Warsaw, 27^th November 2019

 

Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers presents 5 challenges for
Poland and the new government

 

Public services are currently the biggest challenges for Poland. Healthcare, education, energy transformation, environmental protection and infrastructure – these are the areas which, according to the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers, are key from the point of view of further development of Poland. The organisation’s experts prepared a 250-page-long report discussing each of them separately.

There can be no doubt that, after the last four years, one could say Poles are much more well off than before. Economic indicators speak for themselves: salaries have increased along with the GDP, and the standard of living of many people has improved significantly. It seems that having achieved this short-term goal, the time has now come to face much more serious challenges. In addition to regulatory changes in the legal environment for business operations, the judicial system and other areas critical for the economy, a number of state policies must be addressed, often associated with public services, the quality of which still leaves much to be desired, and to which we must make significant adjustments to advance as a civilisation.

“The choice of these areas is quite obvious. Besides, Law and Justice had once defined them at one of the Congresses in Katowice,” states Cezary Kaźmierczak, President of the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers. “Healthcare is in a permanent crisis, and it might get even worse, because we are getting older. Environmental protection is a topic that is very high on the list of EU policy priorities, yet we still do not have a coherent approach to this issue. The energy transformation that we have to accomplish over the next decades is also directly related to it. In the face of changing geopolitical parameters, large infrastructure investments are becoming of key importance. And to finish with, we need a well-educated society to implement all our ambitious plans.”

The report published today is in fact a package of five documents that are the result of many months of hard work of the Union’s experts and consultations with selected external specialists. Each part of the publication contains a diagnosis of the current state of affairs and key recommendations for the future together with a justification. According to the Union’s experts, their implementation may influence the developmental pace of Poland. The thematic scope of the report is, of course, very wide and covers issues from waste management, through the structure of the healthcare market, to the manner educational institutions are managed.

“In all of the analysed areas, we can distinguish some special challenges that we will have to face over the next few years,” notes Jakub Bińkowski, the Union’s director of the Department of Law and Legislation. “We are talking about demographic problems affecting the situation in the healthcare system or the transformation of the economy into a knowledge-based model, forcing changes in the education system or, finally, the implementation of EU environmental and energy policies. All these issues are real phenomena that we will have to face.”

According to the experts of the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers, the time for the implementation of subsequent social programs has already ended, and the priority for the coming years should be to begin facing the long-term key challenges ahead of Poland.

“One can thinks of this report as a set of strategic assumptions for the state in areas that we believe are an absolutely priority,” concludes Cezary Kaźmierczak. “We worked on it for a long time and consulted with industry experts, because we did not want this report to be considered a collection of our wishful thinking. All the recommendations it contains are realistic and possible to implement.”

Download the report: 27.11.2019 Report by the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers: 5 challenges for Poland

Warsaw, 25^th November 2019

 

Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers publishes a report on
environmental protection

 

On 25^th November 2019, the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers published a report on issues related to environmental protection. The material was created as part of the Union’s Energy and Environment Forum inaugurated last week.

In the publication, experts of the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers presented diagnoses and recommendations regarding four basic categories of issues related to environmental protection: climate and air, waste management, permits and environmental fees, and water.

“We do not operate in a vacuum. Environmental issues are being given an increasingly higher priority at both the European and national levels, so they naturally also become the subject of our closer interest,” says Cezary Kaźmierczak, President of the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers. “The report on environmental protection is the first document that was created within the Energy and Environment Forum and presents horizontally our key recommendations in this area.”

In the part dedicated to climate and air quality, a division was made into three areas: industrial and energy, domestic and municipal, as well as transport. A separate set of recommendations was assigned to each area. The Union’s experts pointed to the necessity of, among others, use of available financial instruments that can support the transformation of the Polish energy sector, increase the effectiveness of the “Clean Air” program, while expanding its scope and implementing sound transport regulations, aimed more at supporting the development of low-emission vehicles available to the widest consumer groups or sharing economy than at implementing further restrictions for entrepreneurs and citizens.

“The general idea behind most of the recommendations the report contains is the broadest possible use by the legislator of the “carrot” instead of the “stick” in the broadly understood environmental policy,” emphasises Marcin Nowacki, Vice-President of the Union. “An increasing care and concern for the environment are already a civilisational process, but we must not forget about the economy and the people’s standard of living. Environmental regulations should not impact these areas negatively.”

