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Sejm Sitting

The Sejm Chronicle No 166 (470) IIIrd term
June 6 - 12, 2001

110th Sitting of the Sejm (June 5-8, 2001)

The University is to be created out of a merger of the Rzeszów branch of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University of Lublin, the Higher Pedagogical School of Rzeszów and the Rzeszów branch of the Kraków Academy of Agriculture. The new school will educate students and conduct research in the humanities, legal, economic, agricultural, mathematical and natural sciences.

The University is to be created by merging the Zielona Góra Polytechnic with the Higher Pedagogical School of Zielona Góra.

The purpose of the amendments is to facilitate the privatisation of state enterprises whose assets had been reserved for the mass enfranchisement campaign.

The act introduces changes relating to the validity of transitional regulations and specifies the dates of implementing the new provisions.

The benefits shall amount to a half of the accident pension, i.e. about PLN 320.

The benefits will be available to persons who became permanently unable to work and live autonomous lives due to injury caused by the legacy of World War II, such as unexploded bombs and dud shells. This concerns in particular those who lost their eyesight or limbs.

The act will come into force on January 1, 2002.

Under the act, all the employees made redundant as a result of the restructuring of the defence industry will be able to take advantage of benefits from the Guaranteed Employee Benefits Fund.

The purpose of amending the act is to adjust the Geological and Mining Law to the Constitution, the EU legislation and the new administrative division of Poland.

The amount of charges for the mining of minerals shall be determined by the Council of Ministers by way of an ordinance; the charges must be within the limits laid down in the act as amended.

The charges will depend on the volume of minerals mined. At present, the mining charges amount to a set percentage of the sale price of a given mineral.

The mining charges are transferred to the National Environmental Protection and Water Management Fund and to the gminas [communes] in which mining enterprises operate. They are seen as compensation for the environmental impact of mining activities.

The amended act stipulates that 40% of the charges paid by mining enterprises will be channelled to the Fund and the balance will be passed to the gminas concerned.

The amended act envisages the establishment in the future of a central mining supervision body, the Higher Mining Office, which would oversee mining activity. The chairman of the office would be appointed by the prime minister.

The new provisions also envisage the abandonment of licensing of some forms of activity, e.g., the recycling of mining waste.

The amendments introduce the requirement of obtaining a permit for courier and postal services regarding letters and insured letters of over 2000 grams weight. Until December 31, 2000 a licence was required for the provision of such services. The new regulations lay down the procedure involved in obtaining the permit and the requirements the applicant must meet.

The act regulates the questions of establishing Polish banks and branches of banks in EU member states and the position of EU-based banks in Poland.

After Poland's admission to the EU, banks based in other EU countries will not require a licence to operate in Poland, which means that they will have broader access to the Polish market. Polish banks will be able to establish their branches in other EU member states.

EU-based banks will be able to operate in Poland after obtaining a permit from the Banking Supervision Commission (KNB), rather than from the Minister of Finance upon consulting KNB.

The amendments widen the list of banking operations by adding the issuance and management of electronic money, endorsement of guarantees, opening letters of credit and granting of consumer credits and loans.

The act also refers to matters regulated by separate acts, such as the ones dealing with electronic money or consumer credit.

The aim of the amendments is to adjust the number of Sejm seats for four constituencies. The number of deputies elected in Rzeszów and in Podlaskie voivodships will increase by one each to fifteen while Olsztyn and Częstochowa will have nine and seven deputies respectively instead of ten and eight respectively.

The amendments introduce detailed regulations regarding the registration of cash deposits and withdrawals.

The act lays down the legal, organisational and technical rules relating to the production of weapons, ammunition, explosives and technology intended for military and police use. It also specifies the principles of issuing and revoking licences for trade in such materials.

The amendments will make it possible for archives to have renewed access to the so-called special funds, eliminated on January 1, 2001. The special funds are means from outside the budget, obtained by state archives on account of various services provided by them and various agreements and accumulated in separate bank accounts. The special funds are to be placed at the disposal of directors of state archives and the Director General of State Archives.

The amendments ensure the conformity of the act on the New Technology Agency to the act on the divisions of government administration, subordinating the Agency to the minister responsible for the economy.

The bill lays down the principles of running a private nursing and medical practice.

The bill seeks to simplify and shorten disciplinary procedure.

The bills, sponsored by AWS deputies, are meant as an element of the pro-family policy. They envisage the introduction of income tax relief for the second and each subsequent child in a family, and for those families which pay no tax (farmers, welfare recipients) they propose family supplements of an identical value. The tax relief and supplements would be enjoyed by all families, regardless of income level.

The bill regulates the questions of water management, based on the principle of balanced development, laying down the principles of shaping and protection of water resources and their management.

The legal, organisational and economic solutions included in the bill are addressed both to the owners of water resources, their users and administrative agencies.

The first of the bills envisages state financial assistance to crime victims, compensating to them in a sense their suffering. Such compensation would be awarded to victims who were suffered grave injury as a result of a premeditated crime. The compensation would be awarded at the motion of the victim or, in the event of victim's death, by his/her next of kin, by common courts: district courts as the courts of the first instance and regional courts as courts of the second instance.

The objective of the second bill is the establishment of the office of Commissioner for the Rights of Crime Victims. The Commissioner is to be autonomous, elected by the Sejm at the request of the Sejm Marshal or 35 deputies. His term will last for five years.

