Lukewarm legislation

In Q2 2007, the legislative activity of the Sejm was neutral - or at best, modestly positive - towards the economy, according to research by the Polish Chamber of Commerce (KIG). Moreover, KIG's experts claimed that the government has yet to give business any tools to efficiently engage Poland's economic prosperity.

KIG's quarterly study of the Sejm's activity (Barometr przyjazności legislacyjnej Sejmu dla gospodarki i przedsiębiorczości), which measures how "friendly" legislation is for the economy and entrepreneurs, has been published since 2005. According to the Q2 2007 survey, out of 53 bills passed by the Sejm in Q2, only seven had an impact on the economy. As for legislation with negative implications for the economy, KIG's report listed a bill allowing the National Labour Inspectorate (PIP) to impose higher fines and a law requiring would-be developers of large shops to seek government approval.

In terms of voting, the most economy "friendly" political party in Q2 was, surprisingly, the League of Polish Families (LPR), despite the fact that it supported the bill limiting large-size shops. Civic Platform (PO) took second place, followed by Law and Justice (PiS), while the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) stood at the bottom of the rankings. The calculation was based on the total number of votes by all members in each party, where each piece of legislation was given a point value in the range of +5 to -5.

Despite the mildly positive conclusions of the research, KIG urges more engagement in the process of facilitating business entrepreneurship, especially since complicated legislation is viewed as a key hindrance for economic growth, both by the government and the opposition.