Donald Tusk, Poland’s recently appointed Prime Minister, has been accused of “violating the law” in order to support the European Union’s “centralist agenda” after he seized control of his country’s state broadcaster.
Viewers in Poland watched a remolded main evening newscast on TVP state television yesterday, which was taken off the air the day before – with Mr Tusk’s government firing its executives.
Mr Tusk has sought to justify the move by saying it was necessary to free the outlet and other state-owned media from the influence of the Law and Justice Party (PiS), which lost power after October’s general election. PiS suppoters began a sit-in inside TVP’s headquarters on Wednesday to protest against the changes, which have been angrily denounced by former Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, among others.
In a statement to the international press, Professor Ryszard Legutko, the co-chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament and a former Polish education minister, also condemned the move.
He said: “This is a blatant violation of law. This is an attempt to silence all voices critical of the Left-wing government in order to make sure that this government supports the centralist agenda in the EU. We will not be silenced – and we ask all those that value freedom of speech to support our efforts.”
Prof Legutko added: “This marked the first day of the end of democracy and free access to information in Poland, guaranteed by Article 54(1) of the Polish Constitution.
“Members of bodies responsible for managing and overseeing public media institutions were replaced in a way that was incompatible with the Polish Constitution and laws.
“There has also been an attempt, unprecedented in democratic states, to take over the headquarters of the public media, switch off the signal of an important public television information channel and block its website.”
Prof Legutko claimed the action was a violation of Article 14 of the Polish Constitution, claiming: “During the takeover of the headquarters of public media at the headquarters of Telewizja Polska in Warsaw, an act of aggression occurred against a Member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland.
“MP Joanna Borowiak, while performing her parliamentary duties, in accordance with the applicable Act on the exercise of the mandate of a deputy and senator, was ruthlessly attacked. Her personal integrity was violated.”
Ms Borowiak herself claimed she had suffered “physical violence from a hired muscleman” during protests at the TVP building, without providing specific evidence. Mr Tusk has not commented on her allegations.
The establishment of new public media authorities based on a resolution of the Sejm, Poland’s parliament, which according to Article 87(1) of the Polish Constitution was not a source of generally binding law in Poland, represented “a blatant violation of the law”, Prof Legutko continued.
He said: “The situation described above constitutes a violation of one of the most important articles of the Polish Constitution, namely Article 2 of the constitution, which states that the Republic of Poland is a democratic state governed by the rule of law.”
Referring to Andrzej Duda, Poland’s PiS-allied head of state, Prof Legutko concluded: “In a state governed by the rule of law, there can be no situation in which the authorities, as a form of revenge and censorship, take over a state-owned company by force by means of a resolution which is not a source of law, bypassing the legislative route provided for the act by virtue of the necessary signature of the President of the Republic of Poland.”
Posting on Wednesday, Mr Tusk, the former president of the European Council and a familiar figure during the wrangling that followed the 2016 Brexit referendum, justified his move by insisting it was necessary to restore “legal order and common decency in public life”.
Posting on X, formerly Twitter, he said: “You can count on our determination and iron consistency in this matter.”