Waste management is another important subject area covered in the report. This is an important issue since the deadline for transposing the waste directive package will expire soon and, only a year later, Poland will have to implement the directive’s provisions on limiting the impact of certain plastics on the environment.

“Enforcing these provisions is a big challenge for Poland,” claims Jakub Bińkowski, the Union’s director of the Law and Legislation Department. “We must remember that they contain not only hard goals, e.g. in the scope of materials’ recovery, which we need to achieve, but also indicate actions that we should undertake to achieve those goals. Therefore, even the implementation of an appropriate mechanism of extended producer responsibility will be crucial for the effective functioning of the entire system.”

In terms of environmental permits and fees, the Union’s experts primarily highlight the need to simplify and standardise the system, while in the part on water management they stress the need to invest in retention reservoirs and to pursue an active policy making the public and entrepreneurs aware of the principles of reasonable water management.

“We do not want environmental issues to be debated only by representatives of two extremes,” summarises Cezary Kaźmierczak. “We hope to be a balanced voice backed by common sense, attracting attention to areas where some state activity is necessary, and at the same time emphasising that all types of activities should take into account the possibilities and potential of entrepreneurs, as well as the impact of the proposed regulations on the daily lives of the Polish people.”

Download the report: 25.11.2019 Report by the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers: Environmental protection

 

Fot. photoshopper24 / pixabay.com

Warsaw, 7^th November 2019

 

WEI and Americans for Tax Reform discuss the digital tax at a round table in the ‘Freedom Lounge’

 

On 6^th November 2019, a round table dedicated to the subject of the digital tax and the possible consequences of this concept entering into force in Poland took place in the ‘Freedom Lounge’. The event was organised by Warsaw Enterprise Institute, a think tank of the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers, and Americans for Tax Reform, a Washington-based organisation fighting for taxpayers’ rights for over 30 years.

The event began with a presentation by Andreas Hellmann who at ATR deals with international tax law, including tax on digital services. After introducing the organisation he represents in a nutshell, he briefly described the history of the digital tax idea.

“By means of proposals to introduce a digital tax, France, the Czech Republic and Poland are trying to bypass international rules of tax jurisdiction,” he said. “Every politician’s dream is to tax people who have no influence on him being elected.”

The ATR representative then presented the current situation regarding the popularity of the idea of digital tax and negatively assessed the concept itself, indicating that this tribute ultimately burdens consumers.

“This tribute would impose an enormous financial burden for companies providing digital services (a large part of them American), which would in turn lead to higher prices for consumers in European countries,” he emphasised. “The digital tax is a huge threat to competition and innovation as well as American and European economic growth.”

After Andreas Hellmann’s speech, Jakub Bińkowski, director of the Department of Law and Legislation of the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers, took the floor and presented the latest document by the Union: the Business Paper under the title “Digital tax and the threats resulting from its introduction”. He stressed the fact that the development of digital tools should not lead to attempts to create sectoral tax solutions.

“If international corporations are taxed inefficiently, it is necessary to consider systemic changes instead of drafting regulations only for selected industries,” he stated. “Especially since according to available studies, representatives of ‘traditional’ business often pay relatively lower income taxes than entities from the digital industry. So why should the latter be charged with any additional tribute?”

Both presentations highlighted the fact that international organisations such as the European Union and OECD have worked or are working on developing solutions for taxing the digital economy. Independent initiatives of individual countries in this scope do not serve solving the problem on a global scale, and are troublesome from the point of view of companies due to the chaos they generate.

Tomasz Wróblewski, Warsaw Enterprise Institute President, spoke after the presentations and opened the round table expert discussion. He said that at the moment it was difficult to isolate a digital economy, because digital tools and the Internet were becoming more and more commonplace tools used to run a business.

“Designing solutions exclusively for the ‘digital economy’ is a step in the wrong direction, as it is difficult to define this industry and the OECD admits it. There can no doubt that the digital tax is simply another idea aimed at obtaining even more money from citizens in the form of taxes,” he noted. “The French example perfectly shows that the group most burdened by this tribute after its introduction are the consumers, and indirectly its costs are also borne by smaller companies using digital solutions.”

Experts invited to participate in the round table, representatives of business and ministries, then discussed the concept of a digital tax, international experiences and the potential effects of introducing this tribute in Poland.

 

Download the report: 07.11.2019 Report by the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers: Digital tax and the threats resulting from its introduction

 

 

Fot. geralt/pixabay.com

Warsaw, 19^th November 2019

 

Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers inaugurates the activities of the Energy and Environment Forum

 

On 19^th November 2019, during a dedicated press conference, the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers inaugurated the Energy and Environment Forum. The Forum is intended to serve as a platform for business representatives, experts and other stakeholders to work on developing and implementing solutions for the broadly understood energy and environmental policies of the state.

