Administrative dead wood

by Chris Mularczyk

The dignified resignation of Marek Balicki and a ritual attack on the church by the SLD secretary general Marek Dyduch have once again eclipsed the debate going on about the reform of public finances. As usual, the debate was eclipsed by the gaping cracks appearing in this administration. The clash between economic and labor minister Jerzy Hausner (who has unveiled his policy proposals) and finance minister Grzegorz Kołodko is just the beginning of a much longer debate which will probably be concluded by the next government. This one evidently is running out of energy, ideas and people.

The only really radical policy departure being proposed by Kołodko will get dropped. The abolition of the powiat tier of local government has no chance of getting implemented. That is a real pity. The powiat tier is an outdated and expensive waste of time, space and public money which would not be missed by anyone but the bureaucrats it employs and the party hacks who overlord it.

The powiats were brought back by the AWS administration in 1998 as part of a measure to decentralize the country. They were reintroduced together with the formation of local government regions in the shape of the 16 voivodships.

The argument for creating regional structures was straightforward and valid. At a time when such a large country was seeking membership in the European Union, it seemed inconceivable to continue without some form of regional government. The regions are now operating and preparing themselves to fight for EU funds. It's just a pity that the government is determined to keep control of the loot and gives them such a scant role. But that is a topic for a separate article.

The argument for reintroducing the powiats was less clear cut. The authors of the 1998 reform saw the powiats as a traditional structure which had been there for a long time and had been destroyed for political ends by Edward Gierek's administration in the 1970s. Indeed, his administration had gotten rid of powiats and large voivodships in order to shake up party structures, reducing both the power of the regional communist party bosses and the local apparatchiks.

The 1998 reformers were also acting in a highly political manner. The powiats were effectively reintroduced in order to establish local party structures down to a subregional level. Few hid the attraction that this tier posed in terms of political organization. Local leaders were grateful for the extra powers and extra jobs to be dished out as patronage.

The powers actually given to these small second-tier authorities are laughable. The only significant competencies they have are secondary education and roads. Because the powiats are so small (nearly 300 such units in non-city areas), they remain fiscally dependent on the central state. They have no taxes of their own to finance their extremely limited activities. That is why most of the starostowie - the heads of the powiats - spend at least one day per week cap in hand trying to weed out extra funds from one of the ministries. The rest of the time they are pretty bored back home. Not surprising that some have chosen to pursue extracurricular activities, though the case of Starachowice where the leading lights of the powiat are accused of trading arms and narcotics with the local mafia is still likely to be more an exception rather than rule.

A sensible arrangement exists in the larger cities (as before 1998) where the city authorities enjoy both gmina and powiat powers. The only two-tier arrangement in a city was scrapped last year when the Warsaw City Powiat was abolished and merged with the city because the multitier arrangement was so messy.

The powiats, not having much to do, just get in the way of the tier that has - the gminas. It's not surprising, therefore, that the Association of Rural Gminas has called for the abolition of the powiats. It understands only too well that its limited powers could easily be handled by the gminas.

Kołodko took up the powiats' call for financial reasons. He rightly calculated that saving the unnecessary administrative costs would enable the basic tier of local government to have the resources to cofinance EU projects.

Unfortunately, the political parties will not have it. The SLD is now organized on a powiat basis. There are too many PO and PiS politicians who are personally implicated in the reintroduction of powiats in 1998 to change their minds now. Even the PSL, which originally opposed their introduction, now wants to keep all the administrative jobs they bring.

The existence of the useless powiats is just one more example of how we are enjoying government of the parties, by the parties and for the parties. Economic sense and financial fortitude simply do not get a look in. It's jobs for the party boys and girls and dole for the rest.