POLAND TODAY magazine #01

An emerging confidence: Poland’s place in the current hierarchy of nations. page 14

Storm clouds gathering?

Prospects for the CEE’s largest economy. page 20

The quiet charm of Sandomierz, one of the country’s lesser known tourist delights. page 64

A summer to remember The Polish effect shines on

photo: Robert Gardzinski (Fotorzepa / Forum)

page 30

01/2012

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CONTENT

EDITORIAL

6

NEWS ROUND UP

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IN FOCUS

10

INTERNATIONAL

14

The punch and the weight Less dependency on the US, less hostility towards Russia, a newfound friendship with Germany – Poland has recently done well for itself in the realm of foreign affairs, writes Ed Lucas.

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EURO 2012

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How much The Polish Grrr does the effect shines on economic tiger of Central Europe REAL ESTATE still have?

Thousands of fans from all corners of Europe descended on Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdańsk and Poznań in June to support their teams.

Now they’ve all returned home, what are the lasting effects, asks Jonathan Fowler

Renowned for being the only economy in the EU to post positive growth throughout the crisis, it seems Poland may be about to fall on harder times. But is the biggest threat the prophets of doom and gloom talking the economy into a downturn that is neither necessary nor inevitable, asks Katya Andrusz

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Financial bloodbath on the highways

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Building on solid ground Too hot? Too cold? As property professionals analyse the wider economy for signs of how it will affect their industry, caution is the watchword, but optimism is still in supply, writes Anna Kapica-Harward

40 Cloudy with a ray of hope

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Despite a booming economy and billions of zlotys pouring into Poland’s infrastructure in recent years, contractors are in trouble and bad legislation is the culprit, writes Jan Cienski

Mladen Petrov does a quick straw poll of how things look in the office, retail, warehouse and residential sectors, surveying a cross section of market operators

Europe’s newest mutual appreciation club

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Much more to come

No more fear, no more hatred - Poland and Germany hit the reset button on their relations. The two countries are now closer than ever before, and trade ties are growing, writes Adam Easton

Table of contents

ECONOMY

On track for global opportunities A town in Poland is building trains that are taking on the world

The Polish sporting complex. page 54

42

German real estate developers and investors, both long-term players and recent entrants, still see a lot of potential in the Polish market, writes Andreas Schiller

Europe’s newest mutual appreciation club. page 16

SOCIETY

44

The danger in silence Racism is not rife in Poland, but it exists and it is tolerated. The Euro 2012 football championship and specifically the infamous BBC Panorama programme stirred up sensitivities and forced Polish society to look at itself hard in the mirror, writes Krzysztof Bobiński

46

A new kind of mayor Not every election of a village mayor results in a minor media storm and national interest.

But Marcin Nikrant, 26, of Leśniewo, is not your typical village mayor. Hanna Kozlowska talks to the first openly gay 'sołtys' in Poland.

CULTURE

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SPORT

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The Polish sporting complex What a summer... Whether or not you were a sports fan beforehand, if you were in Poland in the last few months, you were forced to become one. We talk to Tomasz Zimoch, Poland’s iconic sports commentator, about the successes and failures of the Polish summer of sport.

HISTORY

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The city that almost bled to death Warsaw is not a cosy city, but it has a fascinating history and ardent admirers. Gerhard Gnauck writes about being a German in the capital, exploring the city’s rich past and tragic wounds.

60 Because this It happened in... October is our country The Polish film industry from the mid-1950’s until the late 1980’s made a rich contribution not only to the lives of those living in the People’s Republic, but also to world cinema.

Renowned film critic Tadeusz Sobolewski takes us through the golden years

1956 was a year of transition for Poland amid a thawing of the Soviet bloc. But it was to prove short-lived.

FOOD

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Surowe Suwałki START UP

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The meaning of ice It is not always that easy to get your hands on cold drink on a hot day in Poland, but the entrepreneurs from Quickice will make it easier for you with their state-of-the-art ice-vending machines. In the first episode of our series about start-ups they tell our Publisher, Richard Stephens, about their company and the art of ice-vending.

page 46

Clanking armour on cobbled streets. page 64

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CONTENT

Clanking armour on cobbled streets In a world where, sadly, knights in armour exist only in fairytales and history books, the town of Sandomierz evokes them for the young and old(er). Matthew Day writes about its small town charm.

LIFESTYLE

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Pucker up: one kiss or three?

Three? One? Two? None? Hand? Hug? The Polish kissing and greeting etiquette can be confusing. Cynthia Naugher Skłodowski ponders and explains the ins and outs of a Polish 'hello.'

