Entrepreneurship Council gains importance

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In 2002, 11 major Polish business and employers' organisations set up an informal cooperation group called the Entrepreneurship Council. By late 2004, the Council has become an important forum and a channel for business involvement in areas such as economic development strategy, public finance reform and a new law on the freedom to conduct business activities.

The Entrepreneurship Council (Rada Przedsiębiorczości, RP) was formally established in December 2002, grouping 11 business and employers' organisations (PL0209104F):

• the American Chamber of Commerce in Poland (Amerykańska Izba Handlowa w Polsce, AmCham);

• the Business Centre Club, BCC;

• the Foreign Investors Chamber of Industry and Commerce in Poland (Izba Przemysłowo Handlowa Inwestorów Zagranicznych w Polsce, IPHIZ);

• the Confederation of Polish Employers (Konfederacja Pracodawców Polskich, KPP);

• the Polish Chamber of Commerce (Krajowa Izba Gospodarcza, KIG);

• the National Association of Trade and Services (Naczelna Rada Zrzeszeń Handlu i Usług, NRZHiU);

• the Polish Confederation of Private Employers (Polska Konfederacja Pracodawców Prywatnych, PKPP);

• the Polish Business Roundtable (Polska Rada Biznesu, PRB);

• the Managers Association in Poland (Stowarzyszenie Menedżerów w Polsce, SMwP);

• the Polish Craft Association (Związek Rzemiosła Polskiego, ZRP); and

• The Polish-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (Polsko-Niemiecka Izba Przemysłowo Handlowa, PNIPH).

The Entrepreneurship Council first received a high profile at a press conference in Copenhagen in spring 2003, when it announced its support for the Polish government position in negotiations of the terms of Poland’s joining the European Union. Since then the Council has begun to play the role of an important forum for meetings among employer and business representatives.

Representatives of the Council’s member organisations take turns presiding over it. In April 2003, under the PKPP presidency, the Council adopted a position on the reform of the system governing the Polish economy, as a supplement to its manifesto entitled 'Jobs and money for the people' (Miejsca pracy i pieniądze dla ludzi). The position includes opinions on repairing and overhauling public finances and the fiscal system, introducing instruments needed to stimulate the economy, reforming regulations governing business activities, and accelerating and completing privatisation. This document is the basis for other Council positions and for activities aimed at ensuring that suggestions brought forward by entrepreneurs are taken into account in legislative work. Some of these suggestions have already been reflected in:

• legal regulations concerning corporate income tax - its rate has been reduced from 27% to 19% and business income can now be taxed in a linear way;

• an agreement between the National Bank of Poland (Narodowy Bank Polski, NBP), the government and the Polish Banking Association (Związek Banków Polskich, ZBP) to change bank accounting methods with a view to providing greater access to corporate loans;

• amendments to the Commercial Company Code; and

• a new law on the freedom to engage in business activities (PL0410109F).

Council representatives have repeatedly expressed their support for a plan to streamline and limit public spending proposed by the Minister of Economy and Labour, Jerzy Hausner, and have made known their opinions about the taxation system and the social insurance system. The latest Council initiatives include proposals on creating conditions propitious to an effective use of EU assistance funds. The Council's activity is also illustrated by its reactions in matters associated with the current political situation, such as open letter published in March 2004 after Newsweek magazine had published an article on the 'negative entrepreneur stereotype' in Poland and a list of the 10 most hated businesspeople.

The activities of the Entrepreneurship Council so far suggest to some observers that the organisation of employers and businesses is consolidating in Poland. The Council can act as a independent 'player', given the authority of its component organisations and the fact that they are able to cooperate with one another. Appreciation of the effects of collaboration with the Council has been expressed by government officials, among them Minister Hausner, who stressed in a parliamentary speech delivered in February 2004 the great significance of the involvement of business associations acting under the Entrepreneurship Council label. The Deputy Premier added that, without the support of the social partners, it would not have been possible during legislative work on the law on the freedom of business activities, adopted recently, to overcome bureaucratic obstacles and restrict the 'omnipotence and interpretative liberty exercised in the economy by the public administration'.)