The president vetoed the budget-related bill. Anna Pacześniak and Andrzej Rychard comment

President Andrzej Duda reported that decided to veto the budget-related act for 2024, which included, among others, PLN 3 billion for public media, but also raises for teachers. “There cannot be consent to this in view of the flagrant violation of the Constitution and the principles of a democratic state of law,” he wrote.

Professor Anna Pacześniak, political scientist and Europeanist from the University of Wrocław, said that “of course the president wants to show his agency.” – He has already heard from his camp that he is not very zealous in defending the public media. Some Law and Justice politicians even expected that the president would go to the headquarters of public television, probably for these shifts “in defense of democracy and media pluralism,” she said.

– Therefore, she is probably trying to maintain the seriousness of her office, not to get involved in this fight in the television building, and in this way she shows her agency – she said.

– I also have a somewhat human impression that it is also related to the fact that Mr. President has already been, sorry for the colloquialism, outplayed by politicians from his own camp. When he protested against the activities of the then president of television, Mr. Kurski, and indeed Mr. Kurski was first dismissed from this position, then he was reinstated – added the political scientist.

The second guest of the program was Professor Andrzej Rychard, sociologist, director of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences.

– I think that the president was rushed by Jarosław Kaczyński and chose the decision he chose, which was to veto. I think it will suffer image losses because what comes across at first glance is the message that there will be no pay raises for teachers and no pay raises for the public sector, he said. – Moreover, there will be no money for oncology, because Donald Tusk he said that next Wednesday the money that was supposed to go to public television would be transferred to oncology – he noted.

– Of course, this can be reversed and the president immediately gives a signal that he will reverse it through his own legislative initiative, which will provide for these increases, but the first message and message is that the president vetoed the act that gave raises for teachers – emphasized Rychard.