A leaner, meaner Polish economy
Law and Justice (PiS), the current leader in both the parliamentary and presidential polls, has outlined its economic plan which, if realized, could save the Treasury billions, eliminate state involvement in over a thousand companies, and make setting up a business in Poland possible in just three days.
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, PiS' economic point-man and current leader of the Parliamentary Treasury Commission, told the Polish-Swiss Chamber of Commerce that his party's "Cheap State" program would generate savings totaling zł.6 billion per annum. "We are going to liquidate the majority of non-budgetary agencies and funds," he said. Among the agencies set to be axed is the Agency of Agricultural Properties of the State, which was set up in the 1990s to manage the privatization of state-owned farms. Though there are no such farms left, the agency still exists.
A spree of privatizations will add to the savings should the plan become reality. PiS wants to reorganize state-owned firms into those that are 100-, 50- and 25-percent owned by the Treasury. "All other companies shall be fully privatized," said Marcinkiewicz. "We are going to absolutely withdraw from the current solution whereby the State Treasury has very minor shareholdings in companies that are already operating as fully privatized. That involves around 600 companies. Plus, we are going to fully privatize around 500 state-owned enterprises who today are state controlled and are operating under very weird principles."
While Marcinkiewicz's words were a breath of fresh air for citizens yearning for more fiscal responsibility, his party's plans for encouraging investment offer much-needed relief to Poland's embattled entrepreneurs.
"We would like for a businessperson to be able to deal with everything concerning company opening and registration at a single location - a one-stop shop - and we would like that process not to exceed three days." In addition, the plan envisions exempting new companies from ZUS payments for the first two years of their existence, and introduces fixed time limits within which business courts would be required to deliver their decisions. The plan would also eliminate the dreaded business-inspectorate offices.
"Any of the inspectorate offices can walk into any company in Poland at any given time of day and that is a very good recipe for disaster," he said. Andrew Kureth
Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, PiS' economic point-man and current leader of the Parliamentary Treasury Commission, told the Polish-Swiss Chamber of Commerce that his party's "Cheap State" program would generate savings totaling zł.6 billion per annum. "We are going to liquidate the majority of non-budgetary agencies and funds," he said. Among the agencies set to be axed is the Agency of Agricultural Properties of the State, which was set up in the 1990s to manage the privatization of state-owned farms. Though there are no such farms left, the agency still exists.
A spree of privatizations will add to the savings should the plan become reality. PiS wants to reorganize state-owned firms into those that are 100-, 50- and 25-percent owned by the Treasury. "All other companies shall be fully privatized," said Marcinkiewicz. "We are going to absolutely withdraw from the current solution whereby the State Treasury has very minor shareholdings in companies that are already operating as fully privatized. That involves around 600 companies. Plus, we are going to fully privatize around 500 state-owned enterprises who today are state controlled and are operating under very weird principles."
While Marcinkiewicz's words were a breath of fresh air for citizens yearning for more fiscal responsibility, his party's plans for encouraging investment offer much-needed relief to Poland's embattled entrepreneurs.
"We would like for a businessperson to be able to deal with everything concerning company opening and registration at a single location - a one-stop shop - and we would like that process not to exceed three days." In addition, the plan envisions exempting new companies from ZUS payments for the first two years of their existence, and introduces fixed time limits within which business courts would be required to deliver their decisions. The plan would also eliminate the dreaded business-inspectorate offices.
"Any of the inspectorate offices can walk into any company in Poland at any given time of day and that is a very good recipe for disaster," he said. Andrew Kureth
