Polish politics and economy

[Bonobo]

World Bank has increased its ratings for Poland.

[valpomike]

Please explain what this means to Poland, and all the rest of us.

Mike

[Bonobo]

The C word
Poland moves in the right direction, again
Warsaw Business journal
19 Thu, Nov 2009

When he addressed the BPCC for the last time as HM Ambassador to Poland in 2003, Sir Michael Pakenham talked at length about "the `C' word." At that time, corruption was one of the issues troubling our members more than any other.

Back in 1996, when Transparency International included Poland in its annual Corruption Perception Index for the first time, I was proud to note that not only was Poland the least corrupt of all post-communist countries, but it was also less corrupt than three EU-15 members - Italy, Portugal and Greece.

Yet after that date, things started going dreadfully wrong. Year by year, Poland started slumping lower and lower down the global ranking, regardless of whether the government was post-Communist or had Solidarity roots.

Things reached a nadir in the 2005 index (which reflected the previous 12 months). Under the watch of the SLD government of Leszek Miller, levels of corruption in Poland were perceived to have surpassed those found in Jamaica, Bulgaria, Belize or Burkina Faso. In 70th position in the world (out of 158 countries surveyed), corruption had become the defining issue of Poland's 2005 general elections.

The Kaczyñski twins, who came to power as president and premier, did what they set out to do - they turned the situation around. Creating new institutions to combat corruption, and aided by a free press keen to winkle out new scandals, the Law and Justice-led coalition succeeded in breaking the trend and halting the nine-year slide into the mire of corruption.

This positive trend has continued. The current Civic Platform-led coalition government has maintained the momentum - despite the recent scandal concerning fruit machines (which occurred too late to influence this year's index, which was published recently).

Poland has, in the space of four years, leapt from 70th (out of 158 countries surveyed) to 49th (out of 180). The score, on a ten-point table is 5.0 (where New Zealand, the world's least corrupt country scores 9.4, and Somalia, the most corrupt, scores 1.1). Back in 2005, Poland's score was 3.4.
There's still a way to go, no room for complacency.

Correlating this ranking to global indices of poverty show a clear link - the more corrupt a country, the poorer it is. Comparing Poland with its neighbour Ukraine (146th in the world, 2.2 score), this link becomes clear. There is also a link between bureaucracy and corruption. The world's cleanest countries are (and not by coincidence) the ones topping the World Bank's Doing Business ranking.

New Zealand, Denmark and Singapore, the least corrupt three, are respectively second, sixth and first in the world when it comes to ease of doing business. Whereas Ukraine comes 142nd.

The fight against corruption must go hand in hand with increases in social trust. It's not enough to create a climate of fear, where bureaucrats become petrified into inaction, too scared to take decisions in case they are accused of corruption. This atmosphere is still seen as a major obstacle to the rolling out of public private partnerships in Poland. Local authorities are worried about the consequences of doing business with the private sector.

Education is the only answer.

Hats off, therefore, to CMS Cameron McKenna. The law firm has organised training sessions for Poland's anti-corruption and audit agencies, explaining to them the new law on PPP, and what's legal - and what to watch out for. The spreading of best practice is the only way to ensure that corruption is tackled while social trust continues to rise.

The "C" word is not one the current British ambassador to Poland, Ric Todd, has ever had to use while addressing the Chamber.

[Bonobo]

Oct 29, 2009 17:34:05 GMT 1 valpomike said:

Please explain what this means to Poland, and all the rest of us.

Mike

If you mean Bank ratings, it means that Poland is considered as a reliable, safe recipient of loan/credit.

[Bonobo]

Resilience reflects country’s strengths
By Jan Cienski and Stefan Wagstyl
Financial Times
November 17 2009

Poland is emerging from the global economic crisis in better shape than the rest of the European Union, but the government faces serious challenges in managing the after-effects of the turmoil while preparing for presidential elections late next year.

The country now looks set to finish the year as the only EU state to avoid an economic contraction in 2009, with gross domestic product growth likely to come out at 1-2 per cent.

Zbigniew Jagiello, chief executive of PKO Bank Polski, the biggest bank, says: “We have shown that we are not simply a part of a central and eastern Europe region that includes Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan.”

Jacek Rostowski, the finance minister, says Poland shows “real resilience” compared with other European countries, not least Germany, its largest export market.

