Yes or no ?
Julia Pitera, president of Transparency International, takes a look at corruption.
However you estimate the methodology of Transparency International's global corruption perceptions index, one thing is clear: Poland is slipping further down the scale.
Some put this down to the effects of shrinking jobs and money-making opportuni-ties during the recent economic slowdown, leading to a situation where contacts have replaced competition in terms of who gets what in the business world, be it jobs, land or contracts.
But Julia Pitera, president of Transpa-rency International Poland, is not satisfied with notions that blame economic stagnation. The problem, in her view, is the oligarchic nature of power in the state, which, since its foundations in 1989, just continues to breed and multiply.
"The group that controls the power now is the same group that controlled it under the old regime," she says, "and this group does not identify with the citizens of Poland."
The Round Table of 1989, in which the ruling party and its two satellites under the previous system agreed to share power with the Solidarity movement, was hailed at the time in the foreign press as a bloodless revolution. But far from representing the beginnings of democracy, says Pitera, the Round Table was thought up by the then ruling political class which, seeing capitalism coming, planned it as a way of protecting themselves from being brought to account, as well as securing themselves economic sway in the next regime.
Ever since 1989, asserts Pitera, the privatization and sale of local land and assets has been controlled largely by the bigwigs of the old regime, their friends, and their descendants, who continue to control local government and administration. Meanwhile, the fact that there was no post-1989 purging of the judiciary means that many of those that functioned in the hardly even nominally independent judiciary under the previous order are still in power. Though most have now moved into retirement or a better world, she says, even judges professionally active under the Stalinist regime continued to hold their positions well after the transition to democracy.
Even press scrutiny is unable to inspire a sense of responsibility to the public amongst government officials regarding the conflicts of interest evident in their economic activities. "If you ask a local magnate why his wife's firm consistently wins public tenders," says Pitera, "his reaction will be simply 'it's not illegal, and so what are you going to do about it?'"
Officials in Warsaw (and the same goes for elsewhere) "make every effort they can to spend public money without public procurement," she states. You can arrange everything cheaply and quickly, as long as you know the right people. Officials see every business transaction as a chance to feather their own nests, she continues, from licenses to drive taxis and sell alcohol to contracts for property development.
In fact, the situation is so bad, Pitera thinks, that in practice "you cannot invest in Poland without paying a bribe to someone in local administration."
"You cannot invest in Poland without paying a bribe to someone in local administration."
Do you agree?
Please register your reply to Yes or No? on our website at www.wbj.pl.
However you estimate the methodology of Transparency International's global corruption perceptions index, one thing is clear: Poland is slipping further down the scale.
Some put this down to the effects of shrinking jobs and money-making opportuni-ties during the recent economic slowdown, leading to a situation where contacts have replaced competition in terms of who gets what in the business world, be it jobs, land or contracts.
But Julia Pitera, president of Transpa-rency International Poland, is not satisfied with notions that blame economic stagnation. The problem, in her view, is the oligarchic nature of power in the state, which, since its foundations in 1989, just continues to breed and multiply.
"The group that controls the power now is the same group that controlled it under the old regime," she says, "and this group does not identify with the citizens of Poland."
The Round Table of 1989, in which the ruling party and its two satellites under the previous system agreed to share power with the Solidarity movement, was hailed at the time in the foreign press as a bloodless revolution. But far from representing the beginnings of democracy, says Pitera, the Round Table was thought up by the then ruling political class which, seeing capitalism coming, planned it as a way of protecting themselves from being brought to account, as well as securing themselves economic sway in the next regime.
Ever since 1989, asserts Pitera, the privatization and sale of local land and assets has been controlled largely by the bigwigs of the old regime, their friends, and their descendants, who continue to control local government and administration. Meanwhile, the fact that there was no post-1989 purging of the judiciary means that many of those that functioned in the hardly even nominally independent judiciary under the previous order are still in power. Though most have now moved into retirement or a better world, she says, even judges professionally active under the Stalinist regime continued to hold their positions well after the transition to democracy.
Even press scrutiny is unable to inspire a sense of responsibility to the public amongst government officials regarding the conflicts of interest evident in their economic activities. "If you ask a local magnate why his wife's firm consistently wins public tenders," says Pitera, "his reaction will be simply 'it's not illegal, and so what are you going to do about it?'"
Officials in Warsaw (and the same goes for elsewhere) "make every effort they can to spend public money without public procurement," she states. You can arrange everything cheaply and quickly, as long as you know the right people. Officials see every business transaction as a chance to feather their own nests, she continues, from licenses to drive taxis and sell alcohol to contracts for property development.
In fact, the situation is so bad, Pitera thinks, that in practice "you cannot invest in Poland without paying a bribe to someone in local administration."
"You cannot invest in Poland without paying a bribe to someone in local administration."
Do you agree?
Please register your reply to Yes or No? on our website at www.wbj.pl.
