Maciej Świrski, head of the National Broadcasting Council, will answer for his actions. “The Tribunal should face such Taliban”

– The time has come when the Constitutional Tribunal should face such Taliban – said Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, referring to the State Tribunal. The settlement of the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council was the last decision of Minister Sienkiewicz before his departure from the government, which is to be announced on Friday. There is no shortage of accusations against Maciej Świrski.

– The first is the issue of illegal failure to finance public media. The second one is biased behavior towards the media about private capital – said Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz. The indictment, which was submitted to the Sejm and signed by the MPs, is 50 pages long. Each one describes a case of Świrski breaking the law. In total, there are 11 allegations that will now be dealt with by the Constitutional Responsibility Committee.

– The allegations are very serious. They are supported and justified – emphasized Dariusz Joński, vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Responsibility, MP from the Civic Coalition. They come down to one thing: abusing their position. Although there are five people on the National Broadcasting Council, Świrski single-handedly imposed a fine of almost PLN 100,000 on TOK FM and half a million zloty on TVN. – Because his protectors lost power, he is today one of the strongest figures of the PiS community in our constitutional system. I think he thinks that right now he is asserting his independence and showing how important he is, said Roman Imielski, deputy editor-in-chief of “Gazeta Wyborcza”.

SEE ALSO: Minister of Culture: An application for the State Tribunal for Świrski has been submitted. There is a reaction

Even though he is important, he does not have to feel confident. He called a press conference for Thursday, which he ultimately did not attend. Instead of answering journalists' questions, he preferred to publish a short statement in which members of the National Broadcasting Council, de facto elected by Law and Justice, condemned the announcements and actions of the Minister of Culture.

– Are you talking about Colonel Sienkiewicz? Well, he is truly an extraordinary figure – commented Piotr Gliński, former Minister of Culture and National Heritage, MP from Law and Justice.

Maciej Świrski, which is no secret, defends the interests of Law and Justice, thanks to which he is at the top of the National Broadcasting Council. He treats media affiliated with and sympathetic to Kaczyński's party leniently.

– A satirist has the right to say whatever he likes. There is freedom in the country – said Świrski, referring to Jan Pietrzak's statement from December 2023 that “we have barracks for immigrants. In Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka, Stutthof.”

After removing people associated with PiS from TVP, who were involved not only in propaganda, but simply in spreading hatred, he cut off public television from license fees. – It is not up to the National Broadcasting Council and Mr. Świrski to judge who rules or does not rule in the public media. It is supposed to provide money for public media – emphasized Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz.

READ ALSO: Świrski: no one can replace the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council. Lawyers: maybe

Maciej Świrski does not have to be convicted by the State Tribunal to lose power in the National Broadcasting Council. All it takes is for the ruling coalition to win a vote in the Sejm. – The very adoption of this resolution suspends him from performing his duties as the chairman of the National Broadcasting Council – said Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram, lawyer, member of the “Free Courts” Foundation.

For the outgoing minister, who is running in the European Parliament elections, it is now a priority to free the media in Poland from Maciej Świrski.