Editor's note: Empty promises

Last week we achieved a success which unfortunately turned out to be a failure for Law and Justice - the party that won the elections and formed the government. During a debate organized by the WBJ and our partner the Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan, we managed to undermine one of PiS' main electoral slogans, namely the construction of three million flats.

Questioned by journalists, and leaders of the real-estate business, the new Transport and Housing Minister, Jerzy Polaczek, reluctantly revealed his cards. At the same time - indirectly - he showed how populist his party's program was, and how difficult it will be to face market reality.

PiS politicians promised they would help families on low and medium incomes buy their own flats for no more than zł.100,000. They announced they would introduce a long-term loan with the state acting as guarantor and helping to pay it back. Interest rates were to be no higher than three percent annually and monthly repayments would not exceed zł.500.

It all sounds great, the problem is the state can't afford to implement this program. It would require an investment of some zł.18 billion by 2012, which can by no means be found in the already tight budget.

During the WBJ debate Minister Polaczek modestly admitted that he would consider it a success if within three to four years 170,000-180,000 flats were constructed annually. When compared with the bombastic pre-electoral slogans this post-electoral modesty makes quite an impression. A bad one, I should add.

But there's a bright side, after all. During the debate, Minister Polaczek assured businessmen that his Ministry would prepare a new construction law that would facilitate the obtaining of construction permits. He encouraged the leaders of the real-estate sector to contribute to the process of legislation and take part in consultations. Minister - we will hold you to your word.

Eliza Durka

Editor-in-chief