He justified his decision with the current dispute over reform of the
public media.
Poland's conservative national president, Andrzej Duda, wants to veto the 2024 budget law of the new government of liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Duda announced this on Saturday on X. He justified his decision with the current dispute over the restructuring of public media following the change of power in the EU Member State.
“Public media must first be repaired thoroughly and in accordance with the law,” demanded Duda. A veto by the head of state can be overridden by a three-fifths majority of the deputies present in the Sejm.
However, the government parties together have only 248 out of 460 seats in the Polish lower house. The conflict over the media is the most serious to date between the new government, whose parties won a majority in the October elections, and the former state power of PiS. Duda is the last high-ranking representative.
The entire leadership of the public broadcaster was fired
On Wednesday, Culture Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz fired the entire leadership of the public broadcaster in one fell swoop. This affected the CEOs and supervisory boards of television station TVP, Polish radio and news agency PAP.
The Tusk government accuses the media of spreading partisan propaganda in recent years under PiS rule. International organizations also criticized the one-sided reporting of public media in Poland. (APA/dpa)