The National Court Register has ruled that Piotr Farfal remains acting president of TVP, Poland’s public television network, after it found his suspension illegal.
Two weeks ago TVP’s Board of Directors suspended Piotr Farfal in what is seen as a party political based dispute.
Farfal is connected to the ultra-conservative League of Polish Families party and was replaced by 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.
However, it was not clear whether the Board had a right to make the suspension, as before hand, Treasury Minister Aleksander Grad decided to close down 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 meant the end of the Board’s cadency and, according to Farfal, made the decision to suspend him null and void. Today, the National Court Register agreed, but this decision is still not binding in law and can be appealed within seven days.
Today’s verdict does not mean that Piotr Farfal will be ruling TVP alone, however. Last week Treasury Minister Grad turned to the court to appoint an Administrator to oversee public television after alleged financial irregularities occurred on Farfal’s watch. “[The Administrator] will maintain proper supervision and will pass indispensable information [about the company] to the ministry,” the minister declared.
The decision came after an audit report on TVP finances. Allegedly TVP spent public money illegally and will have to return millions of zloty back to the Treasury.
OSCE criticizes media bill
Meanwhile, the OSCE has called for President Lech Kaczynski to send the government’s media bill – which seeks to abolish the license fee for public TV and radio and replace it with subsidies from direct taxation – to Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal.
"I was hopeful that Poland would adopt an automated financing method for its public-service broadcasters that would tie the amount of state support to GDP," says Miklos Haraszti, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.
"However, the final version of the law does not guarantee minimum financing from the state budget to balance the abolishment of the license fee. The amount these broadcasters will receive will have to be negotiated each year, which can lead to a politicization of budget allocations in exchange for editorial concessions,” he said in a statement last Friday.
President Kaczynski has until July 17 to either veto the bill or send it to the Constitutional Tribunal. (jg/pg)