Eureko files complaint with EC against Treasury

Pan-European insurance group Eureko has carried out its threat of filing an official complaint against Poland with the European Commission (EC). Eureko is charging that the Treasury Minister has "breached common and basic rules of the European Union" by not keeping the terms of the privatization agreement of Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczeń (PZU), which it had signed with Eureko in Nov. 1999. Eureko, together with BIG-BG Bank, acquired a 30% stake in PZU, Poland's largest insurer, and was granted the right to appoint four out of the nine members of PZU's supervisory board. Meanwhile, last month the Treasury replaced Eureko's representatives to the supervisory board with its own and then appointed a new managing board. "We've filed a complaint [with the EC] because several years could pass before a Polish court looks into our protests against Treasury decisions," said Eureko representative Michal Nastula. (Gazeta Wyborcza, Feb. 3-4, p.27) T.J.