2023-12-27 12:24 update: 2023-12-28, 13:52
Photo PAP/Lukasz Gagulski
A presidential bill providing for pay rises for teachers was submitted to the lower house of the Polish parliament on Wednesday morning, but with no funding included for public media, the head of the President's Office told PAP.
Grazyna Ignacka-Bandych said the budget-related bill, which aims to make good on a government promise of a 30-percent hike in teachers' pay, does not include the PLN 3 billion (EUR 690 million) in funding for state-owned media companies provided for in a bill President Andrzej Duda vetoed on Saturday.
Duda justified the veto at the time by citing a "blatant violation of the Constitution and the principles of a democratic rule of law," in reference to the government's sweeping management changes at state-owned media companies.
The president pledged to submit his own proposal to the Sejm (the lower house of parliament) after the holidays, addressing issues such as teacher salary increases and other expenditures outlined in the budget bill.
Duda also appealed to the government to start work on his bill as quickly as possible.
Zbigniew Konwinski, the head of ruling coalition leader Civic Coalition's parliamentary caucus, said of Duda's veto that "the president, to put it delicately, made Christmas for the whole public sector, including teachers, not too pleasant.
"I think that the president should not fool around with his own draft laws," Konwinski continued. "We will manage; the raises will happen, as we promised. (PAP)
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