President Duda: PM Tusk's public media reform is anarchy

The swearing-in this month of a government led by Tusk, a former president of the European Council, marked the beginning of a period of cohabitation with President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the previous nationalist administration. It has seen a turbulent first few days.

On Wednesday, Tusk's government took a public news channel off the air and dismissed executives from state media, saying the move was designed to restore impartiality.

State media, and in particular news channel TVP Info, were accused of having become outlets for propaganda under the rule of the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party.

Duda told private broadcaster Radio Zet that the sudden implementation of those changes went against the constitution by avoiding the appropriate parliamentary procedures.

"These are completely illegal actions," he said. "This is anarchy."

PiS lawmakers, some of whom had taken part in protests at TVP's offices, walked out of the parliament chamber on Thursday after their motion to hold a debate on the changes to state-run media was struck down by the majority.

"It was a voice of protest regarding what Mr Sienkiewicz, the minister of culture, has done," PiS lawmaker Marcin Przydacz said regarding the walkout, adding that changes to state media should be implemented via legislation that would pass through both houses of parliament before being signed by the president.

"The liberal-left coalition feels that they are so powerful that they don't have to observe the law," he said.

Tusk said the actions were aimed at "restoring legal order and common decency in public life" and that Duda should expect to see "iron" determination on the matter.

The new government considers Duda himself to have been involved in multiple violations of the constitution during PiS's eight years in power.

Meanwhile, former Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński and his deputy Maciej Wąsik from PiS were sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison for abuse of power in previous posts. In 2015, weeks after PiS came to power, Duda issued them with a pardon.

"I told them that if they were put in prison, they would be the first political prisoners in Poland since 1989," Duda said, referring to the year when communist rule ended.

Parliament speaker Szymon Hołownia terminated the mandates of Kamiński and Wąsik on Thursday, a decision that PiS condemned.

"As a result of the application of the law of pardon by the President of the Republic of Poland, there are no grounds for terminating the mandate," the party said on social media platform X. "It should be clearly stated that the judgment is of a political nature."

President Duda also told Radio Zet on Thursday that, in his view, monetary policy decisions taken by the Polish central bank governor have been good. Duda offered his words of support as NBP chief Adam Glapiński risks being put before a State Tribunal by the new government.

The new pro-European Union government of Donald Tusk says Glapiński undermined the central bank's independence and also possibly broke constitutional rules that prevent it financing government borrowing when it launched a quantitative easing programme during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Glapiński denies the allegations and has provided robust and often lengthy defences of his record during monthly press conferences.

"I do not agree with all those who criticise the Monetary Policy Council and the governor of the National Bank of Poland for decisions, for example, regarding interest rates and the fight against inflation," Duda said.

"I believe that this fight against inflation and the protection of the Polish economy, both during Covid and after, is being carried out effectively and in a prudent and correct way."

Asked whether he believed there were grounds to put Glapiński before the State Tribunal, Duda said: "I am not aware of any such grounds."