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The voice on the box One voice to read them all. Polish television uses a rare translation technique called a 'lektor,' or 'reader.' Foreigners don’t get it, and Poles don’t get why foreigners don’t get it. Hanna Kozlowska writes about the lektor phenomenon.

CONFERENCES

Primetime Warsaw

Thursday 21ST FEBRUARY 2013 Copernicus Science Centre, Warsaw

Warsaw, due to its history and

significance at the crossroads between East & West, is one of Europe’s great cities, the undisputed regional economic and political powerhouse.

Basking in the recent glow of hosting EURO 2012 and its status as capital of the European Union’s most dynamic economy, there has never been a better time for the city on the Vistula river.

This, the first conference to focus on Warsaw in its entirety, brings you the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

Warsaw is developing fast and

This, the first conference to focus on Warsaw in its entirety, brings you the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

Real estate. pages 36-44

Twelve Hungry Men. Some of the best chefs in the world came to Suwałki in northern Poland for this year’s edition of Cook it Raw. They cooked and ate regional specialties, adding their own twists, and talked to Richard Stephens.

A new kind of mayor.

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TRIPS

Surowe Suwałki. page 62

provides a host of development opportunities for all kinds of investors and businesses. Check out Poland Today's conference programme for Primetime Warsaw see page 33

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EDITORIAL

Our aim is to give a different perspective to that of the Polish press and a more in-depth focus than the international coverage of the country.

Welcome

to Poland Today magazine. The publication aims to cover a wide range of subjects and themes which, taken together over the months and years ahead, will build a picture of this complex and fascinating country and its people. In this, the introductory issue, we look at topics including Poland’s place in Europe, its ties with Germany, the country’s economic prospects, its customs and habits and much else besides.

Richard Stephens

Publisher’s note

Publisher

The UEFA EURO 2012 football championships may be fast receding in the memory as we look ahead and face what may be a long cold winter - not least metaphorically speaking, considering some of the economic forecasts - but it has changed Poland in profound ways, like the Olympics has the UK. It has not only brought improved roads and infrastructure and a vastly better image abroad, but most importantly, Poland’s self-image has changed. Coming closely on the heels of being lauded far and wide for its economic resilience, the country has shown that it can pull together and organize a large international sporting event with competence, flair and good humour. The effect of this success on the nation’s psyche, so long conditioned to self criticism, is the most important result of this memorable summer.

We examine the legacy of the competition and take a look at the sporting side of it.

Poland Today is targeted at Polish professionals as well as foreigners living or doing business in Poland. Our aim is to present a different perspective to that of the Polish press and a more in-depth focus than the international coverage of the country. Future editions will be more businessfocused, covering the markets sector by sector. We will always retain a broader view, however, and will continue to write about current affairs, society, culture, arts, history and sports. This magazine is distributed for free. To this end I would like to thank the companies that have backed this new venture by buying advertising space. I am proud to have them in this magazine. I am also grateful to the many firms who offered encouragement and gave good advice, but for various reasons couldn’t come into this first edition.

I look forward to welcoming them in the future. The next issue of Poland Today comes out in January 2013 and from then on will be monthly. See you next year!

Poland Today Sp. z o. o.

Ul. Złota 61 lok. 100, 00-819 Warsaw, Poland tel/fax: (+ 48) 22 464 8269 mobile: (+ 48) 694 922 898, (+ 48) 505 006 606 name.surname@poland-today.pl www.poland-today.pl

Publisher: Financial Director: Creative Director: Associate Editor: Journalist: Editorial Consultant: Www Developer: Marketing Consultant:

Richard Stephens Arkadiusz Jamski Bartosz Stefaniak Hanna Kozłowska Cynthia Sklodowski

Contributors:

Adam Easton Andreas Schiller Anna Kapica-Harward Edward Lucas Gerhard Gnauck Jakub Markiewicz Jonathan Fowler Katya Andrusz Krzysztof Bobiński Matthew Day Mladen Petrov Richard Stephens Tadeusz Sobolewski

Translators:

Antonina Hatcher Clare Rütsch Stuart Dowell

Photographs:

Forum Polska Agencja Fotografów Bartek Banaszak Piotr Dziubak Konrad Konstantynowicz

Photographers:

Illustrators:

Valerie Higgins Wiktor Pawłowski Natalia Ligarzewska, Ad Direct

Ignacy Ostrowski Jagna Wróblewska Russell Tate

Layout:

www.bartoszstefaniak.com

Printing House:

Zakłady Graficzne TAURUS Roszkowscy Sp. z o.o.

