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On Friday of last week, the Polish parliament rushed through a new national law that would ban media outlets owned by non-Europeans. Many critics claim that the legislation targets the American-owned Discovery media group. Discovery controls Polish broadcaster TVN Group, whose popular news network show, TVN24, has openly criticized Polands ruling right-wing Law and Justice party.

When addressing the legislation, a spokesperson for the European Commission shared that this bill may lead to limitation of media freedom in Poland, where the media landscape already suffers under growing politicization. Discovery has also come forward with a statement, calling the bill an attack on freedom of speech and claiming that it threatens the future of independent media in Poland. Over this past weekend, masses of protestors gathered across Poland to decry the legislation.

According to Reuters, TVN also launched an online petition on Sunday to encourage Polish president Andrzej Duda to veto the bill. A portion of the petition reads, The attack on media freedom has far-reaching consequences for the future of PolandMutual relations with the USA, the greatest ally and guarantor of our countrys security, are being destroyed. We cannot allow it! In a country of 38 million people, over 2 million have already signed the petition. Government backers of the bill have shared that the necessity for the bill comes from the fear of state-controlled broadcasters from countries like Russia and China.

History is full of precedents that show how infringing on freedom of the press hampers democracy. So far, it seems as though the European Union has come forth with rhetoric but no clear plans of action. Moving forward, it is difficult to predict if calls from the European Commission or the TVN petition will likely change Dudas decision to veto the bill or not. In a wider context, many European countries have seen a large shift of power to more right-wing political groups within the past five years. Given these developments, it makes it more unpredictable how other Europeans may react to the passing of this legislation, should it occur. Additionally, it is important to note that this legislation is also coming forward during a time when Russias presence is steadily growing around its shared border with Ukraine. Just as the spokesperson for the European Commission claimed, the world will closely follow the situation.

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European Union Shares Concerns Over New Polish Media Bill - The Organization for World Peace

MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. The European Unions participation in Russias negotiations with the United States and NATO on security guarantees would have no added value, Russias permanent representative to the EU, Vladimir Chizhov told an online briefing on Tuesday.

"It would have no added value," he said when asked if the EUs participation in such talks would be expedient.

Chizhov explained that the EU was not a military alliance, while Russias proposals were addressed to NATO, to which many EU countries were affiliated.

"The main focus of our proposals is on military security, such as the non-deployment of intermediate and shorter-range missiles. Is it the European Union that is deploying them? The European Union is not a military bloc," he stressed.

"We are not against the European Unions backup role in these organizations (NATO and the OSCE TASS). Moreover, I would like to see the EU countries that are NATO members make a collective contribution to NATOs common stance," Chizhov said. "But forcing the EU to become a military block on the basis of our proposals is possibly not on our plans, either."

Earlier on Tuesday, Russias Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told TASS that Russian-US consultations on security guarantees would take place in Geneva on January 10. As far as Russia-NATO consultations on security guarantees are concerned, Ryabkov said they would be held in Brussels after a meeting of Moscow and Washington representatives.

The Russian Foreign Ministry on December 17 made public drafts of a treaty with the United States on security guarantees and an agreement on ensuring the security of Russia and NATO member countries. They were handed to the US Assistant Secretary of State Karen Donfried on December 15.

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EUs participation in Russias talks with US, NATO to have no added value Russian envoy - TASS

Here are some of the issues set to be on the EU's plate next year.

Six years on from the Brexit referendum and a year since the UK's divorce from the EU took effect, the issue is still taking up a significant amount of time in Brussels.

The main sticking point is around trade issues in Northern Ireland.

Brexit saw London sign up to the Northern Ireland Protocol, which keeps Northern Ireland -- part of the UK -- in the European Union's single market for goods.

Brussels wants regulatory control on what comes into the single market, so the protocol saw checks imposed on goods arriving into Northern Ireland from the British mainland.

So, to avoid a border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Brexit created a de-facto frontier in the Irish Sea.

London, despite signing up to the agreement, claims the protocol has burdened businesses with extra paperwork.

The UK wants to renegotiate the protocol, something Brussels has rejected. In late 2021, the can was kicked down the road into 2022.

But both sides are hoping for a swift agreement.

I think that in the case of Northern Ireland, knowing the history, knowing how difficult the last four or five years have been I think we should be very responsible for what we are putting on the table," European Commission vice-president, Maros Sefcovic, who leads the Brexit negotiations for the bloc, said.

"Do we want to re-run the whole negotiating process? Do we want to push for the measures that will deprive Northern Ireland of the exclusive, unique opportunity to be on both markets at the same time? Do we want to bring this polarising issue back to the dramatic political debate? I think that we should do better. I'm sure that we could do better, and I am ready for that.

The European Green Deal is Brussels' flagship policy to make the EU climate neutral by 2050.

Ursula von der Leyen's European Commission is in the midst of proposing new legislation to achieve this goal.

In 2022, a new proposal on CO2 emissions for heavy-duty vehicles is expected to come out.

Squabbles over the energy transition are also set to come to the fore.

The role of nuclear energy will also feature heavily in the discussions. EU countries will be fighting over the best energy mix, with Germany and Belgium phasing out nuclear, while France is pushing its eco-credentials.

The EU could well usher in a new era for tech giants in 2022.

The growing concern over the role of social media in polarising communities and spreading disinformation has meant the EU is fast-tracking legislation to rein companies like Meta, previously known as Facebook.

The Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act are a top priority for the six-month French presidency of the EU starting in January, as President Emmanuel Macron has already stated. The French president wants to "transform Europe into a digital power"

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Here are some of the issues Brussels will have on its plate in 2022 - Euronews

In a move that followed a similar decision taken by Poland's Constitutional Tribunal earlier this year, Romania's Constitutional Court ruled last week that a decision by the ECJ could only be applied if the country's constitution was amended.

