Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jarosław Kaczyński (right) and Prime Minister Beata Szydło. | EPA/PAWEL SUPERNAK New media law gives Polish government fuller control Domestic and international concerns grow over Law and Justice policies.

WARSAW — Poland's parliament on Wednesday adopted a new media law that gives the conservative government more latitude to control state-run television and radio.

The law on "national media" is the latest in a series of legislative efforts by the newly elected Law and Justice party (PiS) government to take control of a wide array of state institutions, something that's creating a growing, but so far ineffective, domestic and international pushback.

Because PiS commands an absolute majority in parliament, the bills have been speedily approved. The opposition has been unable to stop the PiS legislation, but international institutions are starting to voice their concerns.

Frans Timmermans, first vice president of the European Commission, sent a letter to Poland's foreign and justice ministers on Wednesday stressing that media freedom and pluralism is crucial to the functioning of the EU. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on Wednesday expressed “deep concern” about the media bill.

“I fear the hastily introduced changes will endanger the basic conditions of independence, objectivity and impartiality of public service broadcasters,” Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE’s representative on freedom of the media, said in a statement. Her concern was echoed by groups such as Reporters Without Borders and the Association of European Journalists.

The law, which would come into effect immediately after being signed by President Andrzej Duda, would allow the treasury minister to swiftly replace senior public broadcast officials.

“The public media are ignoring their mission towards the nation,” Elżbieta Kruk, a PiS MP, said in parliament. “Instead of creating a media shield for the Polish national interest, journalists often sympathize with negative opinions about Poland.”

In the quarter century since the end of communism, Poland has been unable to create apolitical public media, and there is something of a tradition of new governments putting their loyalists into top jobs — it’s just that Law and Justice’s moves are faster and blunter than their predecessors.

Rapid changes

Parliament also passed a bill Wednesday restructuring the civil service by scrapping the requirement that senior jobs be put out to tender, which critics say will allow the government to put its loyalists into key bureaucratic posts.

The legislature also started debate on a police bill, which gives police and security agencies more power to snoop on citizens’ email, social media and other forms of communications — a measure the government argues increases public safety. However, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights warned the legislation may violate the EU’s data protection regulations.

That’s only a part of the growing resistance faced by Law and Justice. The party’s moves have already brought thousands of demonstrators onto Polish streets in December, and members of the European Commission and other institutions have expressed concern about the country’s direction — although none of that has stopped PiS from acting.

A bill signed into law earlier this week by Duda hobbling the Constitutional Tribunal, the country’s top constitutional court, is now going to be examined by the same tribunal to see if it violates the constitution. The legislation was called a violation of “the division of powers and the principles of the rule of law” by the head of Poland’s Supreme Court. An earlier missive from Timmermans on that issue was ignored.

Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of PiS and Poland’s most powerful politician, told the ultra-Catholic Radio Maryja that the tribunal was leading a ”rebellion” against the “good changes” his party wants to bring about.

Concern is also rising abroad. Although the U.S. State Department was careful to say it considers Poland a close NATO ally and a democratic state, spokesman Mark Toner said Washington had been in touch with Warsaw about the tribunal.

“We have raised questions with the government about legislative actions with regard to the Constitutional Tribunal,” he told reporters. “I think a system of checks and balances and judicial independence are crucial elements of constitutional democracy and the rule of law.”

NATO worries

There are also problems on other fronts. Slovakia’s Defense Minister Martin Glváč sent a sharply worded letter to his Polish counterpart, Antoni Macierewicz, about efforts to remove the head of a joint counter-intelligence center.

Macierewicz’s chief of staff, backed by military police, staged a late-night raid on the center on December 18 to remove the officer in charge, saying he had lost his security clearance. The officer, Colonel Krzysztof Dusza, maintained he could only be removed on the joint authority of the Slovak and Polish defense ministers, as the counter-intelligence center, which is affiliated with NATO, includes 10 countries.

“I appeal to you to stop all non-standard actions,” Glváč wrote to Macierewicz in a pre-Christmas letter obtained by Poland’s Radio ZET and confirmed by the Slovak defense ministry. He pointed out that the center isn’t part of the Polish ministry and denied Polish assertions (by Macierewicz, among others) that the Slovaks had been consulted before the unconventional efforts to remove Colonel Dusza.

The response from the Polish military simply said its actions had involved only Polish employees. The Polish defense ministry also said it had appointed a replacement for Dusza, a civilian aide to Macierewicz. There was no mention of whether the Slovaks or any other NATO allies had been consulted.