Media dispute escalates in Poland
President Duda wants to block Tusk’s budget with a veto
December 23, 2023, 11:07 p.m
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The dispute over the deposed leadership of the public media in Poland is escalating: Duda announces a veto against the budget law of the new Tusk government. The Polish president is the last high-ranking representative of the right-wing PiS cadre who was voted out.
Polish President Andrzej Duda has announced his veto of the budget law of the new pro-European government. In doing so, Duda explained in the evening on the online service
The president, who was allied with the right-wing nationalist previous government, described the financial aid as a “blatant violation of the constitution and the principles of the democratic constitutional state.” “The public media must first be restored reliably and lawfully,” explained Duda.
According to his own statements, the president wants to introduce his own bill in the coming days, which also provides for other budget expenditures such as salary increases for teachers. He asked that Parliament reconvene to pass the proposals later this year. With his veto announcement, Duda further intensified his conflict with the new government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Criticism of Duda from the ranks of the PiS
The Ministry of Culture dismissed the entire management of public television, radio and the PAP news agency on Wednesday. For years they were considered the mouthpieces of the PiS government. The ministry referred to a previously passed resolution by Parliament to restore “the impartiality and reliability of the public media.”
Some representatives of the PiS party had criticized Duda’s initial reaction to the measure as inadequate. On Wednesday he first asked Tusk to “respect the Polish legal system”; a parliamentary resolution has “no legal force”. Tusk responded that the actions were aimed at “restoring the law and common decency in public life.”