His critics claim he is calling for Poland and other nation states to give up more of their national sovereignty in a “federal EU” dominated by Germany. The opposition is also complaining that no indication was given by the government that this was their policy when Prime Minister Donald Tusk made his policy statement to parliament following Civic Platform's victory in October elections. A group of conservative MPs are to call for the dismissal of Poland's foreign minister, after a speech in Berlin where he appeared to call for greater power for Germany within the EU. “The foreign minister of our government made a kind of homage to Berlin without authorization, or consultation with the President,” says MP of the Solidarity Poland. In his speech on Monday in Berlin, Minister Sikorski supported calls for much closer economic integration in the EU, including greater supervisory powers over national budgets for the European Commission. Sikorski called for Germany not to be passive in solving the crisis in the eurozone. "I demand of Germany that, for your own sake and for ours, you help [the eurozone] survive and prosper. You know full well that nobody else can do it," he has said. Opposition want head of foreign minister after ‘federal Europe’ speech Poland warns against travel to Cairo Poland's Foreign Ministry is advising against travel to the Egyptian capital after at least 75 people were killed and more than 3,000 injured following the new wave of violence. The Foreign Ministry also stressed that all Polish citizens currently at large in the country should “take special care,” advising Poles to avoid all gatherings, “even those of a peaceful nature.” The statement claims that package holiday groups travelling to resorts on the Red Sea are still safe, but singled out the larger cities, namely Cairo, Alexandria and Suez plus South Sinai as high on the list of potential danger zones. Egyptian-Polish Businessmen Association 16th-30th November 2011 No. 3/2011 Newsletter In this issue: Opposition want head of Sikorski 1 Travel to Egypt— warning 1 Copper market shud- ders 2 Nuclear plant in PL 2 Euro currency—not now 3 A2 motorway 3 GDP growth 4.2 % 4
Transcript
His critics claim he is calling for Poland and other
nation states to give up more of their national
sovereignty in a “federal EU” dominated by
Germany.
The opposition is also complaining that no
indication was given by the government that this
was their policy when Prime Minister Donald Tusk
made his policy statement to parliament following
Civic Platform's victory in October elections.
A group of
conservative MPs are
to call for the dismissal
of Poland's foreign
minister, after a
speech in Berlin where
he appeared to call for
greater power for
Germany within the
EU.
“The foreign minister
of our government
made a kind of
homage to Berlin
without authorization,
or consultation with
the President,” says
MP of the Solidarity
Poland.
In his speech on
Monday in Berlin,
Minister Sikorski
supported calls for
much closer economic
integration in the EU,
including greater
supervisory powers
over national budgets
for the European
Commission.
Sikorski called for
Germany not to be
passive in solving the
crisis in the eurozone.
"I demand of Germany
that, for your own sake
and for ours, you help
[the eurozone] survive
and prosper. You know
full well that nobody
else can do it," he has
said.
Opposition want head of foreign minister after ‘federal Europe’ speech
Poland warns against travel to Cairo
Poland's Foreign Ministry
is advising against travel
to the Egyptian capital
after at least 75 people
were killed and more
than 3,000 injured
following the new wave
of violence.
The Foreign Ministry also
stressed that all Polish
citizens currently at large
in the country should
“take special care,”
advising Poles to avoid all
gatherings, “even those of
a peaceful nature.”
The statement claims that
package holiday groups
travelling to resorts on the
Red Sea are still safe, but
singled out the larger
cities, namely Cairo,
Alexandria and Suez plus
South Sinai as high on the
list of potential danger
zones.
Egyptian-Polish Businessmen Association
16th-30th November 2011 No. 3/2011
Newsletter
In this issue:
Opposition want head of Sikorski 1
Travel to Egypt—warning 1
Copper market shud-ders 2
Nuclear plant in PL 2 Euro currency—not now 3
A2 motorway 3
GDP growth 4.2 % 4
Poland's lower house of
parliament has voted to
approve the new government
led by Prime Minister Donald
Tusk, with 234 MPs voting for
the Civic Platform/PSL coalition
and 211 against.
The required majority was 224
votes.
Before the vote, PM Tusk
replied to questions posed by
some 130 MPs following his
policy statement to parliament
outlining the government's
plans for the next four year in
office following the 9 October
elections.
In his policy address, Prime
Minister Tusk outlined a set of
austerity measures aimed at
protecting Poland from the euro
zone crisis.
The retirement age is to be
raised in stages to 67 years from
the present 65 years for men
and 60 for women.
Special pension schemes for
miners and policemen are to be
phased out.
Mr Tusk said that these
measures, which will also include
cuts in tax breaks and changes to
farmers’ pension and tax status,
will make it possible to keep the
budget deficit below 3 per cent of
GDP next year.
key investor in the project.
According to PGE, a key matter
in the final decision will be the
potential for cooling, with
access to water of paramount
importance.
