Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz declared today the liquidation of Polish public broadcasters, including Telewizja Polska (TVP), Polska Agencja Prasowa (Polish Press Agency – PAP), and Polskie Radio (Polish Radio). Immediate reactions flooded social media, not only from journalists but also from politicians. “We warned, as Law and Justice, that Donald Tusk has only one thing to offer – the dismantling of Poland. Today, this process officially began,” commented PiS MEP Kosma Złotowski.
“In connection with the President of the Republic of Poland’s decision to suspend funding for public media, I have decided to initiate the liquidation process for Telewizja Polska S.A, Polskie Radio S.A, and Polska Agencja Prasowa S.A,” stated the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in a press release today.
Politicians from the Law and Justice party had previously warned of such a scenario, as recalled by MEP Kosma Złotowski on the X platform.
“We warned, as Law and Justice, that Donald Tusk has only one thing to offer – the dismantling of Poland. Today, this process officially began. First, public media are being liquidated, and later, it will be time for other state-owned companies whose successes have infuriated the Civic Platform. Once again, they will leave behind only a ‘pile of stones,'” wrote the politician on the X platform.
“Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz already knows that he won’t register the illegal authorities of media companies with the National Court Register. Sienkiewicz knows he has lost! That’s why he is desperately looking for an escape from the prosecutor. Moreover, in my opinion, legally established companies can only be liquidated by law,” added Janusz Kowalski.
“The decision of Minister Sienkiewicz to initiate the liquidation of TVP, Polish Radio, and PAP is an admission of defeat by the government majority. The blitzkrieg failed. Minister Sienkiewicz behaves like a typical aggressor. First, he attacked brutally, and now, facing effective resistance, he threatens to blow everything up. For the first time in the history of Polish media, someone has decided on such a step. It is evidence of the complete powerlessness of the authorities, which have found no legal way to change the management in these companies. That’s why they chose the liquidation option, which was one of the original ideas of the government coalition, repeatedly described in the media,” wrote Marcin Mastalarek, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Journalists also weighed in on the matter
“Dismantling the state. A gift for the competition in the form of hundreds of millions of zlotys from advertising,” wrote “Gazeta Polska” journalist Jacek Liziniewicz.
“During the campaign, Polish Television (TVP – ed.) warned against the #LikwidacjaPlus program. After Donald Tusk’s government came to power, they started implementing it,” said Samuel Pereira, the head of the portal tvp.info removed by Sienkiewicz.
“I wrote recently for ‘Do Rzeczy’ that the new coalition is preparing a ‘lex Kononowicz.’ There will be nothing of the sort; it results from the liquidation actions we are observing, and what remains will be rotational. We will soon find out that, for example, Minister Bodnar will initiate the liquidation of the Constitutional Tribunal, and the Minister of Finance – the National Bank of Poland. (…) Other inconvenient institutions and bodies will be put into liquidation,” said historian and commentator Grzegorz Kucharczyk in an interview with TV Republika, hosted by Michał Rachon.