Ziobro may be forced to resign from Rywin Commission

Lew Rywin's lawyers are withdrawing their petition to question Zbigniew Ziobro Law and Justice Sejm deputy and a member of the Special Parliamentary Commission on the Rywin case. Legal experts believe that if the prosecutor calls Ziobro as a witness, he will have to leave the Commission. Ziobro disclosed that he received a phone call from the Public Prosecutor's Office concerning his potential questioning in connection with the Rywin affair. Last week, Ziobro informed the prosecutor's office about his suspicions that the Prime Minister was guilty of an offense, "Because the Prime Minister knew in August about the bribery and did not inform the Prosecutor's Office". According to Professor Andrzej Zoll, "If the deputy accused the Prime Minister of perpetrating a crime connected with the whole affair then I seriously doubt if he should be a member of the Commission". (Rzeczpospolita, p. A4) A.C. Higher health fund tax accepted by Senate; Health Ministry debt cancellation? The Senate has accepted the 8% health contribution tax. At the same time it turned down an amendment under which it would be possible for individuals to deduct the whole contribution from their income tax. The higher tax rate now means that the National Health Fund budget will increase by nearly zl. 900 million. Health Minister Mariusz Lapinski is requesting that the government writes-off the remaining zl. 800 million of a zl. 1 billion loan the sickness funds received in 2000. "Cancelling this debt would require a changes to the budget," said the head of the Prime Minister's office Marek Wagner. Lapinski has already sent an application to the Cabinet, but it is Finance Minister Grzegorz Kolodko who will have the decisive word on the issue. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A5) A.Z. A-Z of EU membership harmonization: state aid for industry and structural funds State aid for industry will be forbidden. However, the European Commission may alter the regulation provided that subsidies would be used to support the restructuring of particular industries. In return, plants being restructured will have to be able to show they will be profitable, as well as reduce their production capacities, which would act as a form of compensation for competitors who did not receive financial support. The state will also have the right to cover, for example in the form of a tax break, even up to half of the costs of investment provided they are carried out in the country's poorer regions ... Structural funds, which are designed to help the poorest EU regions reach the EU average level, will constitute the biggest share of financial help received by Poland from the Union. Between 2004-2006 Poland will receive euro 13.8 billion of such funds, out of which one-third will be spent on so-called cohesive funds. These will finance up to 85% of large infrastructure projects like the construction of bridges, roads, sewage treatment plants, etc. The rest of the money will be spent on six structural programmes, improving the competitiveness of companies, combatting unemployment, agriculture, fishing, general environment protection, and regional development. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A3; Dec.14-15) M.M./A.Z. This is the last of this series of the A-Z of EU membership harmonization