FOR Analysis

COVID-19 pandemic is a serious challenge for societies around the world. In response to it not only individuals are changing their behavior, but also governments are taking various policy actions. In order to compare responses in different countries we have gathered information from Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Lithuanian, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the UK. Overview of the policy responses in those countries highlights both common patterns and some profound differences.

The government draft bill on an additional tax on beverages sweetened with sugar and sweeteners, as well as those containing caffeine and taurine, was passed by the Sejm by the votes of the Law and Justice and the Leftist party. It now awaits further work in the Senate.

On 8 July 2019, prosecutor Mariusz Krasoń was seconded from the District Prosecutor's Office in Kraków to the District Prosecutor's Office in Wrocław, which is almost 300 km away and two levels lower in the hierarchy. The Justice Defense Committee (KOS) indicates that in May 2019 prosecutor Krasoń initiated a resolution of the Assembly of the District Prosecutor's Office in Kraków. This resolution signals, among other things, restrictions on the independence of prosecutors.

By the Act of 8 December 2017 on the Supreme Court, prepared by the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, the Law and Justice party made radical changes in the system of the disciplinary liability of judges. As a result of this change, important powers have been transferred to the Minister of Justice and the Prosecutor General, who may influence the conduct of disciplinary proceedings against judges, both directly and through the disciplinary ombudsmen whom he chooses. This applies especially to Piotr Schab and his deputies: Michał Lasota and Przemysław Radzik. Such a system creates the danger that it will be used in order to intimidation of judges.

Germany is presented in the Polish public debate as a country which has successfully carried out deglomeration in the sense of dispersing the headquarters of central offices across the country and has thus achieved a balanced rate of development of cities of all sizes - without the uncontrolled growth of large cities and the depopulation of small towns. Such a picture is untrue.

Deglomeration should not be confused with decentralisation. Poland needs decentralisation, which consists in transferring decisions to a lower level of administration, closer to the citizens. Unfortunately, deglomeration does not change the influence of citizens on the decisions taken, but is only a facade action that redistributes prestige from Warsaw to small towns. 

Contrary to the statements of some commentators, it was interventionism and not liberalism that led to a situation in which people took to the streets. Unfortunately, the protesters put forward proposals to reduce taxes and increase spending, i.e. at the same time reduce and increase the role of the state. This is a simple way to deepen the stagnation of the French economy. This, in turn, will potentially lead to further protests and further populist demands. 

The PiS government claims that the "business constitution" is "the most important reform of Polish economic law for almost 30 years". The most important of its declared goals is to increase the quality of making of business law and to improve the relations between public administration and entrepreneurs. There are five reasons why this is pure propaganda.

Employee Capital Plans (Pracownicze Programy Kapitałowe, PPK), similarly to Open Pension Funds (Otwarte Fundusze Emerytalne, OFE), are to invest premiums paid in by participants on the capital market.

The 1980 pension reform in Chile was a pioneering program of transition from a pay-as-you-go pension system to a funded pension scheme.