Hungary meeting to discuss the future of PKN Orlen and MOL

According to unofficial information Treasury Minister Piotr Czyżewski intends to go to Hungary on Friday to discuss plans for the consolidation of PKN Orlen and its Hungarian counterpart MOL. Additionally, "On November 19, the Polish Embassy in Hungary is organizing a meeting to discuss the c onsolidation. The government to be represented by Deputy Labour and Economy Minister Jacek Piechota" said a source. However analysts are skeptical about the government's participation in the consolidation. "The Government is one of Orlen's shareholders. It may sell its stake and negotiate the best terms for the contract. However the cooperation between PKN and MOL is a separate and independent issue which has to be discussed by the companies' mana gements. When the government enters this area, it should do it in a rather informal way" said one of the analysts. The project to establish a central European fuel concern envisages an entire consolidation of PKN and MOL in three stages over a 1-1.5 year period. (Puls Biznesu, p. 4) A.Z.