PGE hopes that the ultimate
location for the plant will be
decided in 2013, with the first
reactor to be launched by the
end of 2020.
Three locations on the Baltic
coast have been cited as
potential sites for Poland's first
nuclear plant in a final shortlist
for the project .
Zarnowiec, Choczewo and
Gaski were confirmed as the
candidates at a press
conference held by PGE, the
country's largest power
producing company and the
The new project has been
estimated by PGE to cost 35-55
billion zloty (8-12 billion euro).
Parliament approves new coalition government
New shortlist declared for Poland’s nuclear plant
Copper market shudders after PM’s tax announcement
Approximately 4 billion zloty
(226.5 million EUR) was wiped
of the value of the state-backed
mining giant's shares shortly
after the policy announcement,
though exact details of the new
tax have yet be given by Finance
Minister Jacek Rostowski.
Tusk's policy statement did not
just alarm minerals investors.
The President of the National
Chamber of Commerce Andrzej
Arendarski has warned that the
proposed 2 percent rise in social
insurance payment from
employers will cause
businesspeople to refrain from
employing extra staff and hold
back investment.
Copper giant KGHM's share
prices fell by almost 14 percent
following the policy statement
by PM Donald Tusk, where he
announced a raise in taxes on
mineral production.
Deputy Finance Minister has
said that the tax on copper and
silver ore could raise as much
as 2 to 3 billion zloty (up to
one billion dollars) to the
Treasury's coffers annually.
Page 2 No. 3/2011
Poland's finance minister
Jacek Rostowski has said
that Poland joining the
eurozone under present
conditions is
“unthinkable”.
However, Rostowski told
the TVP public
broadcaster that “one the
hand, when the zloty
weakens it has
unfortunate
consequences for families
who have taken out loans
in [Swiss] francs. But on
the other hand [having an
independent currency]
increases our
competitiveness”.
Rostowski reminded that
four years ago the Civic
Platform-led coalition
announced its desire to
adopt the European
single currency as quickly
as possible, but the
finance crisis scuppered
those plans.
But the finance minister
said that it is still a goal to
join the eurozone “at the
appropriate time”.
“We can only do this
when it is safe for the
Polish economy. At the
present time the
eurozone is being
subjected to gigantic
shocks and is not
operating in a way that is
safe for its members.”
Rostowski's remarks
come after data showed
eurozone manufacturers
recorded their worst
monthly drop in orders in
almost three years in
September. Analysts say
that this could signal a
recession in Europe as
the debt-crisis spreads
from the finance sector
to the real economy.
New orders fell by 6.4 percent compared with
August, according to the European Union’s
statistical office.
This was the biggest month-on-month fall since
December 2008, when the global economy
rocked from the collapse of Lehman Brothers
investment bank.
Germany, a crucial trading partner for Poland,
failed to sell a full tranche of new debt to the
capital markets, forcing the central bank in
Berlin to intervene.
Germany has been seen up until now as a safe
haven in the eurozone. But following the news
the euro fell in value against major currencies.
ahead of the govern-
ment's deadline, should
reduce the journey time
from Poznan, western
Poland, to Berlin by two
hours.
The new stretch of the A2
was built over two years,
and it represented the
largest infrastructural
project in Poland, and
President Komorowski
has hailed a new stretch
of motorway linking Po-
land and Germany as a
small step towards en-
ding the appalling reputa-
tion of the Polish highway
network.
The new 106 km stretch
of the A2 motorway,
which opened six months
indeed one of the largest in Europe.
It was built at a cost of 1.6 billion euros (7.2
billion zloty), almost 70 percent of which was
spent on construction.
Drivers keen to make use of the new stretch of
the A2 will be able to do so free of charge until
21 May, after which tolls will be introduced.
Adopting euro currency currently ‘unthinkable’
Poland opens new A2 motorway link with Germany
Page 3 No. 3/2011
Foreign retailers at large in Poland are spurring on vast exports of
Polish foodstuffs, with some 3 billion zloty worth of products (663
million euros) counted for shipment this year.
The figures were released by the Polish Trade and Distribution
Association (POHiD), which has revealed that exports by foreign
chains such as Tesco have grown by about 200 million to 300
million zloty per annum (44.1 million to 66.2 million euro) over
the last five years.
The trend has been helped by the large numbers of Poles who
have emigrated since Poland joined the European Union in 2004.
One third of the exports for 2010 is distributed by Tesco across
outlets in Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and
Hungary.
Andrzej Falinski, CEO of POHiD, said that exports have risen
because the Germans, French and English are in tightened straits
owing to the financial crisis, and thus they are “gladly buying
cheaper, yet not at all bad Polish products.”
Among the most popular exports are Polish fruit and meat,
vodka, juices and sweets. Meanwhile, breakfast cereals – not a
long-standing feature of the Polish table - are becoming
