Following the suspension of Piotr Farfal as president of TVP it is unclear who has control over Poland’s public television.  

Last Friday, the National Broadcasting Council - the politically appointed media supervisor - unexpectedly appointed a new member of the TVP’s Board of Directors.

That changed the complicated balance of power inside TVP, as the new nominee supported a group of opponents of Piotr Farfal, who is connected to the League of Polish Families party. The Board promptly suspended Farfal and elected two men who are thought be associated with the opposition Law and Justice party - Slawomir Siwek for Farfal’s post and Marcin Bochenek as a member of the TVP’s management.

The complicated situation got even more complicated after these decisions were not approved of by the Treasury Minister, Aleksander Grad.

On Friday, before the suspension of Farfal, Minister Grad decided to close the General Assembly of TVP and not to grant a vote of approval to either the TVP Board of Directors or to the management.

Such a move means the end of the Board’s cadency and, according to Farfal, makes the decision to suspend him illegal. 

Now lawyers have to decide if the TVP’s Board of Directors were in fact empowered to make suspensions after the General Assembly had been closed by Minister Grad. 

But Piotr Farfal was not waiting for a legal verdict. On Friday afternoon, he dismissed three directors of regional TVP’s branches and canceled Siwek’s and Bochenek’s ID passes, not allowing them to enter TVP’s main building in Warsaw. 

TV’s unclear picture

On Monday, the Board’s decision to on the legality of Farfal’s suspension will be sent to the National Court Register for a ruling.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk claimed on Saturday that the current mess at TVP has been caused by the former government made up of Law and Justice and two fringe populist parties, League of Polish Families and Self Defence.

The government sponsored media bill, which has already passed through both houses of parliament, proposes new ways of funding public media in Poland but also changes in the way the supervisory Broadcasting Council is appointed.

But a further complication is that the bill needs the signature of President Lech Kaczynski who has declared that he will veto it or send it to the Constitutional Court.

Consequently, the law may take a year to come into force. (jg/pg)