Poker-faced EU ploy

Last week the Telecommunications Ministry told the European Commission that it needs an ECU 250 million grant from Phare for Telekomunikacja Polska SA (TPSA).
That's right, TPSA. It's amazing that Communications Minister Marek Zdrojewski was able to keep a straight face when he made the request. But he did and on behalf of the Polish government argued that the telecom monopolist needs a European Union (EU) handout to develop telecommunication services in rural areas.
Never mind that TPSA - also known as the bane of existence for any Pole who's ever picked up a phone - is the most profitable company in Poland. (It racked up profits of $358 million in 1997 and for the first two months of this year generated profits of zl. 298.8 million/$85.3 million.) And never mind that part of the reason why rural areas still don't have enough phone lines is because the Communications Ministry has consistently prevented true competition in the Polish market.
No, none of that matters because with EU negotiations under way, it's time to start bellying up to the funding bar.
And it's tough to fault the government for its gutsy tactic. Tough, but not impossible. Once again, the bureaucrats have forgotten that it is the people, not the state, who run government. And as usual they forget that they are trustees of the people and should be working to further the best interests of taxpayers, not protecting their bloated budgets.
The request for aid was made as a bargaining ploy. The EU, as part of its accession negotiations with Poland, wants the telecoms market here fully opened to competition by 2001. But the government wants to hold off unfettered competition until 2003.
The reason behind the delay: The government is afraid the share price of TPSA, its crown jewel, will be hurt by a quicker influx of real competition. What the government fails to realize is that it can make up for a loss of privatization revenue by cutting more spending.
And the loss of privatization revenue would be more than offset by the benefits of competition that would accrue for telecoms users throughout Poland, meaning just about every taxpaying individual and business.
The government most likely figures it has given the EU a tough choice: either back off on the 2001 open market date or pay out ECU 250 million.
If the EU was smart, not something its bureaucrats are often accused of, it would laugh at Poland's request for a TPSA aid package and demand that the market be opened to competition so that citizens can benefit. In reality, the EU will probably cave on one of the demands. The question is will it screw its own taxpayers or Polish ones?
A bigger question then becomes why Poland would want to join a group that would so willingly forsake the interests of those people (taxpayers) it is charged to promote?