The economic atmosphere today is quite different from the nervous times of late 2008 and early 2009, when fears abounded about the commitment of west European banks, which provide the lion’s share of external finance for the EU’s new member states – including Poland.

A key element in boosting confidence has been the support for the region pledged by the EU, the International Monetary Fund and other international financial institutions (IFIs). While Poland has not required any rescue finance, it has secured a $20.6bn IMF reserve credit line.

The IFIs’ moves persuaded the international banks to remain committed to the region, ensuring that, even though the credit crunch has hit central and eastern Europe, the flow of funds has not stopped altogether.

But even with external support, the rest of the region is in recession. Poland’s exceptional performance largely reflects its domestic strengths, particularly the resilience of the private sector, which was toughened by the previous slowdown in 2001-2003, and to the hardiness of Polish shoppers, who kept spending despite the gloomy news from around the world.

Consumption has led the economy, supported by increasing public investment, co-financed by the EU. Public construction schemes have helped save a building industry hit hard by a sudden end to growth in property development.

The export sector was assisted by a sharp decline in late 2008 and early 2009 in the zloty and by vehicle-replacement schemes in western Europe that boosted sales of cars, Poland’s largest export industry.

Carmakers worry about the prospects after these schemes end, but Polish officials hope other sectors can pick up the baton, amid signs of an economic upturn in Germany. Economists forecast a GDP increase of 1-2 per cent next year.

Leszek Czarnecki, chief executive of the Getin banking and property group, says: “Poland didn’t have a crisis, what we had was a slowdown in growth.”

This summer he restarted work on one of the country’s tallest buildings in the western city of Wroclaw after halting construction last year when the credit crunch first struck.

But Jacek Siwicki, president of Enterprise Investors, Poland’s largest investment company, is more cautious. “Our analysis of the future is so-so. We still think 2010 could be a difficult year,” he says.

One problem is the credit shortage. While lending to households is still growing, loans to companies are at a standstill, partly because banks are afraid to lend and partly because potential borrowers are cautious. Global conditions are also uncertain.

External financing is in short supply and more expensive than before the crisis. Foreign direct investment in the first half of 2009 was just €1bn ($1bn), down from €11bn in the preceding 12 months, says the state investment agency. The change in bank credit is even starker, with an €760m outflow in the first half, against a €10bn inflow in 2008, according to the National Bank of Poland, the central bank.

But officials argue Poland’s long-term attractions remain: it is a big underdeveloped market of 38m people and an export base, with labour costs a quarter of west Europe’s. In the EU, only Romania is substantially cheaper.

The government’s role next year will be critical. This year’s GDP growth has been supported by a leap in the fiscal deficit, implemented by a government that initially criticised similar boosts in other countries. With the tax-take shrinking and welfare spending rising, the budget deficit climbed to about 6 per cent of GDP this year and is planned to expand further in 2010 to 7 per cent.

Achieving the 3 per cent limit required for joining the euro now looks hard. Donald Tusk, the prime minister’s, pledge Poland would join the common currency by 2012 has been jettisoned, with the government not setting any new date.

But the government is under pressure to control deficits to keep the ratio of public debt to GDP under a legal limit of 55 per cent; otherwise the law mandates fiscal tightening.

If the ratio rises above 60 per cent, the constitution calls for a balanced budget, which would bring drastic spending cuts.

The government itself estimates the ratio next year at within a percentage point of 55, and the European Commission predicts a 2 percentage point overshoot. Warsaw’s response is an ambitious privatisation plan that aims to raise 37bn zlotys. But, even if this succeeds, much will depend on GDP growth, public spending and tax revenue.

“We have to get through 2010. By 2011, we can start consolidating the public finances,” says Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, chief executive of Bank Pekao, an affiliate of Italy’s UniCredit.

The government is loath to make drastic budget cuts earlier because of the political calendar. Presidential elections are due next year and Mr Tusk is expected to run against Lech Kaczynski, the incumbent.

While the affable prime minister is far more popular than Mr Kaczynski, he does not want to take risks. Mr Tusk is already in a more fragile position than he would like: after more than two years in power, his early promises to run a clean government have been tarnished by a recent lobbying scandal.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau, an elite agency, recorded politicians from Mr Tusk’s Civic Platform party in compromising conversations with gambling industry lobbyists.