Kazimierów, ul. Zastawie 12, 05-074 Halinów tel. +48 22 783 66 82, fax +48 22 783 60 00

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NEWS ROUND UP

INTERNATIONAL

POLITICS

It’s Complicated: Poland and Ukraine

Smoleńsk plane catastrophe: Exhumations and doubts

President Bronisław Komorowski visited Poland’s eastern neighbour, where he met with representatives of the ruling party and the opposition.

He emphasized that Ukraine needs to choose a direction for the country’s future development – either towards the East and Russia, or to the West and the European Union and Poland.

He also officially opened a Polish war cemetery with President Viktor Yanukovych.

The body of ‘Solidarity’ era opposition leader Anna Walentynowicz was switched with another victim of the 2010 Smoleńsk plane catastrophe, which killed Polish President Lech Kaczyński and 96 other dignitaries.

Walentynowicz’s body was exhumed after her family’s doubts about the autopsy conducted in Russia and the identity of the corpse. Other exhumations will follow. Much of the political blame is being placed on former Minister of Health, speaker of the Sejm, Ewa Kopacz.

Booby or baby trap?

Polish troops in Afghanistan found an infant girl on the roadside near their base in Wagez. Though the ‘package’ could have been a roadside bomb, they picked it up and brought the baby back to the base. They named the girl ‘Pola,’ after ‘Poland.’

photos: Adam Chełstowski (Forum), Krzysztof Jarosz (Forum), Piotr Nowak (Fotorzepa/Forum), Jarosław Pruss (Forum)

PIS debates the economy Law and Justice (PIS) invited the biggest economic minds in the country to debate the party’s economic programme and the tax system in particular. Some economists accepted, and some declined the invitation. The general consensus was that the tax system in Poland needs to be reformed.

CURRENT AFFAIRS

Hazing scandal causes uproar Photos of 12 and 13-year-old children kneeling to lick whipped cream off of a priest’s knees surfaced in Lubin, in southwest Poland, scandalizing the entire country and making international news. An investigation has been launched to look into what its participants called an innocent hazing ceremony.

Poland to sign women’s rights convention

News round up

agreed, doubts were raised about the independent character of the Polish judiciary, getting Minister of Justice Jarosław Gowin in serious trouble.

Donald Tusk declared at the Fourth Women’s Congress in Warsaw that Poland would sign the Council of Europe’s Convention on preventing and combating violence against women. The convention’s premises have been questioned by the Polish Catholic Church and right-wing groups.

Vistula hits rock-bottom

What Poland has to learn from Belarus

Czech poisoned alcohol spills into Poland

After President Aleksandr Lukashenko voted in the Belarusian parliamentary elections, he told Polish electoral observers that they should be learning about proper voting procedures from his country. Lukashenko’s ruling party won after a boycott from two of the main opposition parties and reports of electoral fraud.

Polish President in the United Nations

The Vistula river in Warsaw has reached record-low levels due to droughts. At 56 cms deep in parts, you could walk from one shore to the other in mid-September. The river revealed 400 year-old Swedish war booty and a mysterious bridge.

Parliamentary debate over abortion attracts few Only 20 members of the Sejm, the lower level of the Parliament attended what was supposed to be a loud and contentious debate over two abortion legislation projects. One motion was put forward by the liberal Palikot’s Movement, while the other by the conservative United Poland (Solidarna Polska). Both legislations were dismissed. Abortion in Poland is permissible only when the mother’s health or life are in danger, the pregnancy was a result of rape, or the fetus is malformed.

Czech authorities banned all hard liquor consumption due to 25 deaths of methanol poisoning. At least 3 people died as a result of similar poisoning in Poland. Three men were arrested for deliberately contaminating a batch of alcohol and channeling it into circulation.

Bronisław Komorowski joined all the other world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. Komorowski spoke to president Obama, who said he remembered about the obligation he has Journalist provocation gets to Polish citizens regarding entry vi- Minister of Justice in trouble sas to the United States, leaving the A journalist posing as the Prime Polish president hopeful. Komorowski Minister’s representative phoned Former President’s also spoke to, among others, presi- Ryszard Milewski, a judge from daughter gets married in dent of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai Gdańsk, to set up a meeting regard- social event of the year about the Polish military mission in ing the Amber Gold pyramid scheme The daughter of President Aleksander the country. case. When Justice Milewski promptly Kwaśniewski, Ola, married jazz musi-

cian Jakub Badach in a highly publicized ceremony in Warsaw. The list of guests did not include, controversially, former prime minister from Kwaśniewski’s party Leszek Miller.

