Polish parliament lifts ban on media access as protests continue

Poland’s lower house of parliament lifted a temporary ban on media access on Tuesday in an effort to defuse anti-government protests that have paralysed the assembly, but the opposition said more still needed to be done.

The clampdown on media access planned by the ruling right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party is among a raft of measures its critics say have eroded the independence of the media and the judiciary. Fears of an authoritarian drift in Poland have brought thousands of protesters on to the streets in the past year and alarmed the country's European Union partners, though the government remains broadly popular among Polish voters.

Despite the removal of the media ban, opposition lawmakers extended their occupation of parliament’s debating chamber into a fifth day. They vowed to stay put until a debate and vote on the 2017 budget they say was held illegally in a side room on Friday to avoid protests and reporters is rerun with all lawmakers.

The planned curbs on media access to the Sejm announced last week by PiS speaker Marek Kuchcinski triggered demonstrations outside parliament and an occupation of the Sejm's podium and the speaker's chair by opposition lawmakers. In response, Mr Kuchcinski temporarily barred all reporters and moved the vote to a side room.

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Journalists limited

The Sejm’s press office said on Tuesday the ban had been scrapped but rules on media access were still likely to change. That was an allusion to an earlier proposal to reserve all recording of parliamentary sessions for five selected TV stations and limiting the number of journalists allowed in parliament to two per media outlet.

“We want, however, to give an assurance that these changes will not be introduced without broad consultations and agreements with reporters,” the press office said. The opposition welcomed the move but demanded the lower chamber also rerun the disputed budget vote. PiS officials replied the vote was legal and would not be repeated.

"PiS is retreating," the leader of the liberal Nowoczesna party, Ryszard Petru, said on his Twitter account. "Another debate on the budget is a key issue."

The deputy speaker of the upper house senate said the situation could lead to problems with Polish debt issuance.

"If there are doubts around the budget, there will be doubts regarding the purchase of debt paper [by investors]," said Bogdan Borusewicz of the opposition Civic Platform.

The standoff in parliament is the most serious for years in Poland and marks the sharpest escalation in tension between opposition parties and PiS since it won an October 2015 election with a large majority.– (Reuters)