Al­though there was no apparent law-breaking, the recordings, which were leaked, were an embarrassment and prompted a cabinet shake-up.

Mr Tusk got off lightly because of opposition weakness. The ex-communist left is a shadow of its former self, tainted by corruption scandals from its last stint in government. The conservative Law and Justice party, under the leadership of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the president’s twin brother, has been unable to break with its nationalist views or its record of suspecting conspiracies at every turn.

An election victory for Mr Tusk would finally put his economic reform pledges to the test.

Until now, he has had the excuse that president Kaczynski would block difficult changes. With Mr Tusk in the presidential palace and Civic Platform still running the government this argument would disappear.

Reform would still be a struggle, given Civic Platform’s reliance on the rural Polish People’s Party, the junior coalition partner, and the opposition of vested interests, including powerful trade unions.

The government’s long-term plans acknowledge the country’s key economic weaknesses: a low employment ratio, resulting from excess early retirements, inequalities and imbalances in the pensions system, inefficiencies in the health service and in education, a superabundance of red tape, and poor infrastructure.

The last, at least, is being addressed. After years of delay, bureaucratic hurdles that held up road construction have been overcome.

With EU financial support, Poland has become a huge building site, with more than 500km of highways and expressways under construction, and many more under tender.

The country is profiting from the global recession, securing contracts at rock-bottom prices from companies from all over the world, including China.

Mr Bielecki foresees a big improvement by 2012, when Poland and Ukraine host the European football championships. He says: “When all these roads now under construction are finally connected, it will be a shock to ordinary Poles.”

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Jacek Rostowski: Proud of success in recession
By Jan Cienski in Warsaw
Financial Times
November 17 2009

Poland has had the best economic crisis of any EU country, avoiding recession without a steep rise in unemployment, something Jacek Rostowski, the finance minister, attributes to the innate structural strengths of the economy added to policy decisions taken by the government when the crisis first hit.

Just why Poland has done so well is a bit of a mystery.

At the moment it looks as though the economy will grow by about 1 per cent this year, with some optimistic forecasters calling for as much as 2 per cent. By contrast, in the first months of this year some of the most bearish analysts were seeing a contraction of 3 per cent, while others predicted an enormous wave of bankruptcies by fragile companies, sending unemployment spiralling.

The standard explanation by many economists for the better-than- expected performance is that Poland was spared the worst of the downturn because it is much less trade-reliant than small neighbours such as Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and that the zloty's steep depreciation this year helped exporters. As well, measures taken before the crisis, including a tax cut brought in by the previous government, helped keep consumer spending from collapsing.

Mr Rostowski calls most of those reasons "nonsense".

"If you take many of the explanations that are given, most of them are plain wrong. It's mistaken to say, `Oh, it's because it's a relatively closed economy'. Well, for a big country it's not at all a closed economy," he says. "Exports are 40 per cent of GDP, that's the second highest level after Germany for a large economy among the big six in the European Union."

Similarly, Mr Rostowski points out that countries such as the Czech Republic and Sweden also saw steep drops in their currencies, but both will suffer economic contractions this year.

One of the main reasons for Polish resilience is that the country has a much larger number of small and medium-sized enterprises than its neighbours – although Romania, whose economy may shrink by as much as 8 per cent this year – also has a large SME sector.

The key difference appears to be the 2001 slowdown suffered by the Polish economy, which wrung a lot of inefficiencies out of the business sector, leaving companies much better prepared for the current slowdown. A sign of that greater resilience is the unemployment rate, which was 8.2 per cent in September, according to Eurostat, the European statistical agency.

"I think that's a huge difference from the previous cycle," says Mr Rostowski. "We've had a slowdown from just under 5 per cent [GDP growth] in 2008 to what it will be this year – over 1 per cent. We had a smaller slowdown in 2001, down to 1.7 per cent, and yet in that cycle unemployment increased from 10 per cent to over 20 per cent. Now, we've had an increase in unemployment of 1.1 percentage point."

Poland's good performance can be seen in the contrast with the situation in Germany. Traditionally, Poland's economy has grown by 3.5 to 4 per cent faster than its German counterpart as Poland catches up to western living standards following decades wasted under communism. However, this year the gap in economic growth has jumped to more than 7 per cent.

