Krzaklewski begins to adopt a more presidential posture
That was the question - before and after - from producers of Telewizja Polska's (TVP) Panorama program, who had turned out to see the speech.
The reaction of EU Forum Vice President Cristiano Pinzauti was "why not?" He said 1,200 members of the Forum were interested in getting Poland into the European Union (EU) "and to facilitate dialogue with leading people in these Polish institutions."
Krzaklewski may not be in the government, but as union president and as architect of Solidarity Election Action (AWS), he is certainly a player.
Pinzauti said he had seen Krzaklewski on TV and from afar, to be a contentious politician, but had found him to be a far different person in small groups of Italian investors, for instance. He pushed to have him speak before the EU Forum, whose most active members are from the British, Danish, French, German and Italian chambers "and the Dutch will be joining soon." The Belgians, Greeks and Fins also are involved, but less actively, and the "Swedes used to be members and then closed their chamber."
Krzaklewski was something of a hit when he spoke last month to the Forum and the fact his appearance was covered by the Polish media, including Panorama, could be a first step in an image remake in advance of next year's presidential campaign. If he's speaking to mega-investors, and encouraging dialogue rather than cussing them out, that could reassure some voters. Not to say the business community.
"He made one very sharp move: He told members of the various chambers that he was ready to meet with all of them, on an individual basis," Pinzauti said. "This is a signal to me that he's already starting a presidential campaign."
"The guy knows very well what he is talking about. He knows very well what foreign investors know - the benefit to Polish products of foreign technology," Pinzauti said.
"Poland needs to develop Polish brands that can be exported and Polish companies need to be equipped," both with better technology and with investment capital, he said, both of which foreign investors can help provide. Krzaklewski seemed to recognize that, and also to recognize the merits in speeding up privatization, including sales to foreign investors. If that sounds strange, coming from a union leader, that's because the stereotypes don't fit this country.
• • •
Another key figure also was welcoming foreign investors earlier this month: central banker Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz. Speaking at a British Polish Chamber of Commerce breakfast last week, she said there still was some trepidation by bankers "who fear that one day there will be no Polish banks."
Her reply to them? "That was already decided, 50 years ago, in Yalta," she said, when the Western powers allowed Stalin to wrap Poland and other Central European countries into the Soviet orbit.
After the war, when the French and Germans and others "multiplied their capital, we couldn't do that," she said. There was no capitalism and no capital in countries tied to the centrally planned socialist system and that made it hard to bring money to the table, when a market economy was being launched early this decade.
"I think it is better to have big banks - whatever their ownership - in Poland because Polish people need loans to keep jobs here," she said, and "if they go abroad for loans for their enterprises, taxes will be paid to other governments."
• • •
Gronkiewicz-Waltz also found a subtle way to score points against the Czech Republic, in answering a question about Poland's attitude about foreigners and foreign investment. In 1990-1991, she said, the Czech Republic wanted nothing to do with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its elaborate system of incentives and rewards for moving toward a market economy. Poland welcomed the IMF although it didn't need to call on its standby financing. And, she said, although Poland has "graduated" from the roster of countries where the IMF keeps close watch over economic fundamentals, she said she still relies on them and still asks them to send in missions on varying subjects. It's not "pressure" - it's a useful source of information and guidance, she said.
• • •
The British Polish Chamber of Commerce had so many people coming for the Gronkiewicz-Waltz breakfast that the Bristol moved its grand piano to the center of its elegant lobby bar and set up a breakfast buffet for chamber guests.
And, yes, the central banker stood in line to dish up her own eggs and sausage like other attendees.
At many of the eight-person tables, there was much talk of pension reform, especially if the table had a pension-player in its midst. And when a high-ranked Commercial Union pension fund official said they were going great guns with more than 300,000 people signed up already, there were shock waves five seats away. "Did he say 300,000?" a BRE Bank official asked a neighbor. "That's a lot more than I've seen printed about them." The BRE executive balked at estimating what BRE's pension-fund sales were as of late March.
• • •
Want the unvarnished truth about what Poles think about you? Ask young people. Do it in a smart, tangential way, for example, what are their stereotypes about, say, Americans.
That's what three American English language teachers did in two seminars last month at a gathering by student organization AIESEC at an English weekend in the town of Wisla. Jamie Hart, Chris Marciniak and Christina Campo got an uproarious reception - and an earful - when they asked Poles to list their stereotypes and their skeptical questions about Americans. Some of the questions and comments are as follows: "Are you really as open as you appear to be or is this just an act (with all those smiles and 'how are you?' greetings?) "You say that everybody is equal and in your Constitution you say that. But that's phony and why do you say that when you can see the contradictions?" "You don't dress in a sophisticated way." And then there was the time-honored criticism: you're too wedded to fast foods, to the "McDonaldization" of the world.
