2018-03-07 11:57 update: 2018-09-26, 18:00
Warsaw, 16/01/2018. The new head of the Chancellery, Michał Dworczyk, during a press conference at the Chancellery of the Prime Minister in Warsaw. (nlat) PAP / Radek Pietruszka PAP archive © 2018 / Radek Pietruszka
There were no decisions made by the US as to sanctions against Poland, the head of the Polish Prime Minister's Office, Michal Dworczyk, said on Wednesday, commenting on Tuesday's reports by a Polish portal that were later denied by the US State Department.
Onet.pl, a Polish internet portal, reported on Tuesday that neither the US president nor vice president were to hold any meetings with the Polish president or prime minister until Warsaw made amendments to the recently-introduced anti-defamation law.
"The reports that allege any kind of a suspension in security co-operation or high-level dialogue – all of that is simply false. NATO – excuse me – Poland is a close NATO ally. That will remain; that hasn’t changed," US State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said at a briefing on Tuesday, as quoted on the US State Department's website.
"That does not mean that we don’t have disagreements about the legislation that has taken effect. We have made our position on that very well known," Heather Nauert said.
"Yesterday we had a perfect example of how fake news shapes our reality," Michal Dworczyk said, stressing that both the Polish and US governments were quick to deny the false report.
Poland's parliament passed the amended law on the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in late January. Under the law, all those who publicly attribute, contrary to the facts, responsibility or co-responsibility for the Third Reich's crimes - or other crimes against humanity and peace, as well as war crimes - to the Polish nation or the Polish state can be punished with a fine or a prison term of up to three years.
Having signed the bill on Feb. 6, President Andrzej Duda referred it to the Constitutional Tribunal to determine whether freedom of speech is limited in an unauthorised manner by its provisions.
The legislation proved controversial for Israel, the United States and Ukraine. Israel claims that the penalties for defamation that the act envisages may restrict research on the Holocaust. (PAP)
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