Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has taken to social media to express his alarm over the actions of Donald Tusk’s new government, accusing it of undermining the legal foundations of justice, security, and media pluralism.
In a video message, Morawiecki claimed that the current parliamentary majority is acting in violation of the Polish constitution.
Morawiecki specifically pointed to the new Justice Minister Adam Bodnar’s questioning of the status of judges who were legally sworn in by the president.
“We are facing a potential anarchy in our courts and a lack of protection for civil rights,” Morawiecki stated.
He also criticized the new minister of culture for illegally altering the composition of public media, accusing the government of disregarding the law and cutting off the public television signal, thereby depriving people of access to information.
The politician from the Law and Justice Party (PiS) party added that such unprecedented events have not occurred in Poland since the fall of communism, with the last similar instance happening during the martial law introduced by the communist regime in 1981.
Morawiecki also suggested that the turmoil surrounding public broadcaster TVP is a smokescreen by Donald Tusk to conceal the issue of agreeing to the EU migration pact. He warned that Poland might be forced to accept thousands of illegal immigrants or face hefty fines.
“Nearly 11 million Poles voted against illegal immigration in a referendum, many of whom are unaware that it has been accepted by the EU with the consent of the Polish government,” he said.
He further added that the previous PiS government opposed such measures for eight years, while Tusk’s government took just eight days to agree to them.
On Wednesday, Minister of Culture and National Heritage Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz dismissed the heads of Polish Television (TVP), Polish Radio, and the Polish Press Agency (PAP). New management of these companies was selected by new supervisory boards appointed by the minister. Shortly after the culture ministry’s announcement, TVP Info, TVP3, and TVP World information channels stopped broadcasting, and were replaced by TVP1 and TVP2 signals.
Soon after, the station’s website went down, redirecting to Tvp.pl, and unidentified individuals entered the building at TVP headquarters, assaulting PiS MP Joanna Borowiak.
Legal experts and lawyers have emphasized that the media changes enacted by parliament’s resolution are unlawful.
