wherever possible, state-owned companies should buy media,” said deputy prime minister Piotr Gliński last week.
The government’s opponents say that the real aim behind the policy is to neuter independent, critical media outlets and bring more of the industry under the influence of PiS and its allies. They note that most major media outlets at the national level are already Polish owned.
It is likely that legislation on media ownership will be submitted to parliament next month, reports TVP. PiS has repeatedly promised such a bill since returning to power in 2015, but has so far failed to introduce one. Any direct attempt to reduce foreign ownership could run afoul of EU law and harm relations with the US, a vital ally.
Among Polish newspapers that do have foreign owners, most belong to private German firms. Poland’s largest private television broadcaster, TVN, is owned by Discovery, a US media company.
While the German authorities have generally avoided publicly commenting on the media situation in Poland – even when German-owned outlets were repeatedly attacked by PiS during this year’s presidential election campaign – Ambassador Mosbacher has regularly come to the defence of TVN when it has faced criticism from the ruling party.
She has also publicly criticised the idea of “deconcentrating” the media, as proposed by PiS. This would “limit freedom of speech”, effectively resulting in “censorship”, while also discouraging investors, she warned in August.
Forcing media companies to sell shares will force investors to look elsewhere. That’s not a good investment climate – it’s censorship. Attracting foreign investment and a strong economy requires predictability.
— Bix Aliu (@USAmbPoland) August 28, 2020
On the same day as his meeting with Mosbacher, the German ambassador was also hosted for the first time by Poland’s foreign minister, Zbigniew Rau.
As well as discussing economic relations, the Franco-German-Polish “Weimar Triangle” diplomatic forum, and the situation in Belarus, the two men also talked about a proposed memorial in Berlin to Polish victims of World War Two.
Shortly after taking up his post as ambassador, Loringhoven said that he had “set myself the goal of deepening knowledge in Germany – especially among our young people – of what the Germans did in Poland between 1939 and 1945”.
“This is the purpose served by a monument to Polish victims of the Third Reich in Berlin,” the ambassador told Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
Rau also discussed the proposed monument with his German counterpart, Heiko Maas, in Berlin last week. The Polish foreign minister said that, given cross-party support in the Bundestag, the project could be approved “in a matter of weeks”, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Loringhoven’s appointment as ambassador was delayed for months earlier this year because the Polish government initially failed to accept his nomination.
One of the reported reasons was Warsaw’s view that it was historically “insensitive” for Germany to have chosen as its representative in Poland the son of a Wehrmacht officer who served in Hitler’s bunker.
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
