Kwasniewski direct on Russia, vague on the economy
If there was tension last week at the full-house American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) breakfast with President Aleksander Kwasniewski, it was because he was way off script. He talked in both personal and politically candid terms about Russia, its probable next president Vladimir Putin and what he bluntly called the "very, very bad" Polish-Russian relations right now.
Kwasniewski said he expected Polish talks with Russia would be tougher than with former President Boris Yeltsin, not only because Putin is a focused, strong negotiator "but he is very 'Great Russia' in his thinking. So it is a big problem."
The uncertainties are how Putin looks at the methods he has used in Chechnya. "I think it will be a very dour situation if these are seen (by Putin) as effective," Kwasniewski said.
And what about relations between Poland and Russia? Tensions have ratcheted up over expulsions of diplomats accused of spying and last month's minor damage to the Russian consulate in Poznan, where he said "the Polish police are definitely to blame for the situation," but which he said brought an "exaggerated" reaction in Moscow. After this spring's Russian elections, he predicted there would be "a more pragmatic" rebuilding of relations.
With the room extraordinarily silent, Kwasniewski tried to break the ice. "I notice no one is eating maybe you should do that, especially after that about Russia," he said.
Wood & Co. strategist Krzysztof Bledowski later fired off a series of pointed questions. If Poland wants faster growth, why can't the parties, from left to right, agree on lowering taxes to make that happen? If it wants early European Union (EU) entry, why can't it agree to adopt key legal reforms required for that? And with foreign investment down, why does Poland appear to be hostile to some investors, "especially to Germans?" he asked.
That gave the president the opening to join the Solidarity reformers in saying he wasn't against the Germans and, in particular, not against Deutsche Bank in its hostile takeover of BIG Bank Gdanski, which is a bank close to his political bloc of ex-communists.
"My criticism against DB was not against DB it has very very much credibility in banking but against the procedures of this government" in terms of the role played by state insurer Powszechny Zaklad Ubezpieczen (PZU) in its secret deal with DB against BIG Bank Gdanski's ownership, Kwasniewski said.
And how did he fare?
Citibank (Poland) Country Manager Shirish Apte thought the president was impressive. "He came straight to the point. He hits all the right issues," he said.
Roman Rewald, however, noted that "we still didn't get any substantive answers to questions we asked like why there is a slowdown of momentum (in investment). I don't think he knew this he heard that from us and he seemed surprised. And we didn't hear anything about his position on lowering taxes."
He gave him credit for being an astute analyst of the Russian-Polish situation, "but actually this is his forte."
It's not just middle-class Poles who take flyaway specials to exotic places. It's a smattering of expatriates too. And when a late February charter to the Egyptian resort at Hurghada, on the Red Sea, Canadian commercial attache Barbara Giacomin signed on with her husband Marvin Bieman and their two sons, Carl, 8, and Peter,6.
When the return flight didn't arrive and didn't arrive they were among those stuck there. It was 36 hours later before they were airlifted home and then not by the original plane. Giacomin had booked a two-week tour through Travel Express, on tour operator Aladdin.
"We never did know what caused the delay. But I was pleased to see a (Polish) LOT 737 coming for us. That was far more comforting than seeing the Pharaoh (airline used by the tour operator)," she said.
Giacomin didn't know how many Polish tourists had been on the charters, but said the LOT 737 was full "and a second flight hours after us was also going to be full. Apparently, some people the week before us couldn't get out they were overbooked by 20 seats so they were invited to stay an extra week, all expenses paid."
