You would think that hosting the European Football Championships in 2012 would have Poland’s hotel sector licking its lips in anticipation of making huge profits, right? Well…wrong, according to the Polska Times daily!

by Peter Gentle

Conditions laid down by UEFA are perceived by the hoteliers as being unacceptable and could bring them huge losses. 

The proposed agreement stipulates the necessity of establish rates for hotel rooms three years before the tournament. Hotel owners won’t be allowed to raise the rates in connection with, for example, the changing economic situation.

UEFA will also be allowed to block-book whole hotels for the time of the championships but could also cancel the reservations at the last minute without having to pay any compensation.

The rules have divided hotel owners, with some even refusing to participate in further talks, although majority are hoping the conditions are still negotiable. An appropriate number of hotel rooms was one of the requirements hosting EURO 2012. And until hoteliers get a better deal, quite a few of them will be having sleepless nights.

The opposition Law and Justice party is demanding that  compensation be paid to families who suffered at the hands of communist militia, writes the Polska daily.

The party is preparing a bill which it intends to put through parliament. According to the newspaper, the governing coalition may well support the project.

The Law and Justice bill stipulates that the state pays damages up to 50,000 zlotys (some 11,000 euros) for the families of people who died fighting against the communist regime, including the nine miners who were killed by the ZOMO militia in the Wujek colliery during martial law in 1981 and many others. 

Puls Biznesu informs that within the last two years the number of tax inspections of Polish companies has dropped by almost one half. The ministry of finance explains that this is not negligence but results from trying to avoid unnecessarily inspections of honest taxpayers. The ministry tries to concentrate on companies which intentionally enter fraudulent tax claims as well as the activities of organized crime groups. Puls Biznesu writes that the major misuses of tax law concern payments of excise duty, VAT, and personal income tax.