Smaller businesses given priority under Economy Ministry proposals

New Economy Minister Jacek Piechota has announced his Ministry's plans for changing the regulations concerning small and medium-sized businesses. The ideas will be contained in a booklet, which will be published within a hundred days, entitled Entrepreneurship First. Among the proposals outlined by the Economy Ministry are changes to the Labor Code and social insurance regulations. Another proposal is to combine the various inspection offices, which at the moment add up to 19. The Ministry will also support some ideas announced earlier by the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), which include expanding the scope of eligibility for the simplified corporate income tax and introducing new ways of receiving loans. It is not certain, however, if the Finance Ministry will agree to all the changes. Piechota, though, is confident, "It's the small and medium-sized enterprises that have the potential to employ new workers, and that's why we have to take care of them first," he said. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 21) A.K.