Employers and unions speak in different language and league of Polish bureaucrats rides on.
Presented by Slawek Szefs
RZECZPOSPOLITA sounds the alarm with regard to the Polish currency. ‘The zloty is slumping in front of our eyes’ it headlines. Thursday rates to the euro were the highest since May 2005. The Swiss frank also gained the most to the Polish zloty since its record four years ago. The paper quotes analysts predicting a tough period for the Polish currency in the first half of 2009. DZIENNIK adds to the list of financial worries with a brief, yet broad ranging comment: The zloty goes down, credits get more expensive. It supplements the comment with experts’ advice for all those unfortunates who have their loans in foreign currency not to change their terms into zloties and wait it out. In the simplest language this means – it can’t get any worse! But that also means the future is bound to be a little brighter. Positive thinking in a crisis situation…
Continuing on the economic note… GAZETA WYBORCZA frontpages a matter-of-fact statement: It started – We can officially declare the crisis has already hit Poland. Unemployment has been on the biggest rise in four years. There’s no chance in sight of employers striking a deal with trade unions on ways of protecting workplaces. 76 thousand people lost their jobs only in December. At the same time employers are pressured with soaring pay demands. I don’t think we can arrive at any common point, says a desperate official of a major employers confederation.
The tabloid FAKT laments over luxuries for the league of bureaucrats funded from the state budget. If a nation’s affluence were described on the basis of car expenditures for its army of major and minor, state and local officials, Poland would be a world leader, it writes. The annual running costs of vehicles for 55 thousand of them totals 4 billion zloties, well over 900 million euros! Time to do away with using office cars for shopping, going on a vacation, taking kids to school or driving the Mrs. to a beauty parlor. All for taxpayers’ money, the paper stresses pointing to alternate needs which could be satisfied from the funds.
Inaugurating the World Championships in handball SUPER EXPRESS announces that Shrek and Dzidzius (kid in Polish) are going with the national team to Croatia to collect their medals. The nicknames belong to the Jurecki brothers, Bartosz and Michal, who have already become a legend in their own time with propositions made to name a tournament in their honor. Fans have signaled big appetites, but these shall be verified in the first two games, an easier group opener against Algeria and then a real test in the encounter against Russia on Sunday. Then come Germany, Macedonia and Tunisia. Two years ago at the World Championships in Germany, Poland was runner-up to the host team.