Poland

The Next Polish Investigations

A spokesman for the Polish political party, PIS, Przemyslaw Gosiewski, announced at a press conference on Sunday morning that now the Government had decided to scrap all the other investigative committees and set up a committee to find out what wrong with the Polish banking system, why it is wrong and who made it go wrong. PIS calls it a healing of the Polish banking system.

PIS claims that some of the service charges made by the Polish banks are 7 to 20 times higher than in Holland. That the foreign controlled banks in Poland control about 50% of the market as compared to other EU countries where the ratio is sometimes 20% except for Spain where it is 49%. That the foreign control at such a high percentage limits competition so the Polish people do not get competitive rates. That products offered by foreign banks were not developed for Polish people so they do not properly serve Polish people.

The investigation will include examinations of such witnesses as the current head of the National Bank of Poland, Leszek Balcerowicz, Former Head of The National Bank Of Poland, and Jan Bielecki, head of the government under former President Lech Walesa. Jan Bielecki is now an advisor to the government opposition party Civic Platform.

When asked by a reporter from Gazeta Wyborcza as to what charges were being brought against Bielecki other than the charge that he is an advisor to the Civic Platform, Gosiewski essentially said that there were none so they would bring him before the investigative committee to see if they could find some.

Leszek Balcerowicz was typically very straight forward with his comments. He said that, "I treat these suggestions as political intimidation or even blackmail." And he went on to say that the process was a political vendetta. Considering that Bielecki was in the government when the Kaczynskis served under Former President Lech Walesa, Bielecki's inclusion in the investigation may have an element of "getting even" involved.

The timing of the press conference is nothing but curious. It was held on Sunday morning at the Polish Parliament. And it was held within a few days of the announcement of a special Parliamentary investigation into the media. In announcing the bank investigation, Gosiewski said that all other investigative committees would be cancelled. What was so important that the announcement had to be made Sunday morning? Was it to upstage the LPR?

Because on Sunday the LPR’s leader Roman Giertych also announced that he wants to establish committees to investigate the privatization of the PHS steel mills, the National Investment Funds (NFI) and two banks - Bank Slaski and Pekao SA,.

Opposition party, Civic Platform, Leader Donald Tusk commented that with politicians like Gosiewski involved in the banking sector, the Polish people had best hold onto their wallets.

PIS is on the attack. The list of those they have attacked or continue to attack include the lawyers, the media, the special services. Now it is the banks.

Choosing the banks as a target and dropping the investigation of the media may be a way to get out from under the investigation of the media. Disclosures of prior media intimidation by the Kaczynskis may have been too uncomfortable and new revelations may have been in the offing.

Professor Balcerowicz is an easier target. His reforms have been sometimes painful and he has been demonized by the populists as the cause of all their pains.

Without Balcerowicz reforms, painful as they were, Polish economy would probably collapse after the communism was brought down in 1989. Current rightist zealots also appear oblivious to the fact that at the beginning of 1990's Polish banks lacked capital and selling them to foreign investors seemed like the only sensible thing to do. Hopefully, the history would treat Balcerowicz with more respect than the hopeless lot that now rules Poland.

Source http://eurogoeseast.blogspot.com/2006/03/hunt-for-balcerowicz.html Hunt for Balcerowicz

Where is this all going?

Poles are generally in favor of early elections, state the results of a survey commissioned by Polish Radio. A poll carried out by PENTOR Research International, a public opinion research institute, has revealed that 52% of the respondents would welcome a shortening of the present term of Parliament. They motivated their stand by futile actions of the House and ineffective political squabbles of the various parties, voicing hope that elections would alter the unclear picture.

Source http://www.radio.com.pl/polonia/article.asp?tId=34038 Tired Poles favor early parliamentary elections

As PIS continues creating hate and discontent and attacking anything it can to try to build its popular appeal, it may be that the Polish people will start to get bored with the process and ask what are you doing with the government besides running investigations. And if attacking the banks affects the financial markets, which in turn affects their wallets, they may start asking questions themselves.

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