Polish President Andrzej Duda vetoed a budget law providing for funding of state media, which the new government is trying to take control of.
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On Wednesday, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage dismissed the chairmen of the boards of Polish Television, Polish Radio and the Polish News Agency, as well as their supervisory boards. At the same time, the minister appointed new supervisory boards that will form new boards of public media outlets.
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“I decided to veto the budgetary law for 2024, which included 3 billion zlotys for state-owned media. A gross violation of the Constitution and the principles of a democratic rule-of-law state must not be allowed. Public media must first be corrected honestly and in accordance with the law,” Duda wrote on social network X.
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“An attempt to finance state media with the help of a budgetary law (by a parliamentary majority) in the current situation is unacceptable,” he added.
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Currently, instead of the Polish Television news channel, the tvp1 channel is broadcast, which mainly shows feature films. The Polish Television news website is also unavailable.
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Recently the government in Poland changed. Instead of Mateusz Morawiecki, Donald Tusk, who previously led the opposition coalition, became prime minister.
