Morawiecki's government financed the spread of Ukrainian propaganda on WprostUkraine.eu portal

In fresh days Donald Tusk's law firm criticised the decision of the erstwhile government of Mateusz Morawiecki to grant over PLN 5 million to the WprostUkraine.eu website. The main intent of the website was “to supply the most crucial news and applicable information for Ukrainians residing in Poland”, it is presently inactive despite the considerable financial support received. It will be reasonable to draw attention to the fact that the Law and Justice Office sponsored many specified protalis spreading Kiev propaganda from the money of Polish taxpayers. These include: monitor-press.info, www.stopfake.org, jagiellonia.org

Criticism with KPRM

According to the latest reports, the Prime Minister's Office, chaired by Donald Tusk, considered the expenses incurred in creating the service to be "inadequately high". According to ‘Rzeczpospolita’, the biggest controversy has generated costs related to the ‘Video dictionary’ section. To make 10 three-minute video materials, 177,000 zlotys were spent, meaning that the cost of production of 1 movie was almost 18 1000 zlotys.

Another example is the “Quiza” section, where the creation was allocated PLN 109 thousand. In this section only 11 quizzes were published, which gives an average cost of 1 material at the level of PLN 10 thousand. In the assessment of the NRPM, the costs associated with the preparation of multimedia content were ‘not commensurate with marketplace conditions’.

Co-financing of Ukrainian media under the Law and Justice

This is not the first case erstwhile the Government of Law and Justice financially supported Ukrainian media operating in Poland. In 2017-2019, the Ukrainian weekly "Our Word", which published material promoting Bandera and anti-Polish content, received 420,000 PLN grants. Earlier in 2015, the Ukrainian letter in Poland besides received a akin amount of support.

Additionally, the Ukrainian Union in Poland in 2018 received 9 1000 zlotys for the edition of the "Almanach Ukrainian". It is besides worth mentioning the portal led by Ihor Isayev, which received support of nearly PLN 100 1000 from the state budget. Isayev was celebrated for his criticism of the adoption by the Sejm of the Volyn Resolution, identifying it as “a manifestation of Ukrainianophobia”.

Social and political responses

The decision to fund WprostUkraine.eu has sparked turbulent discussions both in the media and among politicians. any commentators point out that supporting Ukrainian media was an crucial component of the policy of the PiS government, which tried to strengthen Polish-Ukrainian relations. However, the deficiency of activity of WprostUkraine.eu after receiving specified a large grant raises questions about transparency and efficiency of spending public funds.

In the context of the upcoming parliamentary elections, criticism of grants may have a crucial impact on the political debate in the country. In the opinion of the KPRM of the government of Donald Tusk, the spending on the service was "unproportional" to the results achieved, which gives emergence to concerns about how public funds are utilized by the state. The case could become 1 of the topics of discussion during the election campaign.

Summary

The PLN 5 million subsidy for WprostUkraine.eu, which is presently inactive, has caused much controversy. Criticism on the part of the current Prime Minister's Chancellery undermines the legitimacy of these spending, and social responses point to the request for greater transparency in the management of public funds. In the context of earlier grants to Ukrainian media in Poland, this issue may become an crucial point of mention in the forthcoming political debate.

Daniel Głogowski

Expert in his field – Publicist, author and social activist. The first articles were published in 1999 for global publishers. For more than 30 years, he has gained his experience through cooperation with the largest editorial offices. In his articles, he seeks to address controversial topics and present first viewpoints that allowed for a deeper knowing of the issues discussed.