Cabinet raids the state's assets cupboard

The new cabinet will continue the sale of state assets, even though it wants to keep control over some 100 firms, including top lender PKO Bank Polski, according to Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz.

In an interview with Gazeta Wyborcza, the potential Prime Minister hinted that his government might go ahead with sales in the power sector as well as privatizing the Warsaw bourse and press distributor Ruch. "I am not against privatization and foreign companies, but there are sectors where we should create a national brand," he said.

Earlier, Marcinkiewicz's party, Law and Justice (PiS), mooted two major mergers between PKO and leading insurance group PZU and the creation of a new fuel group by combining PKN and Lotos.

"PKO BP should remain in Polish hands. We want it to expand its operations in central Europe. This is the biggest bank in this region," Marcinkiewicz said.

Despite 15 years of privatization in Poland, the state still owns stakes in some 1,500 companies, including listed blue chips PKO BP, oil groups PKN Orlen and Lotos, as well as copper producer KGHM. The reformist Civic Platform (PO) demands a speedy privatization of state firms.

"The Civic Platform wants to privatize everything and leave only 11 companies in the hands of the state. We have much more such companies, between 70 and 100," said Marcinkiewicz. "For me the issue is simple. It is impossible to carry out in four years such privatization as the Civic Platform talks about ... [Civic] Platform will accept our program because it is realistic." (Reuters)