Poland at the Threshold of EU Membership: Vital Areas for Economic Reform

Description

The project, co-ordinated by Barbara Blaszczyk was devoted to formulate a diagnosis of the current state of Polish reforms, setting out the areas in which economic development was being held back. As a result of the project set of recommendations for further reform within the context of EU accession was presented to the public opion.

List of topics covered in the project, and its co-ordinators:

I. Systemic environment:

• The strategy of accession to the Economic and Monetary Union and the competitiveness of the Polish economy (Jacek Rostowski)
• The legal conditions for a competitive system (Piotr Rymaszewski)
• Deregulation of the market for goods, services and real estate (Ewa Balcerowicz)
• The importance of foreign investment and improvement of the investment climate (Jacek Cukrowski)
• Improved competitiveness of the infrastructure sector (Tadeusz Syryjczyk)

II. Public finances and structural reform:

• Public finance reform (Małgorzata Markiewicz, Joanna Siwińska-Gorzelak, Rafał Antczak)
• Fiscal reform (Jarosław Neneman)
• The costs of not moving forward on privatization (Barbara Błaszczyk)

III. Human factors:

• Deregulation and increased flexibility of the labour market (Michał Boni)
• Knowledge - Based Economy in Poland  (Michal Gorzynski, Richard Woodward)
• Reform of the health service and social security system (Stanisława Golinowska)

Within the framework of the project, a series of open seminars took place, at which results of the analysis and suggested solutions were presented for public discussion.