"I think that shows real resilience," says Mr Rostowski.

On the policy side, some steps, such as the previous Law and Justice party government's decision, broadly supported in parliament, to lower income taxes, helped keep spending up.

The current coalition government led by the centre-right Civic Platform party has tightened up the pension system to stop early retirements, adding five years to the average retirement age, but it is unclear whether that had any short-term impact.

More significant were the government's steps, together with other new EU member states, to blunt some of the protectionist rhetoric coming from western Europe in the early months of the crisis, and to calm domestic fears that international banking groups would pull liquidity from the Polish economy.

"All the hysteria about them siphoning off capital turned out to be silly," says Mr Rostowski.

Cutting spending by almost 1 percentage point of GDP, and negotiating a $20.6bn credit line with the IMF, helped stabilise the zloty and reassured international investors.

"We thought it was vital to demonstrate our determination to markets," he says.

But as the worst of the crisis recedes into history, there is still no definitive explanation for why Poland turned out to have the EU's best performing economy this year.

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Privatisation: Government sale plans hang in the balance
By Jan Cienski in Warsaw
Financial Times
November 17 2009

Aleksander Grad, Poland’s treasury minister, holds the fate of his country’s public finances and the fortunes of the ruling Civic Platform party in his hands as he embarks on Poland’s most ambitious privatisation programme in recent years.

The goal is to sell 37bn zlotys worth of state assets this year and next year, without which the level of public debt will almost certainly shoot past the 55 per cent of gross domestic product barrier in 2010 that triggers draconian cuts in the budget for 2011.

“We need to succeed in this very large privatisation programme that the government is undertaking. Given that we will do that, I am convinced we won’t hit 55 per cent,” says Jacek Rostowski, Poland’s finance minister.

Although Mr Grad says the plan is “realistic”, making it work will be an enormous challenge. Over the past 20 years, only once – in 2000 – did the government sell off a comparable amount of state assets, earning 27bn zlotys.

Already this year’s target of earning 12bn zlotys looks impossible o achieve, following the collapse of the sale of Enea, an energy company, after Germany’s RWE walked away from the deal. That means the treasury will probably come up about 6bn zlotys short this year. Next year the government will have to sell about 30bn zlotys of assets, compared with the 24bn in the original plan.

The sales programme prompted Grzegorz Napieralski, the head of the ex-Communist Democratic Left Alliance, to rail against “selling off the family silver” echoing similar concerns from the right wing opposition Law and Justice party (PiS). Political opposition has derailed past privatisation programmes, and when it was in power in 2006 and 2007, PiS sold almost nothing.

“In order to accomplish this project the government will have to pay an enormous political price,” says Cezary Wisniewski, a partner at the Warsaw office of Linklaters, a law firm, who had taken part in consultations with the treasury on the privatisation programme.

While the reason for the speed of the programme is to make sure public debt does not grow to dangerous levels, the government also wants to get a lot of companies into the private sector to make them more effective.

Poland has built a damaging tradition of extensive political meddling in state controlled companies, with the most visible symptom being frequent rotation of top management.

Sebastian Mikosz, the head of LOT Polish Airlines since March, jokes that his tenure makes him the longest serving head of the airline in recent years. “Frequently changing management creates inertia,” he says.

LOT, where the treasury holds 93 per cent of shares, is one of the 670 companies up for sale in the government programme.

Other big sales include the Warsaw Stock Exchange, for which the Deutsche Börse put in a final bid this month.

“The sale of the stock exchange is the flagship of our privatisation programme,” Mr Grad tells the FT.

In a bid to avoid political controversy, a lot of the sales will be only for minority stakes, which allows the government to continue to exercise some control over strategic companies while introducing market discipline and allowing companies to raise much-needed capital.

Next year the government plans to begin selling off part of its stake in PGE, Poland’s largest energy company which had an IPO on the stock exchange this month. Minority stakes will also be sold in Tauron, the country’s second-largest power producer, KGHM, Europe’s largest copper mining company, and Lotos, Poland’s second largest oil refiner.

The list of companies for sale also includes pharmaceuticals, a press distributor, and fertiliser and chemical firms. As well, the government is getting rid of small stakes it still holds in companies that were privatised many years ago such as Bank Pekao, Poland’s second-largest bank, owned by Italy’s Unicredit.

