Despite continued ineffectiveness bureaucrats' ranks grow 84% since 1989

The number of central government officials, i.e. employees of ministries and central bureaus, has been growing steadily since 1989, by a total of 84%. Analysts say, however, that Poland's bureaucracy is still smaller than in some European countries of similar size, but the problem is in its poor structure and ineffectiveness. "In Poland we have a situation where we are creating new central bureaus to handle certain matters, but we are not trimming the ministries which used to be responsible for the same issues," said Grzegorz Rydlewski, head of parliamentary advisers of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). On Sunday SLD leader Leszek Miller vowed to cut red-tape when his party comes to power. Miller claims many ministries and bureaus double each other in responsibilities and this should be stopped. (Rzeczpospolita, p.1) T.J.