Poland's new Prime Minister Donald Tusk
Poland's new Prime Minister Donald Tusk tells during a news conference that his pro-European Union government is urgently preparing a new spending bill to secure raises for teachers and re-dedicate some 3 billion zlotys ($762 million), originally meant for state media, to children's health, after President Andrzej Duda, allied with the opposition party, vetoed the previous bill that earmarked funds for state media, in Warsaw, on Wednesday December 27, 2023. Image Credit: AP

Warsaw: Poland's new culture minister on Wednesday announced the liquidation of all public media, which have been seen as a mouthpiece of the previous populist-nationalist government, ahead of a restructuring.

Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz said the move would "guarantee the working and restructuring" of the public television and radio stations and national press agency PAP while avoiding staff layoffs, according to a statement published on X, formerly Twitter.

"The liquidation status can be withdrawn at any time by the owner", the state, he wrote.

The latest action is likely to aggravate the standoff between the government and President Andrzej Duda, an ally of the previous administration who has criticised the government's reforms and vetoed subsidies to state media.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk's pro-EU government took power earlier this month after eight years of rule by the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party.

It justified last week's sacking of the management of public media as a bid to restore "impartiality", after they were regularly accused of biased reporting, transmitting government propaganda and launching verbal attacks on the opposition under the PiS.

The move to sack the management prompted a sit-in by PiS lawmakers in the offices of the state broadcaster who say the reforms are an attack on media freedoms.