As
promised, some succinct impressions from the recent holiday trip to Poland’s
western neighbour… Then giving way to has been going on in domestic politics.
The
Lufthansa
Was my
first encounter to the German airline and the impression is very positive. The
class of its own, as my friend accurately summarised the operations of the
company. I reserved the flights more than three months in advance and, tipped
off by another friend that flights between Warsaw and Frankfurt am Main are
served interchangeably by PLL LOT and Lufthansa and each flight has a pool of
tickets offered by each of the airlines, settle for the German airline. Oddly
enough, PLL LOT tickets are sold-out much earlier, Lufthansa tickets are much
cheaper (I flew there and back for mere 512 PLN!), on top of that PLL LOT is
loss-making, while Lufthansa fetches some, indeed meagre, yet still, profits.
And chances of passengers clapping their hands after successful touchdown are
marginal. On my way there some folks sitting in a row behind, in economy class
as well, were weighing in clapping, but eventually gave up on their plan.
Whoever has come up with such custom, has left me bemused. Even if the
touchdown is impressively gentle, applause after an ordinary part of a pilot’s
job implies lack of trust in pilot’s skills…
The airport
My
colleagues who fly frequently tried to frighten me by telling the airport is
dreadfully huge and it is easy to get lost. Utter rubbish. The airport is
indeed dauntingly spacious, but signage is excellent and losing one’s way is
virtually impossible, especially in arrival or transfer zones. The airport
follows the trend of letting the passengers serve themselves to the extent
which it is possible. Large number of self check-in kiosks and luggage drop-off
counters combined with few open check-in desks and huge queues to them
encourage passengers to do the check-in themselves. Before my return flight the
whole procedure (check-in, shipping luggage and going through security) lasted
mere four and a half minutes. Then I could enjoy the sight of bars of
chocolates for dirt cheap EUR 8.90 – a snip, in the duty-free. The only
drawback of the airport, serving vast number of flights are long times of
waiting for the take-off or touch-down… Its other huge advantages are the
proximity to the centre of Frankfurt am Main and admirable links to the local
and country-wide railway networks.
The country
Once ‘The
Economist’ described the German stance in EU politics as “stolid”. This epithet
resounded in my mind throughout my journeys. It superbly fits the mark Germany
leaves on a foreigner, no matter which visit to the country it is (mine was
fourth). This very time I have grown weary of predictability and repeatability
of the landscape, architecture, etc. Each town and city having a similar
central train station, church, old town, sometimes castle, similar houses and
block of flats.
Little could impress me (such is my general mindset that fewer
and fewer things can impress me – a disturbing sign?) and little would take my
breath away, as the view from castle hill in Heidelberg (to the right) did. If
any more is to be visited in this country, it is definitely Berlin (have
ventured there so far, enough for a 3-day weekend and reachable by car or
train), Munich and Bavaria land (a trip for a more extended weekend and it is
more advisable to get there by plane).
Meanwhile
in Poland…
On account
of roaming around abroad I have missed out on the eavesdropping scandal
unfolding. I have quickly caught up with both recordings of conversations
between politicians (and businesspeople) and subsequent commentaries.
Michael in
his post pleads he is outraged at the content and mostly form of dialogues
between politicians and the nation is shocked by the released materials. I
cannot renounce the feeling of indignation upon listening to the recordings,
but I have not been taken aback by them. I could actually safely bet similar
conversations have been held by politicians of PiS and SLD in times they were
in charge of the country. What has been revealed is just the backstage of
making politics, the murky underbelly no one would like to see. I would hazard
a comparison to the most down-to-earth stuff – each and every one of us has to
defecate, but no one would like to see a fellow man defecating. Politics
consists of official part which can be witnessed by the public and of several
unofficial talks that facilitate pursuing it. The other story is how the
private and public spheres mix up, since if meetings and conversations are
‘private’ and the dinner during which they are held is paid from ‘public’
purse, something is amiss.
Michael is
also disgusted by the foul language used by statesmen he considered gentlemen.
Maybe this is a matter of upbringing, but I, born and bred in Poland, have long
taken it for granted folks from all walks of life swear in Poland. Swear words
flow from mouths of politicians, businessmen, scholars, doctors, rank-and-files
and coarse drunkards. The old and the young, women and men, in the sticks and
at the heart of capital, almost everyone swears. The matter of culture is only
refraining from being foul-mouth when necessary. I pledge to avoid foul
language when women are around, when I talk to a person I know does not swear,
in official situations, but my more-or-less official or strictly private
conservations with some of my workmates or friends sound similarly abhorrently
as those eavesdropped in Warsaw’s posh restaurants. If my conscience is not
crystal clear, I may not feel entitled to condemn anyone for using foul language.
The prime minister Tusk who has once also pledged to swear like a trooper is
not going to hold anyone accountable for the form of language used.
