A farewell to Giedroyc
The plans for the future of TV Belsat presented by Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski are a good excuse for an overall reflection on Poland’s eastern policy as it is being conducted today. The proposal to drastically reduce Belsat’s funding and pass those savings on to funds for a new Polish-language channel to be broadcast abroad, including officially to Belarus, should not be seen as a one-off decision. It is a symptom of a fundamental turn-around: the departure from the assumptions that have guided nearly 25 years of Poland’s policy towards its Eastern European neighbours. Symbolically, this change can be described as “a farewell to Giedroyc”.
January 17, 2017 - Katarzyna Pełczyńska-Nałęcz