Poland appoints former public TV boss to World Bank post

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland picked the former head of public television as a representative on the board of executive directors of the World Bank, the National Bank of Poland (NBP) said on Wednesday, a decision that was condemned by opposition lawmakers.

Closely linked to the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, Jacek Kurski first became head of state broadcaster TVP in 2016, implementing changes in its coverage that critics say turned it into a vehicle for government propaganda.

“In December 2022 Mr Jacek Kurski began work as an alternate executive director of the Polish-Swiss Constituency of the World Bank Group in Washington,” NBP said in a statement.

The World bank has 25 executive directors who each represent a country, or constituency of countries, and contribute to the bank’s governance.

The Polish-Swiss Constituency consists of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan in addition to Poland and Switzerland.

Alternate executive directors act for executive directors when they are not present.

Kurski left a second stint in charge at TVP in 2022, raising media speculation that he might take up a role in government. PiS leader Jaroslaw Kacynski said this week that he had “a few ideas” for Kurski but that talk of him becoming a deputy prime minister was a “media fairytale”.

The appointment of Kurski to the World Bank was criticised by Polish opposition figures.

“First, he destroyed public television, turning it into a PiS party mouthpiece, and as a reward, huge money in the World Bank…” said opposition lawmaker Katarzyna Lubnauer.

Figures in the ruling party have rejected criticism of TVP, saying that Poland’s media landscape is distorted by foreign-owned liberal outlets.

In its statement, NBP said that Kurski was an economist and graduate in international trade at the University of Gdansk, with wide-ranging experience in the public sector.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz; Editing by Alex Richardson)