Emigration is on the rise

2013. It would then have more locations than all of its competitors put together. Currently, the biggest chain is Intersport with 32 stores.

Poles score low on saving

A staggering 37% of Poles are incaThe Polish Central Statistical Office pable of saving any sum of money, (GUS) released emigration data for according to research done by IIBR/ 2011 which shows that emigration is Gemius for Meritum Bank, while 16% rising. Last year 2,060,000 Poles re- still save by keeping their money under mained abroad, which is 60,000 more the mattress. than in 2010. Almost 1,700 000 of them were within the European Union –mostly in UK and Germany.

SPORT

ECONOMY & BUSINESS

PESA gets expensive German railway deal Bydgoszcz-based rail company PESA signed a record zl 1.5 billion deal with Deutsche Bahn. The German railway company purchased 500 train cars from the Polish company. Read more on page 28.

Facebook opens an office in Warsaw

Survival of the fittest: Historical cinemas in Poland Iconic Polish cinemas are closing their doors and turning off their popcorn machines. A month after the decision to close Łódź’’s legendary Polonia cinema, opened in 1911, Warsaw’s Femina may be replaced by the inexpensive grocery chain Biedronka. On the other hand, the capital’s Iluzjon is reopening on October 4th after a big renovation.

Warsaw derby leaves no winner, but many damages Even though Legia’s players dominated the game, they tied with Polonia 1:1.

The teams’ ‘fans,’ or otherwise known as hooligans, destroyed bleacher seats, restrooms and refreshment stands, with damages worth at least zl. 200,000.

Lewandowski scores and stays in Germany

The striker for the Polish national team recently scored in Borussia Coldplay heats up The social media giant decided to bet Dortmund’s game against Ajax National Stadium on Poland for the coordination of its Amsterdam, giving his team an impor- Just a little over a year from their first business in the entire region of Eastern tant win in the Champions’ League. concert in the country, British alt-rock and Central Europe – a total of 30 Robert Lewandowski is staying in band Coldplay gave a sensational concountries. The office, with its small, but Dortmund, despite being sought out cert at the National Stadium in Warsaw, international personnel will be respon- by top European club Chelsea. He is where pop superstar Madonna played sible for sales and marketing. not satisfied with his current EUR 1.5 just a month earlier. million salary, however, and negotiaEconomic slump, tions are underway.

Loudest Polish film premiere

auto industry slowdown

Poland’s economy is slowing and the symptoms of this are visible in the auto industry. Overall, it already produced over 20% less cars than in the same period last year, largely due to the problems of Fiat and Opel in Europe.

Bruce Willis comes to a deal with Sobieski vodka Belvedere SA, the French company that owns the Polish vodka brand paid the actor with market shares as payment for participating in the distiller’s ad campaign. The shares’ price dropped, which entitled the actor to financial compensation. Willis won the legal squabble, and he will receive the promised €20 million.

Polish sports store chain to dominate market Martes Sport, a company based in Bielsko-Biała, plans to open a hundred stores across the country by

The ups and downs of the Radwańska sisters

in a decade is about hip-hop

‘Jesteś Bogiem,’ (‘You’re God’), a film

by Leszek Dawid about the Polish hipJust when everyone thought 21-year- hop collective ‘Paktofonika’, is gaining old Urszula Radwańska, younger sis- significant critical acclaim and auditer of Poland’s top player Agnieszka, ence appreciation. ‘Jesteś Bogiem’ is was on a roll, she was destroyed by not only a moving film about three Angelique Kerber in the third round friends from a working class backof the WTA tournament in Tokyo. The ground who grew up to be legendary older sister was defeated by Nadia hip hop artists, but also an important Petrova in the final. representation of Poland in the era of transformation.

CULTURE & SOCIETY

Iconic novel celebrates its 75th anniversary

Witold Gombrowicz’s famous modernist novel ‘Ferdydurke’ celebrated its 75th birthday in September. The Hitler’s Polish headquarters, otherwise novel, with its abstract and pointed known as Wilczy Szaniec, ‘The Wolf’s humor, now part of the world’s literaLair,’ now a dilapidated and kitschy site ture canon, was banned in Poland for where you can play paintball, will un- decades for its subversive character. dergo a general renovation. The Polish The first direct translation into English authorities imposed the restoration on appeared as late as 2000, by Danuta the private company that runs Hitler’s Borchardt, with an introduction by wartime residence.

Susan Sontag.

No more paintball at Hitler’s HQ

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NEWS ROUND UP

10 IN FOCUS

The countdown begins – Jewish museum to open in a year

Getting social online in Poland: international or domestic?