Although the resolution of the long-running dispute between the Polish government and Dutch insurer Eureko over the interrupted privatisation of insurer PZU has helped restore Poland’s international reputation, other problems remain.

Poland’s Anti-Corruption Bureau, an elite law enforcement agency, has made a habit of recording the conversations of civil servants and potential investors trying to sell state assets and then leaking them to the press, which makes investors wary of politically- sensitive asset sales.

If Mr Grad succeeds in his plan, and debt does not rise to dangerous levels, the government will not face the embarrassment of having to slash spending and freezing public sector spending in 2011, an election year when it will be facing the opposition from the left and the right ready to pounce over any missteps in the privatisation programme.

[valpomike]

God Bless Poland, she is on the move again, on her way to the top.

Mike

[Bonobo]

Poles best tradesmen in Eastern Europe
15.12.2009 09:42
Every forth Polish company has been developing despite the financial crisis.

While Central and Eastern European companies reported a sudden drop in sales, which amounted to even 50 percent, Polish companies managed to earn more during the hardest phase of crisis, shows a report by the regional marketing firm, Linea Directa .

In the first half of 2009, as many as 24 percent of Polish companies increased sales in comparison with 2008. In Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia only 10 percent of firms reported higher sales and in Russia – 17 percent.

Analysts predict that, in 2010, the gap between Poland and other Eastern European countries when it comes to sales will shrink but, Polish companies can still count on respectively high profits. (mg/mmj)

[Bonobo]

Poland - regional logistic tiger
16.01.2010 06:44

Poland’s logistic system is one of the best in Europe, and ranks 30th in the world, according to a new World Bank report.

In spite of general national gripes against Polish railways and the road infrastructure, Poland was ranked second in respect of punctual deliveries, and rose by ten places in comparison to a similar report from 2007, informs Gazeta Wyborcza daily. On average, Poland received 3.44 points in a scale of 1 to 5, giving this country 15th position in Europe.

The World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index considers the customs system, infrastructure quality, ease and price of transporting goods, tracing consignments and punctuality.

The index ranking comprises 155 countries, with Germany scoring an overall best on the list, ahead of Singapore and Sweden. (ek)

[valpomike]

And in time, Poland will be on top of the list, I am sure.


Mike

[Bonobo]

Bridgestone boosts production in Poland
07.04.2010 07:06

Leading Japanese tyre producer Bridgestone is to invest 105 million euro in production facilities in Poland.

The capacity at the passenger car tyres factory in the western city of Poznan will increase by 5,600 tyres per day over a two-year period. The rise of capacity from 23,600 to 29,200 units will begin in January 2012.

The Poznan plant, opened in July 1998, specializes in production of Ultra High Performance and Run-Plat tyres for European market. Bridgestone authorities expect a rise of sales of this kind of tyres as demand for them has increased recently in spite of crisis in automotive industry.

www.thenews.pl/business/artykul128919_bridgestone-boosts-production-in-poland-.html

[Bonobo]

More money from Brussels
19.04.2010 14:57

Brussels is to grant Poland additional 633 million euro in the years 2011-2013.

It is an award for this country’s dynamic economic development in recent years said the EU Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski. Additional funds have also been allocated to the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The money comes from a special fund created by EU governments, for countries, which have been developing faster than Brussels expected. The money allocated to Poland will be used in supporting the poorer regions of the country as well as on projects connected with infrastructure of environment protection. The present EU budget for 2007-2013 envisages 60 billion euro for Poland, which means that this country is the largest beneficiary of the EU funds.

[valpomike]

Now Poland has to put it to good use.


Mike

[Bonobo]

Late president’s twin stands for election
26.04.2010 13:50

Jaroslaw Kaczynski (right) will replace his identical twin brother, the late Lech Kaczynski - who perished in the April 10 Smolensk air disaster - in presidential elections in Poland, hurriedly brought forward to June 20.

Kaczynski’s Law and Justice party formally announced his candidacy Monday afternoon.

The announcement came just hours before the 16.15 CET deadline set by the National Electoral Commission for declarations as to who will be standing in the elections in June, which were originally scheduled for this autumn.

The election campaign will be fought in the shadow of the Smolensk air disaster when 96 died on their way to an anniversary ceremony of the 1940 Katyn massacre in western Russia.

