Ministry of State Treasury to be dissolved

Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło has some big plans regarding the Ministry of State Treasury. It will cease to exist. The number of ministries will go one step down. The government, and the ministry itself, are working on suitable legal provisions, mostly touching on supervision issues.

The ministry in question is responsible for Poland’s national assets, for example business entities in which the Polish state is a majority shareholder (on the only shareholder). State Treasury companies include such heavyweights as KGHM Polska Miedź S.A., Grupa Azoty S.A., Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń S.A. or Polish Airlines.

The goal of the ministerial body is to oversee and manage national property and to launch, organise and administer control over their privatisation (sale to private investors). Selling such companies brings considerable income and is an important part of the state budget. Activity of the ministry is strongly correlated with the country’s economic policy and is important to the national economy. The institution is also involved in the process of restitution and distribution of state aid.

Liquidation of the government institution is expected to bring over 100 million PLN of annual savings. The duties of the ministerial officials will be taken over by other parliamentary bodies. The move does not mean all ministerial employees will be made redundant. A lot of them will be assigned to other units and ministries.

The aim of ministry liquidation is to have more efficient and less costly supervision and management over state-owned companies and new rules of appointing their board members. The new regulations will be compliant with OECD guidance on corporate supervision. The proponents of the reform expressed opinion that the existing ministerial activity is of very low quality.

The reform includes formation of a new advisory council dealing with state-owned companies. The word “privatisation” will no longer be used, although sale of shares in national companies will of course still take place.

The process of liquidation is to be launched in January 2017. Two draft bill that make closing the ministry possible will soon be discussed at a meeting of the Permanent Committee of the Council of Ministers. The person in charge of the process is Henryk Kowalczyk, Chairman of the Committee.

The plans for the reform were announced in early 2016. In September, the person in charge of the Ministry of State Treasury, minister David Jackiewicz, filed a resignation that was accepted by Prime Minister Szydło.