Warsaw is impatiently awaiting the Poland has over 8.6 million Facebook opening of what will become the bigusers, ranking the country 25th in gest Jewish museum in Europe, and the world. A few years ago it seemed one of the most spectacular buildthat the homegrown Nasza Klasa ings in the city. Construction, which (nk.pl), where you could connect to started in 2007, was supposed to be your old classmates, would dominate the online social sphere. Today, howcompleted in April 2012, on the 70th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto ever, Facebook has 40% of social meUprising, but building the complicat- It’s no big deal. You can either be- dia participation, while Nasza Klasa, ed structure and arranging the rich, in- come a foreign monarch, transform generally used by a slightly older deteractive exhibition are taking longer the entire economy of the country, re- mographic, has 37%. In a recent study than expected. It is already worth go- ceive a Nobel Prize or … be married by Megapanel PBI/Gemius, Facebook ing to Muranów district, however, and for over 50 years. The Polish presi- came in third for monthly reach of onlooking at the breathtaking structure dent grants dozens of decorations ac- line portals, after Google and Onet.pl, from the outside. It was designed by cording to a specific classification and with Nasza Klasa trailing behind at 9th.

Finnish architect Rainer Mahlamäki to ranking code. You can be awarded a Most brands on the Polish market are resemble the parting of the Red Sea, badge, a star, a big fish medal, a cross attempting to jump on the Facebook with a billowing glass and steel facade. and, finally, top of the tops, the order. bandwagon. The most popular brand The inside is even more spectacular, The highest civil and military distinc- profiles are ‘Serce i Rozum’ (Heart and with its curved concrete walls and cav- tion in Poland is the Order of the White Mind), the cartoon ad campaign for ernous spaces. And even though the Eagle. To have it bestowed you simply TP.SA, followed by the four cellphone building is located in the former ghet- need to be the pope, like John Paul service providers and online shopping to, right by the famous Ghetto Heroes II, a Holocaust hero, like Irena Sendler, giant Allegro. Another potential doMonument, its founders and design- or one of the most important eco- mestic-international rivalry may ensue ers emphasize that it will be devoted nomic minds in the country, like Leszek after a Polish version of professional to the entire millenium-long history of Balcerowicz. If you aren’t Polish, it suf- networking site LinkedIn was launched Jews in Poland. This of course includes, fices to be an Emperor, for example in April, threatening goldenline.pl with but is not limited to, the Holocaust. Akihito of Japan, or a renowned states- its two million users. Poland also has a An international initiative, the museum man such as Ronald Reagan. If you rising Twitter community, with 2.5 milmade the news in July after receiving a distinguish yourself in war, like World lion people tweeting away to their $7 million donation from the Koret and War Two general Douglas MacArthur, adoring followings.

Taube Foundations, as well as $6 mil- you will get the oldest continuouslylion from prominent Polish business- granted military order in the world – man Jan Kulczyk. the Virtuti Militari Cross, established in 1792. For a slightly lower distinction, but no less a feat, you can receive the Medal for Long Marital Life if you are a couple married for at least 50 years.

by Hanna Kozłowska Good luck!

What you need to do to receive a Polish order of merit

German and Austrian real estate

investors, both longterm players and recent entrants, still see a lot of potential in the Polish market, writes Andreas Schiller see page 42

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Polish musicians making it big across genres and continents

IN FOCUS

A beer by any other name…

Macaulay Culkin

sounding the same as Arnold Schwarzenegger? Where else but in Poland... and a couple of other countries.

Poles are used to it, foreigners think it's funny. What's with the voice on the box? see page 70

Your average Pole, who rarely chooses a Heineken or Carlsberg over a local product, drank almost 90 (!) litres of beer last year, which is more than an average American, Belgian or Dutch person. In the past few years this huge market, previously dominated by the popular Tyskie, Żywiec and Lech brands, has had to reluctantly welcome new players – not only the inexpensive beer produced for large chain supermarkets such as Biedronka or Lidl – but also the increasingly popular unpasteurized beer from smaller, local breweries. This branch of the beer industry is growing at an astonishing pace. Unpasteurized beer is more expensive, generally seen as higher-end, and popular among young Polish urbanites and their upper middle class parents as well as beer conoisseurs.

The pasteurization process consists of heating up the beer to approx. 60 degrees Celsius to eliminate all the microorganisms born during the beer’s maturation. And while this increases the beverage’s shelf-life, it detracts from its flavour and nutritional value.

Unpasteurized beer has a shorter lifespan, ranging from just a few days to a maximum of three weeks. If an expiration date is longer than three weeks, the beer will have been ‘microfiltered’.

