Poland and the EU is drowning in bureaucracy, warns World Bank report

According to a World Bank report Poland is among the European countries in which a company must fulfill the largest number of procedures to commence business activity. "In this situation it is difficult to achieve significant economic growth," said Leora Klapper, one of the authors of the report. The World Bank attacked Poland again for its very slow pace of privatization and never-ending political debates concerning what and how to sell to new owners. The situation in the country is closer to the model of Italy, which is regarded as an EU member with the largest number of barriers for entrepreneurs. "Europe is already behind the USA. Soon it will lag behind China, India or countries of Latin America," warned on Wednesday Guenther Verheugen, the Deputy Chairman of the European Commission. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B1) M.M.