The Commissioner would see to the protection of the interests of victims of crimes, provide legal assistance to them and participate in criminal proceedings as public representative.

The aim of the bill is to introduce the second (B) category of civil servants, to incorporate in the Civil Service corps the managers (and their deputies) of central government agencies and heads of local administration at the voivodship level, including the chiefs of consolidated voivodship services, inspectorates and guards.

Under the amended act, the head of the Civil Service would be responsible for drafting the part of the budget bill dealing with funds for the operation of the corps. At present the questions relating, for example, to civil servants' pay are the responsibility of the minister of labour.

The bill envisages the exemption from taxation of income designated for R&D, educational, cultural or charitable activities, for the promotion of health care, welfare and religious cults, revenue from Treasury bonds and Treasury bills, local government bonds, pledges, bank securities and publicly traded stocks.

With regard to income from stocks, the bill limits the exemption to a situation when the value of stocks held by a corporate entity does not exceed 40% of the value of all securities held by that entity and when the blocks of shares in individual companies do not exceed 5% of shares in a given company.

The bill envisages the appointment of head financial controller, who would coordinate internal audits in public finance sector units, including the National Insurance Board (ZUS), the Farmers Social Security Fund (KRUS), special-purpose funds, health funds as well as ministries, customs offices, central and voivodship government agencies. The position would be held by a person appointed by the prime minister for a six-year term. The head financial controller, together with the Minister of Finance, would be a government administration body responsible for coordination of control activities in the public finance sector.

The bill introduces detailed provisions addressing the problem of equal treatment of men and women on the labour market, the rights of pregnant and nursing women, the employment of minors, the remuneration of employees of Polish firms working in EU countries as well as the protection of the employees' rights in the case of an enterprise or a part thereof being taken over by another employer.

The changes would only take effect after Poland's admission to the European Union.

The amended act would empower the relevant minister to define by way of an ordinance the scope of actions that may be performed by persons who do not hold the title of veterinary surgeon.

The bill envisages the application of the provisions of the Commercial Companies Code to commercialised enterprises.

In some instances, however, the provisions of the Code will not apply. One example is the provision on the obligatory redemption of shares and stocks. The objective of the bill is to simplify the selling of shares in such companies. Another change would put the State Treasury in a stronger position in companies in which it holds a minority interest.

Another proposed change would consist in the elimination of the requirement of concluding a notarised agreement in the case of sale of shares distributed free of charge.

The report on the main lines of Poland's foreign policy was presented by Foreign Minister Władysław Bartoszewski. In his opinion, after ten years of a sovereign foreign policy, Poland is a country falling within the "stability zone" with regard to security, an active member of regional structures, and a country about to conclude its accession negotiations with the EU.

According to the minister, the progress in the negotiations with the EU will depend on the government's ability to take difficult political decisions, for which it will have to recruit the support of the parliament and the society at large.

With regard to NATO, Poland supports the "open-door" policy and it shall promote the enlargement of the Alliance, especially through the admission of its neighbours, Slovakia and Lithuania, as well as Latvia and Estonia, Bartoszewski said. Poland's concern for regional security was confirmed by its participation in the work of the NATO-Ukraine Commission and the Standing NATO-Russia Council.

The minister mentioned the United States as the "most important partner of all" and described the good relations with that country as "one of the strongest trump cards Poland holds in the foreign policy area."

Poland's other partners mentioned by Bartoszewski are, among other countries, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Spain, the Benelux countries, the Baltic states, Lithuania and the Holy See.

According to the Minister, also the "relations with the Jewish diaspora" are a matter of special concern to the Ministry.

Referring to contacts with Ukraine, Bartoszewski said that Poland was "trying to support the transformations in that country using the means that are available to it."

As for Belarus," he described it as a "tough experience" of Poland's eastern policy. The Polish government, he said, "remains convinced about the need to pursue an active policy both toward the authorities and the people of Belarus."

Speaking about the development of Poland's relations with Russia, the minister emphasised that Poland "would endeavour hard to ensure that the enlivening of the political dialogue, evidenced in the last ten months by important statements and discussions and clear acts of good will on both sides, evolves into cooperation for the benefit of fruitful solving of shared economic problems.

Speaking about the prospects of Middle East peace, Bartoszewski said that Poland "invariably advocates a dialogue between the Jews and Palestinians" and "rules out the acceptance of terror and violence as a means of solving political, national or religious conflicts."

The minister stressed that the problems of Polish communities and Polish citizens abroad remain in the focus of attention of the government's foreign policy.

The head negotiator of Poland's accession to the European Union, Jan Kułakowski, presented the advancement of the negotiations in the first half of 2001, the prospects of further progress, Poland's place among the candidate countries and modifications to the negotiating position.

In his opinion, Poland meets all the political and almost all the economic criteria and, thanks to the acceleration of adjustment moves, "will be able to meet the obligations arising out of EU membership."

Kułakowski assured the Sejm that the changes Poland has been introducing to its negotiating positions were a natural element of negotiations and did not jeopardise the national interests.

The head Polish negotiator also explained that Poland did not manage to achieve the targets set for the first half of 2001 because it overestimated both the readiness of the "15" to discuss the Polish demands and the possibilities of action of the Swedish presidency.

He said that Poland, similarly as the other candidate countries, expected that at the Gothenburg summit in June the European Union would define a definitive time frame for the conclusion of the negotiations.

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