This doesn’t mean it was pasteurized, but the microfiltration process strips the beer of the nutrients that unpasteurized beer retains.

Poland is finally on the world’s musical radar for more than just being Frederic Chopin’s homeland (that's right, he's not French!). Paula & Karol, a Canadian-Polish duo, are making audiences fall in love with their ‘urban folk’ music everywhere they go, from Kiev to the legendary South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. 25 year-old Radzimir Dębski (pictured), known to the world as Jimek, has gathered a slightly different audience... such as music royalty Beyonce, who called the DJ at 3 a.m. one morning to congratulate him on winning the contest for remixing her song ‘End of Time.’ In another stellar collaboration, Polish singer Iza Lach is recording a song with hiphop legend Snoop Dogg. If you’re not into club hopping, you can dress up smart and enjoy the angelic voices of Aleksandra Kurzak and Mariusz Kwiecień. revered by, among others, the Metropolitan Opera audience in New York City. Some Polish artists have gained popularity very far from home - for instance Bayer Full, a band representing the widelydisdained-in-Poland genre of ‘disco polo’, is very popular in China, while songstress Anna Maria Jopek has a large fanbase in Japan. Your friends abroad – if they’re lucky, and sophisticated to boot - might also have heard of Kapela ze wsi Warszawa, the KDMS, Basia or Julia Marcell.

The successes and failures of city bikes in Poland City bikes have taken over Poland.

Kraków, Opole, Rzeszów, Poznań, Wrocław and Warsaw all have hundreds of bikes at the disposal of anyone who wants to lead a healthier lifestyle, help the environment, enjoy the weather or simply get somewhere faster than by car, bus or tram. The ecofriendly vehicles, available to rent for a small fee, have become enormously popular. In Warsaw, during its maiden week, the Veturilo system - designed

by German company Nextbike - registered 21,000 rentals. With the capital’s main arteries under renovation, it will be increasingly hard to get one’s mitts on one of these bikes, at least until the cold, slippery, two-wheel unfriendly winter comes along. The bikes’ introduction to Polish streets (and pavements) hasn’t been entirely smooth, however. Several have broken or have missing parts, and the phone lines are often unreachable. In Kraków, due to a disagreement between the current and previous companies managing the system, all of the bikes were unavailable for weeks, locked in their stands.

But at least we can boast that cities like Rzeszów and Opole are ahead of slow coaches like New York, which will introduce its bike programme as late as March 2013.

by Hanna Kozłowska

14 THE PUNCH AND THE WEIGHT INTERNATIONAL

Where Central Europe’s leading power stands in the international pecking order

It is a cliché of British diplomacy that the country ‘punches

Edward Lucas is

International Editor of The Economist.

He has covered Central and Eastern Europe for more than 20 years, witnessing the final years of the last Cold War, the fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of the Soviet empire. He holds a BSc from the London School of Economics and studied Polish at the Jagiellonian University.

above its weight’. The implication is that Britain still matters more than hard numbers about its military and economic strength would suggest. By contrast, Poland punches below its weight. In population, economic heft, land area and location, Poland is hugely important to Europe. Yet for 70 years it has been the object of other people’s decisionmaking, rather than the determinant of its own destiny.

Now that is changing. One reason is a geopolitical equilibrium. Poland is not dominated by its neighbours and does not feel scared of them. That is a huge change. Even after the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1989, Poland’s political class was riven with fears of Russia (largely justified) and fears of Germany (almost all mistaken). This peaked under former Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński. It led to an absurdly negative treatment of Germany under the friendly leadership of Angela Merkel, and a commendable but costly solidarity with the victims of Russia’s neo-imperialist policies such as Georgia.

Reset with Russia Under Donald Tusk’s government, the neuroses are banished. Relations with Germany are close and friendly, as never before in Polish history. Radek Sikorski’s speech in Berlin last year, in which he explicitly endorsed Berlin’s leadership in Europe, is still reverberating in the German political class. It is still coming to terms with the idea that Poland is a dependable partner - more so than France, the traditional axis of German policy in Europe. The Polish ‘reset’ with Russia also looks well judged. Poland lured Vladimir Putin to Gdańsk in 2009 and gained an apology of sorts for the Soviet attack 70 years earlier. The Soviet version

of history, which obscures the blame for that and other crimes, had been making a comeback in the official media.

Now it has all but vanished. Andrzej Wajda’s film ‘Katyń’ has been shown twice on Russian television. Trade is booming.

Russia dislikes American missile-defence plans in Europe.

But its relationship with Poland (which will host the seaborne rockets) is far warmer than with, say, Lithuania, which is only a bystander in the scheme. In short: Poland is not friendly with Russia. But it has never felt less threatened.

