What they said: The year in review
What they said: The year in review
Editor's note: The following quotes are taken from interviews featured in the Business Journal during 2001.
***************************
February
"It's very difficult for international investors to understand that you can sign an agreement with the Polish state and that after that the Polish state can say, Well, I will not live up to this agreement because it doesn't suit me,' or I don't like it,' without any reasonable other argumentation other than saying, Well, if you don't give into my demand to accept a reduction of your rights, then you will have a war.' And we are now in a situation where we have court cases flying around et cetera, which is a very bad situation for everybody, including the state treasury, the company, and ourselves."
Ernst Jansen, chief operating officer of Dutch insurer Eureko, and the front-man in the company's dispute with Poland over Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń (PZU)
***************************
March
"The policies are on track, and the trends are favorable to achieve the (inflation) target for this year. But to meet the medium-term target I think it's very important to meet the 2001 target and particularly to end up at the lower half of the 6-8% band. From then on, what's required is to make sure that the growth of active demand is sufficiently controlled so it would not give rise to inflationary pressures."
Cyrus Sassanpour, the International Monetary Fund's senior resident representative in Poland
***************************
April
"The funding issues are something we work with continuously, and at the end of the day the funding issue is really a shareholders' decision. It would be wrong of me to speculate on what the shareholders' decision would be. I only have reason to (believe) that they will choose the best kind of funding alternatives whether it's debt or equity or a combination thereof."
Mattias Gadd, the president and CEO of fixed-line phone operator Netia from Dec. 2000 to September 2001
***************************
June
"If the privatization will be advanced, there may be a moment in the very end stages of privatization when some final signatures of the new minister of the treasury will be necessary. But in fact the impact for company management can't be so big. So I hope the impact of the September elections will not be a really big one for PZU."
Zygmunt Kostkiewicz, president of Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń (PZU)
***************************
August
"The acceptance of privatization in society today is one of the lowest since 1990 only 20% of the population are convinced that privatization is a good thing."
Future Treasury Minister Wiesław Kaczmarek
***************************
September
"Opinion polls say about half of the population are for (joining the European Union). The other half is waiting for more information. Some people are afraid. What is dangerous is that there are some very radical parties that use this issue in the election. When there is no information there is more room for such ideas. Generally we have to work very hard to inform citizens.
Ewa Freyberg, member of Parliament with the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and member of the Sejm's European Integration (INE) and European Works committees. Freyberg is now an undersecretary at the Economy Ministry.
On the expectation that Poland's IT market would recover and Tech WIG stocks would rise:
"I think this will occur at the end of 2001. Why? Because the government will change. The new government will have a four-year perspective ahead. Thus, they will have the courage or even the need to make new strategic decisions."
Aleksander Lesz, president of Softbank
"Now is the best time to launch a new publication. From my point of view it's much more difficult for competitors to face us at a time when they have to cut their budgets. It's also much easier to organize a promotional campaign because it's cheaper. And from an employer's point of view, the labor market is cheaper. Lastly, during an economic recession, advertisers try to find a new medium and generally speaking the market is looking for something fresh and new. We can see such a trend in our relations with advertisers.
Tomasz Wróblewski, editor in chief of Newsweek Polska
***************************
October
"We'll start a whole campaign and we'll prove society is against (joining the EU). If the interest of Poland, Polish society, agriculture and industry is not protected we'll say "no."
Andrzej Lepper, member of Parliament and leader of the Self-Defense (SO) party
"Poland is drowning in its social obligations, which exceed its financial resources. Social expenditures amount to 20% of gross domestic product - a figure that even wealthy countries cannot afford. At the same time, the recipients of that aid are dissatisfied. The error here lies in easy access to health benefits, early retirement age and the bad distribution of this aid. But left-wing parties don't seek savings in this area."
Janusz Lewandowski, vice chairman of the European Committee, Civic Platform (PO) party
