In defence of the tricolour
Dear Editor,
The controversial style of the speech of Jacques Chirac, president of France, led to the fact that it is mentioned that there is now a certain coolness in Polish-French relations. In the meantime, both countries are more and more closely tied to the economy. One of every four euros invested in Poland comes from France.
Unfortunately, the tension has provoked some observers of the country's economic life to ascribe political intentions to French investors. For instance, the failure in the fight for Peugeot Citroen's investments here was explained by French "revenge" for Poland's choice of the American multipurpose F-16 aircraft. This type of false suspicion only questions the confidence of and harms the economy. Political reactions have completely hidden the truth of rational economic decisions taken long before the tender for the aircraft and the statements of President Chirac.
The country lost the Peugeot investment to Slovakia not because the French and Polish go-vernments had different opinions about world policy, but because Slovakia had offered a better quality of roads and infrastructure and lower labour costs, compared with those here. Unfortunately, Poland had lost its second such important French investment as the Toyota-Peugeot consortium had previously chosen to construct a factory in the Czech Republic. It means that Poland has lost a2.2 billion in direct investment.
French entrepreneurs would like to reverse the tendency because it has the same importance for them as for Polish companies. So we should sound the alarm! During the unsure times of the worldwide recession and the big competition from other economies, the country loses its investment attractiveness, while several of its decision-makers disregard the problem completely.
The year 2002 was the third consecutive year that France was Poland's top foreign investor. French enterprises have created almost 150,000 direct jobs. Almost all of the important French companies are already present here. About 600 of them have permanent representative offices and about 10,000 companies have regular commercial contacts.
Apart from dangerous economic reforms, an intensive political offensive should also be undertaken here in order to further attract fo-reign capital. Foreign investors present here, including, of course, the French ones, know the decisive factors about the choice of locations of big investments. They can effectively participate in the process of promoting Poland through their organisations.
Real Polish-French relations are not realised in the United Nations Security Council, but in everyday, common work; for instance, on the further shaping of conditions that would be advantageous for foreign investments and on improving the Polish economy. Since the Poles and the French consider their interests to be a joint and friendly investment for the future, no rhetoric of the current politics can question them.
Sebastian Mikosz
General Director
French Chamber of Industry
and Commerce in Poland
Warsaw
The controversial style of the speech of Jacques Chirac, president of France, led to the fact that it is mentioned that there is now a certain coolness in Polish-French relations. In the meantime, both countries are more and more closely tied to the economy. One of every four euros invested in Poland comes from France.
Unfortunately, the tension has provoked some observers of the country's economic life to ascribe political intentions to French investors. For instance, the failure in the fight for Peugeot Citroen's investments here was explained by French "revenge" for Poland's choice of the American multipurpose F-16 aircraft. This type of false suspicion only questions the confidence of and harms the economy. Political reactions have completely hidden the truth of rational economic decisions taken long before the tender for the aircraft and the statements of President Chirac.
The country lost the Peugeot investment to Slovakia not because the French and Polish go-vernments had different opinions about world policy, but because Slovakia had offered a better quality of roads and infrastructure and lower labour costs, compared with those here. Unfortunately, Poland had lost its second such important French investment as the Toyota-Peugeot consortium had previously chosen to construct a factory in the Czech Republic. It means that Poland has lost a2.2 billion in direct investment.
French entrepreneurs would like to reverse the tendency because it has the same importance for them as for Polish companies. So we should sound the alarm! During the unsure times of the worldwide recession and the big competition from other economies, the country loses its investment attractiveness, while several of its decision-makers disregard the problem completely.
The year 2002 was the third consecutive year that France was Poland's top foreign investor. French enterprises have created almost 150,000 direct jobs. Almost all of the important French companies are already present here. About 600 of them have permanent representative offices and about 10,000 companies have regular commercial contacts.
Apart from dangerous economic reforms, an intensive political offensive should also be undertaken here in order to further attract fo-reign capital. Foreign investors present here, including, of course, the French ones, know the decisive factors about the choice of locations of big investments. They can effectively participate in the process of promoting Poland through their organisations.
Real Polish-French relations are not realised in the United Nations Security Council, but in everyday, common work; for instance, on the further shaping of conditions that would be advantageous for foreign investments and on improving the Polish economy. Since the Poles and the French consider their interests to be a joint and friendly investment for the future, no rhetoric of the current politics can question them.
Sebastian Mikosz
General Director
French Chamber of Industry
and Commerce in Poland
Warsaw