A distracted USA With its relations solid to the east and west, Poland is no longer so dependent on America. The past 20 years were marked by a needy and emotional Atlanticism that became increasingly out of kilter with America’s real capabilities and interests. Having gone to war in Iraq and Afghanistan for America, and having agreed to detain (and quite likely torture) terrorist suspects, Poland expected a generous response. It did not receive it. America was not interested in equipping and training the Polish military, let alone moving military bases from ‘old Europe’ to Poland. It would not even lift the humiliating visa regime that Poland, alone of all Schengen countries, still endures. This does not reflect malevolence. It is just that America is overstretched and distracted. Polish officials who had once been the most ardent Atlanticists learned their lesson.

Boring politics = good politics Behind this balanced and solid diplomacy is economic strength. Poland entered the post-1989 world in a shambolic state. The infrastructure was a joke. Financial and human resources were denuded by the struggle for sur-

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INTERNATIONAL

illustration: Jagna Wróblewska

‘Poland is not dominated by its neighbours and does not feel scared of them.

That is a huge change’ vival in the failing years of communism. The first priority for the government was to prevent collapse, with ‘shock therapy’, and to renegotiate the country’s crippling foreign debts. Politics was bewilderingly unstable and capricious. As an object of study for outsiders, that was fascinating. As a place to invest or trade, it was less tempting.

Foreigners found other ex-communist countries more attractive. The thinking was: If you want size, go to Russia.

If you want sophistication, then go to Hungary. How that has changed. Partly by good luck and partly by good policy-making, Poland’s economy is now one of the most attractive in Europe. Productivity is rising but still has plenty of attractive gains in store before it reaches European levels. Robust domestic demand means that Poland (unlike smaller, export-dependent counterparts) is less riskily exposed to the woes of the Euro zone. Polish consumers have plenty of money and like spending it. Another big shift is that politics is so boring. That is good. Mr Tusk may not be to everyone’s taste. His government sometimes only nibbles at the country’s problems and sometimes bites off more than it can chew. Critics rightly decry sleaze and

cronyism. Others feel that it is too close to Russia, and believe that scandals are habitually hushed up. But the public seems broadly content with his government calm and solid style. In the context of Europe, mid-2012, that is no mean achievement.

Smaller countries, bigger problems The picture is not wholly rosy. Poland’s relationship with countries to the east and south is tricky. Ties with Lithuania, a small but geographically crucial neighbour, are blighted by a row that mixes a historic mutual incomprehension with a personality clash (and perhaps a dose of Russian mischief-making too). The Visegrad countries have long been mistrustful, seeing Poland as too big and too close to Germany to be a real partner (though this is now changing, belatedly, amid a new Polish-Czech love-in). The Eastern Partnership has in most respects been an outright disaster for Poland. Its overtures to Belarus have been humiliatingly rebuffed. Ukraine is spiralling downwards, despite intense Polish efforts to jolt the regime onto a different course.

Georgia no longer sees Poland as an ally (and Poland sees Georgia as a liability). It would be a mistake for Poland to settle for a subordinate role in the new German-led configuration of countries that have solid public finances and can dictate terms to the rest of the continent. That is risky.

Germany has its own interests. Poland is not France – a nuclear-armed member of the UN Security Council, with huge global reach and diplomatic clout. France in its heyday could bargain with Germany as an equal. Poland cannot, and will never be able to do that. In short: Poland has done brilliantly in managing its relations with big countries. It still has much to do in its ties with small ones. by Edward Lucas

German Chancellor Angela Merkel chats

with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk during a welcome ceremony before talks in Berlin, December 6, 2010.

Angela Merkel meets with Donald Tusk at the Prime Minister's Chancellery in Warsaw December 9, 2008. Merkel is visiting Warsaw for the next round of Polish-German government consultations

One of the first meetings: Angela Merkel,

head of CDU party and candidate for Chancellor post welcomed in Warsaw by Donald Tusk, August 16, 2005.

EUROPE’S NEWEST MUTUAL APPRECIATION CLUB Warsaw and Berlin have re-orientated their relationship

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk and German

Chancellor Angela Merkel in Kraków, June 4, 2009.

