FOR in the media

Leszek Balcerowicz, an economist who played a key role in Poland’s transition from communism to capitalism and now runs FOR, a foundation focused on civic development, said the spending was coming at the cost of funding other essential services like health care and education.

Since Leszek Balcerowicz introduced the epoch-making package of reforms — dubbed "shock therapy" — which began Poland's journey to capitalism in 1989, the country's economy has almost trebled in size. It has not had a recession since 1992, a streak bettered only by Australia. Based on purchasing power parity, Poles are now richer than Greeks and closing in on the Portuguese. Growth in gross domestic product — which topped 5 per cent in 2018 — has been among the highest in the developed world in recent years.

The Balcerowicz reforms paved the way for spectacular macroeconomic success.

Vor den Wahlen kritisiert der berühmte Reformarchitekt Leszek Balcerowicz die Angriffe auf die Rechtsstaatlichkeit in Polen. Die PiS-Regierung gefährde Demokratie und Wirtschaftsentwicklung.
 

Organizzato da ALDE Party Individual Members con il supporto di Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom e la collaborazione di +Europa e di Radicali Italiani. Convegno "Enforcing the Rule of Law in the European Union", registrato a Napoli sabato 5 ottobre 2019 alle ore 10:48. L'evento è stato organizzato da Partito dell'Alleanza dei Democratici e dei Liberali per l'Europa Individual Members.

Thirty years ago, Leszek Balcerowicz and a group of advisers were preparing to try something no one had done before: transform a collapsing communist economy into a free market one — and at breakneck speed.

In the decades since, Poland’s economy has almost trebled, and the country is in the grip of a multiyear boom. Yet Mr Balcerowicz’s reforms remain a topic of heated debate, and as Poland prepares for an election this month, the faultlines that opened up during its transition to capitalism continue to run through the nation’s politics.

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Balcerowicz lamented the heavy-spending policies, which he believes will hurt the country in the long run. He also accuses the ruling party of trying to recreate “homo sovieticus,” a mindset of dependence on ruling authorities for security and benefits as the party consolidates its power over the state and many state-run companies.

Many people are familiar with President Bill Clinton’s “It’s the economy, stupid” campaign slogan. The economic success of Poland since 1989 is indisputable. Nevertheless, defenders of Poland’s success story may sometimes hear that they focus too much on economic advances, prosperity, and GPD growth instead of thinking about the actual lives of “average people” and the “social costs” of Poland’s transformation.

Lenkijos organizacijos FOR ekonomistas Rafalis Trzeciakowskis pasakojo, kad naujoji Lenkijos vyriausybė 2015–2018 m. įvedė keletą priemonių, kuriomis siekiama kovoti su PVM sukčiavimu ir paskatinti mokesčius mokėti sąžiningai.

30 years ago, economist Leszek Balcerowicz abolished socialism in Poland. Today he warns against the authoritarian tendencies in Eastern Europe. That does not like Poland's government at all.

In 2006 Mikhail Gorbachev stated that the 1986 Chernobyl disaster had had more significance for the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 than the perestroika he had introduced. The causes of the collapse were surely more complex, but the events in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant perfectly show two pillars supporting the communist system – that is lies and fear.