Jaroslaw was the overwhelming favourite of the Law and Justice party to carry on the “mission” of his late brother.

“We need to complete the mission of victims of the catastrophe near Smolensk. We owe it to them, we owe it to our motherland (…) It is out duty to fulfill their will,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski said.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski said that the decision was an important one for him personally. “It is important to overcome personal grief and take up the task in spite of personal tragedy. That is why I decided to run for presidency and my family supports me.”

Adam Bielan, the mastermind of Lech Kaczynski’s victory in the 2005 election, said at the weekend that it was “always Lech’s wish that Jaroslaw would one day become president.”


Candidates will now have till May 26 to collect the necessary 100,000 signatures needed to be able to stand in the elections.


In the latest opinion poll by the Gfk Polonia, acting president and candidate for the Civic Platform party Bronislaw Komorowski had a clear 49 to 26 percent lead over Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The poll was taken, however, before the late president’s twin brother officially named himself as candidate.

The 60 year-old Jaroslaw Kaczynski – a co-founder with his brother of the Law and Justice party – is a trained lawyer, was prominent in the Solidarity trade union movement of the 1980s and a former prime minister, from July 2006 to November 2007.

There are now 16 candidates who have put forward their names for the presidential election. These are: Bronisław Komorowski (Civic Platform), Janusza Korwin-Mikke, Bogdan Szpryngiel, Bogusław Ziętek, Andrzej Lepper (Self defence), Andrzej Olechowski, Marek Jurek (Polish Right), Waldemar Pawlak (PSL), Kornel Morawiecki, Zdzisław Jankowski, Józef Wójcik, Roman Sklepowicz, Ludwik Wasiak, Zdzisław Podkański, Grzegorz Napieralski (SLD) and Jarosław Kaczyński (Law and Justice)

www.thenews.pl/national/artykul130371_late-presidents-twin-stands-for-election.html

[Bonobo]

Baltic reign of Polish container ports
13.10.2010 14:27

Both Gdansk and Gdynia are jointly billed to become the Baltic’s second most successful container ports in 2010.

Growth of both Gdynia and Gdansk started in 2005 thanks to Australian investment funds which paved the way for the construction of the Deepwater Container Terminal in Gdansk’s Northern Docks.

The terminal, which became operational in 2007, allowed for larger freight ships to moor at Gdansk, which until then was only served by smaller feeder ships.

The launch of the so-called AE10 service to Gdansk, which serves ports including Rotterdam, Hong Kong and Shanghai, has significantly boosted container turnovers, also using smaller vessels.

Feeder services to Russian and Scandinavian ports are provided by container ships operated by both Maersk and Unifeeder, thus implementing the guidelines adopted for the Gdansk port as a container hub on the Baltic Sea.

In January 2010, Gdansk port handled over 1.5 million tonnes of cargo.

2005 also saw the construction of a container terminal in neighbouring Gdynia, which until the opening of Gdansk’s Deepwater Container Terminal was considered to be the container freight gateway to Poland.

The two ports collectively handled 441,000 TEUs (container units) in the first six months of 2010, coming second to the Baltic’s largest port, Gothenburg, which handled 443,000 TEUs in the same period.

However, both Gdansk and Gdynia may have a chance to beat Gothenburg to the number two spot in the Baltic, leaving only Saint Petersburg as the leading port in the region, handling around 1.2 million TEUs in 2009.

[Bonobo]

MPs Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska and Elizabeth Jakubiak, expelled from Law and Justice on Friday for “activities harmful to the party” say they will not now be joining the ruling Civic Platform.

“I do not want to be in Civic Platform, I believe that today it is my responsibility to side with Poles against the devastation of public life in Poland, which is in the iron grip of Law and Justice and Civic Platform,” said Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, Saturday morning.

Both Kluzik-Rostkowska and Jakubiak were seen as part of a more moderate, younger face of the opposition Law and Justice, whose remarks challenging the direction the party was heading in angered party elders such as leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his possible heir-apparent, MEP Zbigniew Ziobro.

Law and Justice’s leader in Parliament Mariusz Błaszczak announced at a press conference on Friday that the party had decided to expel Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska and Elżbieta Jakubiak‘s membership, for “activities that were harmful to the party” during the local government campaign.