The reaction of EU Forum Vice President Cristiano Pinzauti was "why not?" He said 1,200 members of the Forum were interested in getting Poland into the European Union (EU) "and to facilitate dialogue with leading people in these Polish institutions."
Krzaklewski may not be in the government, but as union president and as architect of Solidarity Election Action (AWS), he is certainly a player.
Pinzauti said he had seen Krzaklewski on TV and from afar, to be a contentious politician, but had found him to be a far different person in small groups of Italian investors, for instance. He pushed to have him speak before the EU Forum, whose most active members are from the British, Danish, French, German and Italian chambers "and the Dutch will be joining soon." The Belgians, Greeks and Fins also are involved, but less actively, and the "Swedes used to be members and then closed their chamber."
Krzaklewski was something of a hit when he spoke last month to the Forum and the fact his appearance was covered by the Polish media, including Panorama, could be a first step in an image remake in advance of next year's presidential campaign. If he's speaking to mega-investors, and encouraging dialogue rather than cussing them out, that could reassure some voters. Not to say the business community.
"He made one very sharp move: He told members of the various chambers that he was ready to meet with all of them, on an individual basis," Pinzauti said. "This is a signal to me that he's already starting a presidential campaign."
"The guy knows very well what he is talking about. He knows very well what foreign investors know - the benefit to Polish products of foreign technology," Pinzauti said.
"Poland needs to develop Polish brands that can be exported and Polish companies need to be equipped," both with better technology and with investment capital, he said, both of which foreign investors can help provide. Krzaklewski seemed to recognize that, and also to recognize the merits in speeding up privatization, including sales to foreign investors. If that sounds strange, coming from a union leader, that's because the stereotypes don't fit this country.
• • •
Another key figure also was welcoming foreign investors earlier this month: central banker Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz. Speaking at a British Polish Chamber of Commerce breakfast last week, she said there still was some trepidation by bankers "who fear that one day there will be no Polish banks."
Her reply to them? "That was already decided, 50 years ago, in Yalta," she said, when the Western powers allowed Stalin to wrap Poland and other Central European countries into the Soviet orbit.
After the war, when the French and Germans and others "multiplied their capital, we couldn't do that," she said. There was no capitalism and no capital in countries tied to the centrally planned socialist system and that made it hard to bring money to the table, when a market economy was being launched early this decade.
"I think it is better to have big banks - whatever their ownership - in Poland because Polish people need loans to keep jobs here," she said, and "if they go abroad for loans for their enterprises, taxes will be paid to other governments."
• • •
Gronkiewicz-Waltz also found a subtle way to score points against the Czech Republic, in answering a question about Poland's attitude about foreigners and foreign investment. In 1990-1991, she said, the Czech Republic wanted nothing to do with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its elaborate system of incentives and rewards for moving toward a market economy. Poland welcomed the IMF although it didn't need to call on its standby financing. And, she said, although Poland has "graduated" from the roster of countries where the IMF keeps close watch over economic fundamentals, she said she still relies on them and still asks them to send in missions on varying subjects. It's not "pressure" - it's a useful source of information and guidance, she said.
• • •
The British Polish Chamber of Commerce had so many people coming for the Gronkiewicz-Waltz breakfast that the Bristol moved its grand piano to the center of its elegant lobby bar and set up a breakfast buffet for chamber guests.
And, yes, the central banker stood in line to dish up her own eggs and sausage like other attendees.
At many of the eight-person tables, there was much talk of pension reform, especially if the table had a pension-player in its midst. And when a high-ranked Commercial Union pension fund official said they were going great guns with more than 300,000 people signed up already, there were shock waves five seats away. "Did he say 300,000?" a BRE Bank official asked a neighbor. "That's a lot more than I've seen printed about them." The BRE executive balked at estimating what BRE's pension-fund sales were as of late March.
• • •
Want the unvarnished truth about what Poles think about you? Ask young people. Do it in a smart, tangential way, for example, what are their stereotypes about, say, Americans.
That's what three American English language teachers did in two seminars last month at a gathering by student organization AIESEC at an English weekend in the town of Wisla. Jamie Hart, Chris Marciniak and Christina Campo got an uproarious reception - and an earful - when they asked Poles to list their stereotypes and their skeptical questions about Americans. Some of the questions and comments are as follows: "Are you really as open as you appear to be or is this just an act (with all those smiles and 'how are you?' greetings?) "You say that everybody is equal and in your Constitution you say that. But that's phony and why do you say that when you can see the contradictions?" "You don't dress in a sophisticated way." And then there was the time-honored criticism: you're too wedded to fast foods, to the "McDonaldization" of the world.
