Prospects

Abstract

A number of Polish companies still have to be privatised. The most important privatisations concern energy & oil, telecommunications, banking, insurance, food & beverages, such as spirits and sugar, furthermore, arms, chemistry, steel, mining and shipyards. The State Treasury plans to proceed with those privatisations as quickly as possible. However, the latter statement is very relative, and experience has shown that Polish politicians need time to settle the diverse interests of the various groups involved in privatisations, and, at the same time, to correspond to EU accession conditions. The sugar industry is a good example to illustrate how diverging opinions and interests are in Poland, and how difficult the way to free market economy still is: the ministry is seriously discussing the creation of a state-controlled monopoly, a sugar holding called “Cukier Polski”, protected by Polish law. Obviously, this presents a striking contrast to EU norms. Hence, there is still a gap between Western Europe and converging Poland, not only linked to the economic situation, but also to economic models of how to cope with the future competitive environment. In addition, as the Government is expected to change after the elections in September 2001, privatisation processes may further slow down. Hence, the author believes that privatisation with its complex procedures will continue to be an important topic in the coming years.