All major parties are currently campaigning for local government elections on 21 November.

Opinion poll

In a snap opinion poll for Polish Radio by the Homo Homini Institute 56 percent say dismissing the two MPs was a misjudgement by the Law and Justice leadership.

Twenty one percent think it was a good decision and 23 percent had no view on the issue.

The survey was conducted by telephone on November 5 from a sample of 1,100 people.

[Bonobo]

Campaign of Hate
Aleksander Nowacki | 2nd November 2010

Aleksander Nowacki considers the venomous atmosphere in Polish politics

Ryszard C., the 62-year-old former taxi driver who shot dead one activist of the main opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party and slit the throat of another, had set his sights higher. After his arrest, he demanded a press conference, shouting that he had wanted to kill PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński, but his weapons had proved “too small”.

He may have taken his dislike of the former prime minister and the identical twin brother of President Lech Kaczyński, who died in an air crash in Russia this past April, further than most. But he was not alone in wishing the remaining twin dead: Janusz Palikot, then deputy chairman of the governing Civic Platform (PO) party, had mused on his blog that, were Jarosław Kaczyński to die by the New Year, it would make 2010 a really good year.

Small wonder, perhaps, that Kaczyński was quick to denounce the murder as the latest act in a hate campaign against his party, singling out Palikot as one of those responsible for the “Łódź murder”, so named after Poland’s second-largest city where it took place. Less obviously, he dated the beginning of this campaign to Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s sarcastic comment about “mohair berets”, the favoured attire of older ladies of lower-than-average incomes and above-average piety, as the symbol for PiS. Sartorial snobbery may not be the most commendable quality in a politician, but, surely, Kaczyński could have dug out stronger stuff. How about his own words that “our political opponents” now “stand in place of ZOMO”, the riot police of the 1980s martial law era, notorious for brutally beating and shooting peaceful pro-democracy protesters?

Indeed, Kaczyński rarely pulls punches. When he ran for president this summer, seeking to fill the post prematurely vacated by his deceased brother, his rhetoric was markedly softer and it seemed to deliver results: in a mere ten weeks, he managed to narrow the gap to Bronisław Komorowski, the PO candidate, from 20 percentage points to low single digits (and this takes as starting point the time just after his brother’s tragic death, when the sympathy effect would be at its strongest). But, rather than seeing the gain as impressive, Kaczyński concluded the softened rhetoric cost him a winnable election. He now denies ever approving his campaign strategy and says he was in no fit state to make such a decision due to the influence of strong tranquilizers.

An admission to running for the highest office in the land on debilitating drugs may not sound like the most promising start to recapturing political initiative after a lost election. Even some of his long-standing fans mourn Kaczyński’s apparent fixation on avenging all the slurs his twin suffered in life and, sadly, in death. This fixation has, pundits say, taken place of political strategy. But others think the PiS leader is playing the long game, hoping to capture both the presidency and parliamentary majority five years from now.

In the run-up to this year’s local government and next year’s parliamentary elections, Kaczyński’s belligerence seems to suit his opponents. When President Lech Kaczyński was alive, the government blamed him for its own unwillingness to address the country’s structural problems: even if it got important bills through parliament, the argument went, the president would veto them wholesale. So the government never bothered to push its visionary policies or so much as submit the bills. Now that the prime minister, president and speaker of Parliament all hail from the same party, the government can no longer claim to have a vision for Poland. The case it now makes to voters is simpler: if not us, then PiS will be in power. The less lovable Kaczyński sounds, the stronger PO’s argument.

But the PiS leader appears to believe that all-out confrontation between the main parties is in his long-term interest. Poland may have weathered the global financial crisis rather better than any other European country, but that was in large part through luck. Structural weaknesses remain and the government’s strategy is based on a willful failure to address them. So long as the PO expends all its energy on furious attacks on Kaczyński, his position as the only serious alternative will actually be strengthened. And, come the presidential and parliamentary ballots of 2015, an alternative will be desperately needed. After eight years in wilderness, the now-reviled winner will take all.

Whether this calculation works, it remains to be seen. What is clear now is that neither side is genuinely interested in reconciliation. This war of words will not, hopefully, claim any more victims in the real world. But cessation of hostilities is nowhere in sight.

