PiS plans come under fire
'A Unified State of Unified Citizens' is the title of the 24-page document containing Law and Justice's (PiS) action plan for the new government they are going to form, potentially in coalition with Civic Platform (PO). It contains a diagnosis of the current situation as well as suggestions for improvement, which according to analysts are more than vague.
First of all, PiS wants to do away with the "heritage of the communist system." To that end, the party postulates wider screening of former intelligence agents as well as the creation of an Anticorruption Office and Commission for Truth and Justice. Only after the former communists are punished, can the state be finally healed, claims Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, PiS' candidate for Prime Minister.
As for the improvement of public finances, PiS proposes major cuts in administrative spending, lower taxes and the so-called 'budgetary anchor', which means keeping the budget deficit at a constant level of zł.30 billion for the coming four years. Analysts criticize the ideas and call them incoherent.
According to Jeremi Mordasewicz, an expert witch the Polish Confederation of Private Employers (PKPP) Lewiatan, the new government should first reduce expenditures for early retirement schemes and try to reduce the budget deficit.
"Sustaining the budget deficit at a stable level of zł.30 billion would not be a bad idea in a period of unfavorable economic conditions. But we cannot forget that the public debt will keep growing and so will the cost of debt service. The new government should rather try and reduce the deficit, which is a much better solution in the long run," says Mordasewicz.
However, it would be hard to reduce the deficit when PiS' plans to: increase family benefits and retirement contributions paid for women on maternity leave; bring health and old age pensions in line with inflation; decrease social-security contributions for employers creating new jobs; and at the same time introduce lower taxes.
In the document PiS also proposes the full modernization of public administration, better management of infrastructure expenditures and more financial support for the railways.
Rafał Antczak, PO's economic advisor, labeled the postulates ridiculous and populist. "What PiS proposed is the continuation of an electoral campaign and not an economic program."
Antczak refused to comment on the possibility that PO will refuse to form a coalition with PiS. "This is up to politicians - now we can only wait for PO's reaction," he said.
Rafał Antczak, PO economic adviser
"[PiS' proposal] is not an economic plan at all, it is more of a joke. The document contains no viable figures or solutions so I cannot even comment on them. The last time I saw this kind of a paper was in Belarus or Kazakhstan - I didn't expect PiS to produce something like that. Abolition of the Monetary Policy Council (RPP)? What for, to make the central bank dependent on the government? That is both against the Polish Constitution and EU regulations. The whole plan is ridiculous."
Jeremi Mordasewicz, PKPP Lewiatan
"Saying that one can save enough only by cutting administrative spending is a myth. The problem of Polish administration is not excessive costs but low efficiency. In comparison with other OECD countries, Poland spends similar amounts - part of the national domestic product - on police, healthcare system and education. The biggest burden is social benefits, especially 'early pension schemes' for 1.5 million Poles - they mean zł.20 billion per year less in the budget. They should be limited in the first place but the idea is so politically unpopular that no one really dares to voice it."