The decision related to a case brought by Romania's highest court which had condemned former ministers and parliamentarians for VAT fraud and corruption in the management of European funds.

The move called into question the primacy of European law over national law, just as in Poland's case.

Reacting to the news, MEP Sophie in 't Veld warned the issue should be "top of the agenda" for European Council President Charles Michel.

She blasted: "If member states no longer accept the primacy of EU law and the authority of its highest court, the EU is effectively disintegrating.

"There is a full blown rule of law crisis, yet the European Council continues to duck the issue.

"It should be on top of the agenda."

In October, Poland's Constitutional Tribunal ruled that parts of European Union treaties were incompatible with its constitution.

Poland argues that the European Union is overstepping its mandate and, in a Financial Times interview published in October, the ruling nationalist Law and Justice Party's (PiS) Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, accused the European Commission of holding a "gun to our head".

READ MORE:Nicola Sturgeon BARRED from chain for damaging lockdown rules

European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis said earlier this month: "The approval work is ongoing. It is unlikely that we will be able to finalise it this year."

He spoke at the end of the meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels.

If the plans had been approved, Poland would have been entitled to a first instalment of 13 percent of the total of 23.9 billion in subsidies it is due to receive over the next five years.

Under pressure from the Parliament and the member states, the Commission has set conditions for the release of EU funds.

Brussels wants firm commitments to guarantee the independence of the justice system for Warsaw.

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'EU disintegrating!' Brussels hit as another country rejects supremacy of bloc's laws - Daily Express

The European Union can only blame its own policies for record gas prices as some of its members resell cheap Russian gas at much higher prices within the bloc, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

Putin also called on the EU to approve a new Russian gas route, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, to ease the price crunch.

Europe's benchmark gas price climbed to a new record on Tuesday, up almost 800% since the start of the year. The price eased on Friday, but it was still up more than 400%.

Nord Stream 2 is opposed by the United States and particularly several east European states, which say the pipeline will make the EU even more reliant on Russian gas, which already supplies 35% of the bloc's gas needs.

The pipeline from Russia to Germany, which was built in September, is still awaiting regulatory approval from Berlin and Brussels.

"The additional gas supplies on the European gas market would surely reduce the price on an exchange, on the spot (market)," Putin was quoted as saying by news agency RIA at a joint meeting of the State Council and a council on science and education.

Adding to the squeeze, the Yamal-Europe pipeline that usually sends Russian gas to Western Europe was flowing in reverse for a fourth day on Friday, pumping fuel from Germany to Poland, data from German network operator Gascade showed.

Russian gas giant Gazprom has not booked gas transit capacity for exports via the Yamal-Europe pipeline for Dec. 25, auction results showed. read more

Gazprom usually books capacity via the route on a short-term basis, after Poland and Russia chose not to extend their long-term transit deal last year.

Putin said Poland had "sidelined" Russia from managing the Yamal-Europe pipeline, which has been working in reverse mode by sending gas eastward. The pipeline runs from Russia to Belarus and further to Poland and Germany.

"This does not increase the Russian gas volumes on the European market, so the price is rising," Putin said according to Interfax news agency, about the reverse flows.

Putin said on Thursday that Germany was reselling Russian gas to Poland and Ukraine rather than relieving an overheated market. read more

In Ukraine, another transit route for Russian gas to Europe, the head of state gas transmission operator said Gazprom had reduced daily gas transit across Ukrainian territory to 87.7 million cubic metres (mcm) from 109 mcm.

"The reduction in gas supplies to the European Union at a time when prices reached $2,000 suggests that these are not economic decisions but purely political ones, aimed at increasing pressure on the EU to launch Nord Stream 2 on terms of the Russian Federation," Sergiy Makogon wrote on Facebook.

The benchmark European gas price soared above 2,200 euros ($2,495) per 1,000 cubic metres on Tuesday.

Makogon said Europe had set a record for extracting gas from storage because of supply shortages.

Russia has repeatedly dismissed charges it has played politics over gas and says it is meeting all the amounts it is contracted to supply. Companies with supply deals have also said their contracts have been met.

MISSING OUT

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak also said Europe was missing out on additional Russian supplies because of delays to Nord Stream 2.

"To my mind, European consumers are very interested in the project to start working, while the companies, which participate in it, they could have submitted additional requests as part of long-term relations on gas supplies via this new gas pipeline," Novak told Russian state TV channel Rossiya-24. read more

He also said European leaders had made mistakes in reducing the use of long-term supply deals in favour of the spot market, where prices are more volatile.

"The countries, which receive gas via the long-term deals, they receive it much cheaper," Novak said.

Europe's red-hot gas market could find some relief from redirected cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Asia as European prices make this diversion attractive. read more

Gazprom, which has a monopoly on Russia gas exports by pipeline, has not booked gas transit capacity for exports via the Yamal-Europe pipeline for Dec. 24, auction results showed on Friday.

Gascade's data on the Yamal-Europe pipelines showed flows at the Mallnow metering point on the German-Polish border going east from Germany into Poland at an hourly volume of around 1,218,000 kilowatt hours (kWh/h) on Friday and were expected to stay at these levels during the day.

Data from Slovak pipeline operator Eustream showed capacity nominations for Friday's Russian gas flows from Ukraine to Slovakia via the Velke Kapusany border point were at 739,843 MWh, down from Thursday's 785,160 MWh.

That drop was being balanced by higher nominations for flows from the Czech Republic to Slovakia, meaning nominations for flows from Slovakia to the Austrian hub Baumgarten were roughly stable compared with the previous day.

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European Union can only blame its own policies for record gas prices: Putin - Business Today