[Bonobo]

Poland’s exports soaring, claims minister
26.11.2010 07:06
The value of Poland’s exports is expected to reach around 100 billion euros this year. says Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak.

Speaking at the Congress of Polish Exporters in Warsaw, Thursday, Pawlak said that exports have been driven partly by a beneficial European single currency exchange rate, but a decisive factor is that Poland is exporting a growing volume of highly-processed, high quality goods.

“Poland manufactures almost one million cars annually, more than Italy and about as many as the Russian Federation, 80 percent of which are earmarked for exports. Two thirds of all LCD TV sets and screens made in the EU are produced in Poland,” he said.

Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki added that modernization of Polish processing plants, too, contributed to a marked rise in exports.

Dairy producers, for example, exported 880 million euros worth of produce last year, earning a total of 650 million euros. This year, their earnings are expected to rise by 30 percent.

[valpomike]

What is the name of the cars made in Poland, and will you please post some photo's of them and the cost in American money, and where can I get one?

Mike

[Bonobo]

Governesses wanted in Poland
01.04.2011 14:33
The long forgotten profession of a children’s governess is back in demand in Poland.

More and more Polish families are seeking full time help with their offspring, both in terms of upbringing and education.

“A professional governess has to have much higher qualities than a nanny," says Anna Kaczorowska from the Prowork Agency.

She has to be well prepared to take care of a child’s physical development as well as education encompassing writing, reading, singing or painting.

With the growth of the child, the governess takes care of cultural development, selecting proper books and films.

Foreign language skills are in high demand, since a governess should also be able to acquaint the child with English, French or German.

The average pay of a Polish governess amounts to some 1000 euro per month.

Some families additionally provide housing and a car.

Whether this slightly Victorian notion of how to bring up a child will take on a big way among richer Poles remains to be seen, however.

[Bonobo]

Oops, this is bad news. Experts are surprised.

Inflation stood at 4.3 per cent in March in Poland, year-on-year, according to Poland’s Main Statistical Office (GUS).

Prices went up by 0.9 per cent compared to February. Compared to Q1 figures in 2010, prices have risen by 3.8 per cent over the first quarter this year.

Fuel prices registered the quickest y/y growth – 12.9 per cent, while those of food jumped by 7.3 per cent. A dynamic 6.8 per cent growth of energy prices has also been registered.

March figures for prices of clothing articles showed a 3.1 per cent hike in comparison to the previous month

[Bonobo]

German president praises Poland as land of freedom
By VANESSA GERA Associated Press
Posted: 03/27/2012 08:17:56 AM EDT





WARSAW, Poland—Germany's new president praised Poland as a land of freedom and expressed remorse over the cruelty inflicted by Germany on the country during World War II, in a first foreign visit heavy with symbolism.

Joachim Gauck's words of reconciliation and warmth for the eastern neighbor were made Tuesday in Warsaw four days after he was inaugurated into a role that carries more moral authority than real power.

Trips to Poland by German leaders always carry a degree of symbolic and emotional weight due to persisting memories of the war. In recent years, some German leaders have made their first visits abroad to Poland, though France remains a common destination too.

Though the two countries are strong allies today, many older Poles remain bitter, and negative stereotypes on both sides still exist. Gauck, who is 72, noted that he remained conscious of German "guilt."

"It's been a big joy for me to be received here with an openness and warmth that I would never take for granted," Gauck said. "I am an older German, born during the war and deeply remember the changing history and the brutality of Germans before my time toward Poland."

A former Lutheran pastor and democracy activist in East Germany, Gauck also spoke of the inspiration Poland was for him during the 1980s, when the Solidarity movement led by Lech Walesa struggled for freedom in Poland.

"For me, Poland is the European country of freedom," Gauck said during a joint news conference with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski. He said that while there were political considerations for coming to Poland first, the decision above all "came from the heart."

Komorowski, who was also an anti-communist dissident, gave Gauck an original historic poster of Solidarity.

Gauck appeared surprised and moved by the gift, and said he already has the same poster hanging in his home. He said the new one would be displayed in his office.

He thanked Komorowski, and the leaders shook hands and then hugged.

Poland and Germany today belong to the European Union and NATO and are major trading partners. The presidents said they discussed ways to deepen their ties further, for instance through youth initiatives or rock concerts—with Gauck saying he would attend such a concert despite his age.