London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Sunday, Oct 19, 2025

How Europe can protect independent media in Hungary and Poland

How Europe can protect independent media in Hungary and Poland

Press freedom is a prerequisite for free and fair elections.

Media freedom is fundamental to democracy — and Europe’s least-democratic governments know that. In Poland and Hungary, ruling parties have co-opted state channels and bought out private media channels aggressively. Diversity of opinion has all but disappeared, and the few remaining independent outlets are hanging by a thread.

Meanwhile, the European Union does little to help. While European institutions were tutting about rising worries, governments in Warsaw and Budapest learned to control their local publishers and broadcasters with a simple, effective formula: finance your friends, and silence your enemies.

In Poland, state-owned oil company PKN Orlen, which is close to the ruling Law and Justice government, has tried to buy local media properties. The goal wasn’t to diversify beyond fossil fuels — it was to control the message. In Hungary almost no independent media publishers remain, with just a handful of internet portals and radio stations available to Hungarians looking for media the government or the ruling party doesn’t influence.

Even independent media is at risk. When the ruling party can’t just buy the message, they send lawyers to unplug it. PiS and its allies have hit independent newspapers like Gazeta Wyborcza and oko.press, as well as opinion-makers such as the constitutional law expert Wojciech Sadurski, with dozens of so-called “Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation,” or SLAPP lawsuits. These typically frivolous, politically motivated lawsuits are designed to intimidate and distract media organizations — and burden them with legal fees.

To its credit, the Commission was quick to recognize the moves against media freedom in Hungary and Poland and see the threat it represented to European democracy. Unfortunately, it still hasn’t taken meaningful action. A 2016 rule of law recommendation to Poland specifically cited media freedom as an area of concern. But then they never followed up.

More empty talk came in 2020, when the Commission gave media freedom its own section in its rule of law report. Again though: no real impact on the ground in Poland. Recently the Commission set up a working group to develop legislation addressing SLAPP cases. That’s better. But even if adopted, the legislation will have come too late, given that the country’s courts have already been captured and state media has been converted to the ruling party’s mouthpiece. The Commission has also investigated complaints about fair competition in media, but in the end seemingly concluded it could not act.

The Commission now has a new idea, a “media freedom act” for 2022. As usual, it is saying all the right things. The proposed act would strengthen the EU’s ability to sanction countries for restrictions of media freedom, rather than just monitoring a worsening situation and fretting.

This too is unlikely to go anywhere, because it asks turkeys to vote for Christmas. After all, the initiative would clearly target Poland and Hungary. So these governments could be expected to draw out the debate and water down the language. Even if a seemingly workable act would emerge from the Brussels sausage-making, it would be unlikely to be meaningfully implemented. The law could easily be challenged in national courts which these governments control.

Fortunately, there is another way. The EU’s founding treaties require nationally organized local and European Parliament elections to be free and fair, a standard countries can’t meet without independent media. This gives the Commission the capability — and the obligation — to act when media options have become so narrow that informed choice is no longer possible.

The impact of unfree media on elections is not theoretical. The Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), in a notable departure from its usual tone of strict understatement, declared Hungary’s 2018 parliamentary elections and Poland’s 2020 presidential elections unfair. Their reason: the state-controlled media’s outsized control of the information voters’ used to make their decisions. As things stand right now, the same will hold true in future elections in both countries.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen should not be launching another lofty, doomed legislative project, but leading an infringement action to protect independent national media to ensure Hungarians and Poles maintain their right to free and fair elections.

And if that doesn’t happen soon, the European Parliament should push the Commission to act, and quickly. After all, the parliament’s own future composition (and legitimacy) depends on free and fair elections across the entire EU.

