Polish President Andrzej Duda has announced that he will veto the controversial media law that has been severely criticized by the United States.
Duda confirmed this on Polish television on Monday. The country's lower house passed the law earlier in December, after the upper house tried to stop it this fall.
The president said the bill was unpopular with many Poles and would reduce the attractiveness of Poland for foreign companies.
The law prohibited companies based outside the EEA from holding a majority stake in Polish media companies.
The right-wing government in Poland claims its goal was to protect media image from Russia and other potentially hostile powers. Critics believe the real goal was to gag the US news channel TVN24.
TVN24 is a serious competitor of the Polish broadcaster TVP, which is under the control of the ruling party PIS.
The media law was heavily criticized by both the US and the EU, and the US asked Duda to veto it.
Poles also expressed dissatisfaction with the act. On December 19, thousands of people demonstrated in front of the Presidential Palace in Poland against the act.
Source: NTB
(Press Office via AP)
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