Now dear
readers, I will stoop as low, as eavesdropped members of the government did and
enjoy the off-the-record part of the posting. Needless to say, minister
Sikorski is an ordinary lout (zwyczajny cham) who, no one can deny it to him,
just mastered to perfection the art of feigned politeness. Overwhelming
majority of my interlocutors with who I have discussed the issue, share my view
that impeccable manners of Mr Sikorski are grossly overrated. What matters is
how you behave and what you say casually, while what you pretend to do in
public just reflects upon how good your acting skills are. Mr Sikorski definitely
can skilfully play out a well-brought-up gentleman. Nevertheless, the recorded
conversation between him and Mr Rostowski casts favourable light on his
shrewdness and political wisdom and actually he scored a point with me for
realpolitik-grounded view on Poland’s relations with the United States. The
words of “worthless alliance between Poland and the United States” and us doing
a blow-job to Americans are home truth. The very situation bears out, again,
diplomacy is the art of lying and reaction of the US diplomats who reaffirmed
strength of the strategic alliance with Poland also confirms this old adage. I
seriously doubt Mr Sikorski’s revealed conservation will noticeably spoil
relations between the US and Poland, I would not be even stunned to learn Mr
Sikorski would have gained some esteem with his US counterparts for not being a
starry-eyed sucker.
If it was not greed but lack of fear which caused the financial crisis, it was not lust
for power but lack of humility which was a nail to the coffin of Mr Nowak’s
political career which has now come to a bitter and irretrievable end. May his
example serve as a forewarning for all young, up-and-coming guys lured to shiny
world of politics, tempted by visions of expensive dinners, slick suits and official
taxpayer-funded trips to distant places. The temptations to use political
connections to pursue one’s own interests and to feather one’s nest are strong,
yet we must not forget a politician is a public servant. Growing complacent and
losing self-preservation instinct is the first step towards dragging oneself
down, no matter if you are a top-rank politician or a rank-and-file worker in a
corporation…
The one
whose reputation came out probably the most burnt and bruised from the scandal
is the governor of the central bank, Marek Belka. In the light of prevalence of
the foul language in Poland, I can only draw a veil over frequency of using
swear words by him. Deplorably, the substance of some parts of the conversation
resembles a chat between tanked-up fifteen-year-old lads. I would never suspect
Mr Belka of discussing lengths of several men’s penises…
Whose penis
is shorter and whose longer is a matter of minor importance, although some
claim those who have small penises tend to drive bigger cars ;-) The pivot of
the conversation between the head of central bank and minister of internal
affairs, highlighted in the scripts that first leaked to the media, had been
the discussion how the central bank could help the government finance the
budget deficit before the parliamentary election in 2015 and prevent victory of
PiS. Cross my heart, from what I have read I cannot make out what the men meant
and how the central bank could help out the government. The discussion,
unclear, casual and full of understatements, has turned water to the mill of
several journalists and politicians, many of who, as I noticed, not necessarily
comprehend the heart of the problem. From my perspective, if we are to assess
whether potential violation of law occurred, we have to take into
considerations three situations when a central bank can have government bonds
on its balance sheet. Here we go with a crash course!
Firstly,
budget deficit financing may take place if the central bank buys government
bonds on primary market, i.e. the central bank comes in when government bonds
are auctioned off and purchases them while they are issued. Such reprehensible
moves in all civilised economies are prohibited by law and known as debt monetisation. The central bank, as the only issuer of money, increases supply
of money which is not accompanied by rise in output, hence expanded monetary
base results in increased inflation and decreases real value of government
debt. Upshot: the government is better off, everyone else is worse off and
double-crossed by the central bank and the government.
Thirdly,
the central bank may engage in Repo transactions with commercial banks. This
manoeuvre is from a borrower’s (commercial bank’s) perspective a purely
collateralised loan – i.e. a central bank lends money against government bonds,
although technically it buys securities from commercial banks (spot leg) and
agrees to sell them back at a later date (forward leg). Repo transactions are
aimed at regulating liquidity in the banking sector and have nothing to do with
financing government debt.
I gather
the first variant is out of question, the second is a contentious measure,
while the third does not require any further attention.
The excuse
for mentioning the plausible aid of the central bank was the threat of PiS
winning the election and subsequent economic disaster… I am far from supporting
PiS and also not think their victory would be best for Poland but this is a
step too far. We live in democracy and make-up of the parliament lies in the
hands of voters. If they decide PiS is to glean the highest number of seats in
the parliament, their choice deserves due respect! The very victory of PiS will
not be a disaster. It is not the case which party is in power (although
perception among investors does matter), what really matters are decisions it
takes.
For the
very end, let’s dissect the line of defence the prime minister Tusk has taken.
He will not dismiss any of the eavesdropped officials nor will hold anyone
accountable for use of foul language. All the recorded government members in
unison claim the Polish state has been attacked by an “organised criminal group”
and it will not succumb to it. The public is thus to be focused on culprits who
recorded the dismal talks in restaurants, not on the substance of allegedly
private conversations (which by the way show Mr Belka, Mr Sienkiewicz, Mr
Sikorski and other ‘victims’ are just regular guys, behaving like ordinary
Poles when they get drunk). The timing of releasing the recordings is puzzling.
Euro-election is over, local elections are due in half a year, holiday season
sets in. Are the recent government’s plan to prop up ailing coal mines in
Poland by curbing imports of cheap coal from Russia the real reason? I firmly
believe the waiters who admitted to have installed bugs have just grabbed the
opportunity to cash in on knowledge they could come into possession thanks to
microphones in VIP rooms. They are just cogs in a larger machine and the plan
is masterminded by someone much more cunning that people who make the headlines
these days. The only problem is that the purpose for which the machine is
running, remains unknown…