Independent national media is hanging by a thread in Poland and Hungary. The EU should immediately use the tools it already has to protect it.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
S&P Downgrades France’s Credit Rating, Citing Soaring Debt and Political Instability
Ofcom Rules BBC’s Gaza Documentary ‘Materially Misleading’ Over Narrator’s Hamas Ties
Diane Keaton’s Cause of Death Revealed as Pneumonia, Family Confirms
Former Lostprophets Frontman Ian Watkins Stabbed to Death in British Prison
"The Tsunami Is Coming, and It’s Massive": The World’s Richest Man Unveils a New AI Vision
Outsider, Heroine, Trailblazer: Diane Keaton Was Always a Little Strange — and Forever One of a Kind
Dramatic Development in the Death of 'Mango' Founder: Billionaire's Son Suspected of Murder
Two Years of Darkness: The Harrowing Testimonies of Israeli Hostages Emerging From Gaza Captivity
EU Moves to Use Frozen Russian Assets to Buy U.S. Weapons for Ukraine
Europe Emerges as the Biggest Casualty in U.S.-China Rare Earth Rivalry
HSBC Confronts Strategic Crossroads as NAB Seeks Only Retail Arm in Australia Exit
U.S. Chamber Sues Trump Over $100,000 H-1B Visa Fee
Shenzhen Expo Spotlights China’s Quantum Step in Semiconductor Self-Reliance
China Accelerates to the Forefront in Global Nuclear Fusion Race
Yachts, Private Jets, and a Picasso Painting: Exposed as 'One of the Largest Frauds in History'
Australia’s Wedgetail Spies Aid NATO Response as Russian MiGs Breach Estonian Airspace
McGowan Urges Chalmers to Cut Spending Over Tax Hike to Close $20 Billion Budget Gap
Victoria Orders Review of Transgender Prison Placement Amid Safety Concerns for Female Inmates
U.S. Treasury Mobilises New $20 Billion Debt Facility to Stabilise Argentina
French Business Leaders Decry Budget as Macron’s Pro-Enterprise Promise Undermined
Trump Claims Modi Pledged India Would End Russian Oil Imports Amid U.S. Tariff Pressure
Surging AI Startup Valuations Fuel Bubble Concerns Among Top Investors
Australian Punter Archie Wilson Tears Up During Nebraska Press Conference, Sparking Conversation on Male Vulnerability
Australia Confirms U.S. Access to Upgraded Submarine Shipyard Under AUKUS Deal
“Firepower” Promised for Ukraine as NATO Ministers Meet — But U.S. Tomahawks Remain Undecided
Brands Confront New Dilemma as Extremists Adopt Fashion Labels
The Sydney Sweeney and Jeans Storm: “The Outcome Surpassed Our Wildest Dreams”
Erika Kirk Delivers Moving Tribute at White House as Trump Awards Charlie Presidential Medal of Freedom
British Food Influencer ‘Big John’ Detained in Australia After Visa Dispute
ScamBodia: The Chinese Fraud Empire Shielded by Cambodia’s Ruling Elite
French PM Suspends Macron’s Pension Reform Until After 2027 in Bid to Stabilize Government
Orange, Bouygues and Free Make €17 Billion Bid for Drahi’s Altice France Telecom Assets
Dutch Government Seizes Chipmaker After U.S. Presses for Removal of Chinese CEO
Bessent Accuses China of Dragging Down Global Economy Amid New Trade Curbs
U.S. Revokes Visas of Foreign Nationals Who ‘Celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
AI and Cybersecurity at Forefront as GITEX Global 2025 Kicks Off in Dubai
DJI Loses Appeal to Remove Pentagon’s ‘Chinese Military Company’ Label
EU Deploys New Biometric Entry/Exit System: What Non-EU Travelers Must Know
Australian Prime Minister’s Private Number Exposed Through AI Contact Scraper
Ex-Microsoft Engineer Confirms Famous Windows XP Key Was Leaked Corporate License, Not a Hack
China’s lesson for the US: it takes more than chips to win the AI race
Australia Faces Demographic Risk as Fertility Falls to Record Low
California County Reinstates Mask Mandate in Health Facilities as Respiratory Illness Risk Rises
Israel and Hamas Agree to First Phase of Trump-Brokered Gaza Truce, Hostages to Be Freed
French Political Turmoil Elevates Marine Le Pen as Rassemblement National Poised for Power
China Unveils Sweeping Rare Earth Export Controls to Shield ‘National Security’
The Davos Set in Decline: Why the World Economic Forum’s Power Must Be Challenged
France: Less Than a Month After His Appointment, the New French Prime Minister Resigns
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary will not adopt the euro because the European Union is falling apart.
Sarah Mullally Becomes First Woman Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury
×