“It goes without saying that issues related to energy and the environment will be some of the most important priorities of the new European Commission,” stated Cezary Kaźmierczak, President of the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers. “Also after the formation of the new Polish government, one can realise that these subject will be quite high on the agenda. Therefore, we have come to the conclusion that representatives of business should participate actively in the process of developing solutions both at the strategic level, in relation to Poland’s energy transformation, as well as at the level of implementation of individual solutions adopted by the European Union institutions.”

The Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers has been keeping a very close eye on environmental issues for many years. In 2016, the Circular Economy Forum began operations, a special platform that managed to develop initial assumptions for the implementation model regarding the principles of extended producer responsibility as part of transposing the waste directive package.

“Many economic entities are not aware of the large changes ahead of them resulting from the introduction into the Polish legal order of solutions provided for in the ‘waste package’ or the directive on limiting the impact of certain plastic products on the environment,” highlighted Marcin Nowacki, the Union’s VP. “And this is why we want the new Forum’s role to encompass both conducting substantive work on the implementation of regulations as well as increasing awareness of business circles regarding the challenges that await us.”

The Forum’s work is to be divided into several sections, covering climate, air, waste and the circular economy as well as water. These sections correspond with the objectives of the Forum, which include participation in the development of the Polish energy transformation plan, participation in consultations on the implementation of the waste directive package, or development of recommendations in the field of state policies to improve air quality.

“A considerable amount of work within the Forum will certainly be devoted to issues of legislative nature, because all strategic projects are ultimately implemented by means of the adoption of legal acts,” said Jakub Bińkowski, director of the Union’s Department of Law and Legislation. “However, we aspire to be active also at earlier stages, among others, during conceptual work.”

After the presentation of the general objectives of the Forum by the representatives of the Union, the invited experts: Krzysztof Bolesta, Paweł Waligórski and Karol Wójcik, took the floor. Each of them presented key problems and priorities in their area of expertise: air quality policies, medical waste and waste management issues, respectively.

 

More information about the Energy and Environment Forum.

Warsaw, 18^th November 2019

 

Tender for a documentary series about the beginnings of Polish capitalism

 

The documentary series will consist of six episodes telling the story of a whole decade of Polish entrepreneurship after the fall of communism.

By portraying individual profiles of the participants of those events, we want to show the Polish people’s path to prosperity. We are creating these series with young and foreign viewers in mind who only know the history of the beginnings of Polish capitalism from family stories or media coverage.

The documentary’s purpose is to present the realities in which the pioneers of Polish business began their careers. How Polish capitalism developed and gained experience, shaped mostly by young people who created 6 million jobs without offices or computers, with no telephones or cars, without a banking system or infrastructure to back them up. Immersed in legal chaos, with rampant corruption, unchecked inflation and lack of professional support from lawyers, financial advisors, marketing experts, not to mention the inexistence of a developed loans and credits system.

In particular, we want to introduce to larger audiences the people who started from scratch, without any experience, initial wealth, post-regime affinities or support from the remnants of the communist secret services. How family businesses rose to power in times of chaos. We plan to dedicate one episode, or alternatively several mentions, to the so-called ‘postkomuna’ (post-communist elites) in order to showcase their advantages, the importance of systems, alliances and access to money. How years later they look against the background of the entire market.

It is our ambition to distribute the film abroad in the future, therefore the idea for a narrative itself will be essential. It must not be a boring story about a dozen people – just people talking. We want each episode to have its own emotional narrative that will allow the viewers to feel the tension and risk that former bazaar vendors, traders, smugglers, first publishers of press, books, builders, transport companies, shopkeepers etc. had to face.

Furthermore, the series ought to make use of archival footage.

We ask all interested parties to submit their ideas for the docuseries script until 6^th January 2020 to the following e-mail address: k.niemyjska@zpp.net.pl.

***
The series treatment description must not exceed one A4 page (2000 thousand characters). The budget for the entire project amounts to PLN 750 thousand. The process of selection of the winning project will take place in two stages: the being the selection of submitted proposals, the latter – interview.

The final selection of the script and winning authors of the documentary series will be carries out by Board members of ZPP and WEI – the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers and Warsaw Enterprise Institute, respectively.

 

Fot. stokpic / pixabay.com