Hard core coal privatization pullout

Deputy Economy Minister Paweł Poncyliusz said that Poland's hard coal mines will not be privatized this year and that the privatization processes of some of them, which were begun during the former parliamentary session, are either to be put on hold or stopped. He pointed out that the current round of privatizations was set to end in 2006 anyway, but made no mention of what will happen next. He only noted that future strategy needs to be carefully planned.

"As for today, we do not have to predict how the hard coal sector will look in the coming years," Paweł Poncyliusz said. "There will be no privatization of hard coal mines this year for certain."

The former government launched the privatization process of the Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa and a packet of minor stocks was meant to be issued this year. Two large investors had announced their willingness to negotiate over the share purchase. Now Poncyliusz plans to put the procedure on hold and will consider canceling it.

Poncyliusz also stated that at present the government is not interested in any kind of privatization model of any coal company in Poland. When asked about privatization through the issue of bonds, Poncyliusz said it would depend on the government's idea of future privatizations and the Polish mining sector's own development model.

The Deputy Minister has also declared his wish to review coal companies' management staff and did not rule out personnel changes.

There was strong criticism of Poncyliusz's plans from opposition parties in the Sejm. Civic Platform's Jan Wyrówiński said, "It is a very bad idea to stop the privatization. State-controlled companies are far less effective. Moreover, I would like to point out to Law and Justice that it promised to earn zł.2.5 billion out of privatization. So far it has made only 2.9 percent of the total."