Cabinet cool on shopping ban

The Self-defense project on banning supermarkets in small cities is unlikely to obtain the government's support. The project was due to be discussed by the Cabinet last week, but, as many times before, it was removed from the session's schedule. "The project is quite controversial so it might still take some time for the Ministers to deal with it," says a source from the the Cabinet.

In December last year Andrzej Lepper's Self-defense party submitted a bill to the Sejm according to which shopping centers whose space exceeds 400 sqm would be banned in towns of populations under 15,000 people. Opening a store of more than 400 sqm in bigger cities would require special permission from the local authorities. Recently, the two other ruling parties, Law and Justice and the League of Polish Families, have tinkered with the document, in an effort to relax the absolute ban on opening supermarkets in small towns.

The Self-defense project is not only criticized by owners of shopping centers, but also by the Economy Ministry. "The government is not against regulating investment in supermarkets, but we have many doubts concerning the solutions proposed in the Self-defense project," Paweł Poncyliusz, the Deputy Economy Minister told Rzeczpospolita daily. He also has not excluded the possibility of Law and Justice (PiS) preparing its own plan for regulating the shops. 

The Economy Ministry has declared that the government will support smaller shop owners. The Ministry of Transport and Construction wants to force gminas to enforce local master plans, which could help to limit the expansion of supermarkets.