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Polish president proposes to axe EUR 692m for state media from 2024 budget, MPs to consider plan in January

27.12.2023 14:00
Poland's president has submitted a bill that foresees a 30% pay rise for teachers in the 2024 budget, while containing no additional funding for state media amid a dispute over the government's decision to replace the CEO's of public media outlets.   
The headquarters of Polish state TV broadcaster TVP in Warsaw.
The headquarters of Polish state TV broadcaster TVP in Warsaw.PAP/Abaca/AA/ABACA

President Andrzej Duda's office submitted the draft legislation to parliament on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

The bill includes a pay rise of 30%, or at least PLN 1,500 (EUR 346), for Poland's teachers, while there is no additional financing for state media, according to officials. 

Last week, the president vetoed a government bill that foresaw PLN 3 billion (EUR 692 million) in funding for state media in 2024, saying that "state media first have to be remedied in a legal way."  

Duda also said that "immediately after Christmas" he would put forward his own bill including all the other expenditures contained in the government plan, such as pay rises for teachers.

He called on parliament to pass the bill "before the end of the year."

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the head of state's veto "blocks money for teachers," while allowing pay rises for CEO's of state companies.

On Wednesday, Parliamentary Speaker Szymon Hołownia told reporters that the presidential bill would be forwarded for consultation and sent to the prime minister for the Cabinet's view.

Meanwhile, MPs will also consider the presidential veto, working "according to the parliamentary schedule," with the next session of the Sejm (lower house) set to take place on January 10-11, Poland's top lawmaker added.

On December 20, Poland's new pro-European government moved to replace the CEO's of state TV broadcaster TVP, Polish Radio and Polish Press Agency PAP.

The prime minister said the measure was designed to "restore the impartiality" of public broadcasters and "legal order," the PAP news agency reported.

The president said on December 21 that appointing the CEO's of state media was the prerogative of the National Media Council (RMN), and so the government's measures represented a "blatant breach of the constitution."

Also on Wednesday, MPs with the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which ruled Poland between 2015 and 2023, submitted a motion for a vote of no confidence in the Culture Minister Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, who had replaced the CEO's of state media on behalf of the government. 

The head of Law and Justice's parliamentary group Mariusz Błaszczak announced the move on social media, adding his party expected the Sejm to consider the motion "at the next sitting" on January 10-11.

Source: IAR, PAP, RMF FM