Lessons from history
According to the Adam Smith Center's Andrzej Sadowski: "Poland used to be better than Ireland but we didn't have the IT, road and financial infrastructure. We used to be the economic miracle and we can get back to this. Polish society is extremely dynamic in how it approaches the market."
Speaking at a conference organized by The Economist to launch the publication's survey of Poland, Sadowski said Poland wasn't making the most of its opportunities: "To get back to the economic miracle we need to get back to the economic liberalism of the early 1990s. Too frequent changes in the law make it impossible to run a business. Poland at any point can have 10-percent economic growth once we get rid of business barriers and get back to economic liberty."
Law and Justice's Adam Bielan, a member of the European Parliament, says the current administration is poised to take advantage of Poland's current position: "The next three years will be the most important for our position in the EU. Despite the complicated situation in the parliament, the government of Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewcz will use this opportunity."
However, critics remain unconvinced that the coalition government will be able to take advantage of economic growth in the next few years. According to Edward Lucas, the author of The Economist's Poland survey, the current Law and Justice government has had little impact on the economy, and its "political antics of the last six months" have proven "a severe test for Polish business confidence." Lucas said the stability of the złoty and the continued flow of FDI was "a sign of how healthy the Polish economy is that you can afford this kind of Italian-style comic opera politics."
However, he warned that a taste for Italian politics will soon start to show on the economy's figures: "In the long term Poland is not Italy. Italy is one of the richest countries in the world and it can afford to have a corrupt and unreformed public sector and clannish politicians. Poland can't afford that option."
