In Brief: Redundancies in Optimus; Energy prices; VAT negotiations with EU

Hardware and software producer Optimus is planning to reduce its workforce by over 10%, from the current workforce of 440. The company believes that this decision will help it increase productivity. The Optimus supervisory board also made changes in the company's management board, accepting the resignation of the vice-presidents and appointing a new board member, Zbigniew Mazur, who previously held the post of investment director. (Parkiet, p. 3) ... The Energy Regulation Office (URE) announced that starting July 1, 2002 electricity prices will increase on average by 5.7%. The Polish Power Grid (PSE) tariffs will increase by 4.6%, while the tariffs of individual electrical energy distribution companies will go up by 1.5% to 8.5%. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 6) ... Infrastructure Minister Marek Pol has announced that the government will file a request with the European Union to re-open the negotiations pertaining to VAT in construction, and that it will ask the EU to lower the rate of this tax. (Prawo i Gospodarka, p. 10) M.T.K.