Press reviewed by Elżbieta Krajewska
"No euro without reforms" headlines RZECZPOSPOLITA daily, reporting that Poland won't be able to adopt the European currency in 2012 unless budget expenditures are slashed. Meanwhile the budget may suffer considerably because of the economic slowdown and unless strict reforms are introduced, so the eurozone date is looking less and less probable, writes the daily. In a related comment, it also writes that the eurozone has become yet another playing field for Polish politicians. "What is a way of life for politicians can be a dramatic struggle for people paying off their bank loans in a situation when the currency market is unstable... Today is a rare time when we need a demonstration of political support for the euro" advocates RZECZPOSPOLITA.
Some good news from the financial front in DZIENNIK, which reports that the Polish central bank NBP has reached an agreement with its counterpart in Switzerland to bring in much-awaited Swiss francs for bank loan takers in Poland. For many years, the exchange rates encouraged Poles to take out mortgages in Swiss francs. With the credit crunch, the francs disappeared from the banking market and customers were left with valid documents in hand – but no money. In spite of this, DZIENNIK warns prospective borrowers that banks now probably won't be so eager to hand out Swiss francs. And DZIENNIk calculates that Poles have more than 150 billion zloty in mortgage loans – 96 billion of this is in foreign currency, and mostly in Swiss francs.
Over to GAZETA WYBORCZA daily which has an extensive interview with composer Krzysztof Penderecki days before his 75th birthday and a gala festival of his music in Warsaw. "Picasso is the type that inspires me" the composer says, adding that his music seems to terrify people who are less acquainted with the classical scene, even though since the 1980s he has been writing more melodious compositions. He does admit that once he did have the intention to shock performers and audiences... and rebelled against the drabness of official culture by wearing tomato-coloured trousers and striped socks. He left that behind, along with his avant-garde music, in the same way as Picasso never went back to his pink or blue or cubist periods but kept going forward – writes GAZETA WYBORCZA interviewing Krzysztof Penderecki.
And lastly: more fountains! demands the Warsaw city ŻYCIE WARSZAWY enclosure to RZECZPOSPOLITA daily. Fountains, it writes, are a strong metropolitan feature and Warsaw doesn't have enough of them. The first Warsaw fountain appeared 370 years ago, writes the paper, and there even was a famous one spewing wine, but now there are hardly any even on the most prestigious of the capital's streets or squares... The good news is that there will be more fountains in the future, with some already in the process of being built, looked upon with a proud eye by Warsaw authorities. Because fountains not only look good in urban architecture but, as a focus and a meeting point, fill a very important social function, underlines ŻYCIE.