All 17 Polish state-owned regional radio stations have officially been placed in the court registry as undergoing liquidation, said the culture ministry.
The development marks the end of part of the struggle of the new government to regain control over state media companies, which has been embroiled in controversy over the legality of the means used by the ruling coalition.
Proces wpisywania do rejestru otwarcia likwidacji wszystkich 17 spółek – rozgłośni regionalnych Polskiego Radia zakończony pomyślnie
Minister Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego informuje, że w wyniku złożonej przez likwidatora skargi na czynność referendarza, Sąd Rejonowy Lublin… pic.twitter.com/pMeOLL7wGT
— Ministerstwo Kultury i Dziedzictwa Narodowego (@kultura_gov_pl) February 14, 2024
Upon coming to power in December, the new ruling coalition, led by Donald Tusk, pledged to “depoliticise” public media, which had been turned into a propaganda mouthpiece by the former Law and Justice (PiS) government.
However, its efforts have been criticised not only by PiS but also by many legal experts.
Initially, some registry courts refused to recognise the changes to the companies’ management and the moves to put them into liquidation, decisions that the ministry has appealed against.
Yesterday, the ministry announced, however, that the regional court in Lublin had ruled in favour of the ministry’s complaint and decided to officially put the last regional company of Polskie Radio into liquidation.
A court has refused to register the government's move to put public radio into liquidation.
The decision was welcomed by the opposition, which says it shows the government acted unlawfully.
But the culture minister notes it can still be appealed https://t.co/Y0XxvcUhQm
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 22, 2024
“The registration courts recognised [that the government has] the authority to make such a decision,” the ministry said in the statement, adding that consequently “the opening of the liquidation of all 17 companies [of Polskie Radio] has been effectively entered in the National Court Register”.
At the end of January, the culture ministry informed Polish Press Agency (PAP) has also been officially put into the registry as undergoing liquidation.
Earlier this week, however, the registry court in Warsaw dismissed the ministry’s appeal against the court’s refusal to register the change in the management of Poland’s state broadcaster, TVP.
The new TVP management plans to appeal this decision too.
A Polish district court has dismissed a complaint by state broadcaster TVP's new management against a registry court's refusal to register the new government's takeover of the company.
TVP will appeal the decisionhttps://t.co/hBYmB6OIb0
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) February 13, 2024
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Kancelaria Premiera / flickr.com (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 DEED)
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
