President Andrzej Duda says he will veto a bill including 3 billion zloty ($762 million) for state media and propose his own bill instead, according to AP News.
Tusk gained power and his government this week sacked the directors of state television, radio and the state news agency. He has promised to restore democratic norms, including by reforming public media.
But doubts are already growing in Polish society about whether his government is setting new negative examples in the way it is taking control of state media.
In addition, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Warsaw said on Friday that it had doubts about whether a member of the government should decide on changes to senior positions in state media: “We realise that political and legal conditions make such reforms very difficult,” the human rights group wrote. “However, we cannot help but notice that the manner of initiating changes in public media raises serious legal doubts.”
Duda politically linked to Law and Justice and sharply condemned the government’s takeover of public media, warning that he would not accept actions he believes are against the law.
Yet Duda remains in office for another year and a half, and his veto is the first sign of the difficulties Tusk is likely to face in implementing his programme.
Shame on you. Merry Christmas, President. I reassure those affected: we will deal with it, Tusk said.
