RESOLUTION AGAINST THE PASSAGE OF LAW "lexTVN" LN POLAND
WHEREAS, the members of the City Council of Chicago recognize the positive impact the Polish community has had on this great City and the City of Chicago has the second largest Polish population, second only to Warsaw, Poland, making Chicago the traditional capital of the Polish diaspora in the United States, and
WHEREAS, the relationship between the United States and Poland is strongly rooted in strong economic partnership, shared democratic values and strategic alignment and is evident in the fact that trade in service between our two countries totals $7.2 billion yearly, with Poland benefitting from a $2.6 billion trade surplus; and
WHEREAS, the Polish government recently passed a new media law, "lexTVN", to reduce the ability for free and independent media to operate if its ownership is 49% or more from a non-European source; and
WHEREAS, the largest and most popular television station in Poland is TVN, the majority owner of which is Discovery, an American company, and is the third largest source of foreign direct investment into Poland from the United States; and
WHEREAS, this law will have a ripple effect, harming US and foreign investment in Poland and overall economic relations between Poland and the world; and
WHEREAS, such a law puts at risk investments from other countries into Poland. The United States and foreign companies will not invest in a country where their investments are not protected by the rule of law and economic transparency; and
WHEREAS, if the "lex TVN" law is passed, we believe that the entire U.S./Poland relationship will be deeply and negatively affected; and such a law puts at risk investments from other countries into Poland; and
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLOVED, that the Members ofthe City Council ofthe City of Chicago gathered here in assembly on September 20,2021 hereby urge the Polish government to reject the proposed legislation that would effectively threaten free and i...
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