In not so distant times an army of

suggest that Poles’ feelings towards twenty thousand young German men Germans are warming up. Twenty arriving in the Polish capital Warsaw years ago twice as many respondents would have been cause for alarm disliked Germans as liked them, acamong Poles. Their Polish hosts instead cording to the polling agency CBOS. welcomed the flag-waving German In February of this year the trend had fans that travelled to Warsaw to watch reversed with 43% of respondents saytheir team play Italy in the semi-final of ing they liked Germans whilst 24% said the European football championships they disliked them. at the end of June. Inside the National Stadium that evening the German fans A difficult background reciprocated by being the first to sing This is not to suggest that Poles and the anthem of the Polish national side, Germans have discovered warm fra‘Polska, Biało-Czerwoni’. ternal feelings towards each other.

Large numbers of German sup- According to the CBOS survey Poles porters in Warsaw is no longer an is- like Czechs, Slovaks, Italians and even sue. Twenty years ago you might not Brits more than Germans. On the other have felt as safe walking around with a side of the border millions of Germans German flag, said Marcin Zaborowski, barely give Poland a passing thought the director of the Polish Institute of and the national stereotype of Poles International Affairs, said. Opinion polls as car thieves still resonates in parts

of the country. Given the shared history of the two countries, especially in the 20th century, the change in attitudes is remarkable, however. Beyond Poland the extent of Polish suffering at the hands of the Germans during the Second World War is underappreciated. About as many Poles were killed in the bombing of Warsaw in 1939 as Germans killed in the bombing of Dresden in 1945. The destruction of Warsaw was just the beginning of one the bloodiest occupations in the war, in which Germans killed close to five million Polish citizens, three million of them Polish Jews. More Poles were killed during the Warsaw Uprising alone than Japanese died in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Since the end of communism in 1989 Poland has oriented to the West, join-

Angela Merkel and Donald Tusk meet in Gdansk June 16, 2008.

Donald Tusk meets Angela Merkel in Kraków, marking the 20th anniversary of the first free parliamentary election that signalled the end of communist rule. June 4, 2009.

Angela Merkel and Donald Tusk address

a news conference in Berlin December 11, 2007

ing first NATO and then, in 2004, the I will probably be the first Polish foreign member states are not interested in European Union. Crucially, Germany minister in history to say so, but here it it at all. We have different views consupported Poland’s return to Europe. is: I fear German power less than I am cerning Ukraine but at least they care, The process of reconciliation between beginning to fear German inactivity. he said. The relationship is lop-sided Poland and Germany predates EU ac- You have become Europe’s indispensa- given the sizes of the two countries cession of course. A pastoral letter writ- ble nation. Sikorski believes Poland has and because Poland is not a member ten by Polish bishops to their German already come to terms with its domi- of the Eurozone, the primary issue counterparts in November 1965, in nant neighbour. I would say that the exercising German politician’s minds. which they declared: ‘We forgive and job of reconciliation with Germany is We are peripheral in that sense but we ask for forgiveness’, was a milestone. pretty much done. We are now treaty are top of the German’s list when it But Berlin has only become Warsaw’s allies in NATO and we are members of comes to eastern and central Europe. key ally since the centre-right Civic the same European family where we Certainly Germany pays more atten- Adam Easton has Platform (PO) party took office in 2007. have daily business on all aspects. It’s a tion to Poland’s opinion than it used been the BBC correspondent in Warsaw The shift in policy followed two years of very intimate relationship. Germany is to in the context of Russia’s relation- since 2003. Previously uneasy sensitivity characterized by the by far our biggest trading partner. By ship with the EU. That wasn’t the case he was the BBC corlate President Lech Kaczyński cancel- getting involved in Europe Poland has before. I don’t think we’re essential to respondent in Venezuela covering events ling a summit meeting between Polish, found, particularly under this German Germany’s eastern policy but we’re an such as the attempted coup against PresiGerman and French leaders, after the government, a friendly partner, he said important part of it, Zaborowski said. dent Hugo Chavez German newspaper, Tageszeitung , lik- during a debate with the former US in 2002. Prior to that ened he and his identical twin broth- Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, in Influencing Eastern policy Adam was the Manila er, Jarosław, then the Prime Minister, Warsaw on June 27.

There are differences of course, nota- correspondent for to potatoes. The Kaczyńskis believed Marcin Zaborowski agrees with- bly over Poland’s other main historical The Guardian newspaper. Adam has been Poland’s interests were best served by Sikorski, saying relations between foe, Russia. Poland is on the EU’s bor- a journalist for almost the transatlantic relationship. In con- the two countries have never been der and Warsaw is concerned about two decades working trast Prime Minister Donald Tusk has better. He says Sikorski’s personal the often less stable and democratic for newspapers, radio and television in the taken a decidedly cooler approach to relationship with his German coun- countries between itself and Russia. UK, Europe, Asia, Washington, emphasizing the coun- terpart, Guido Westerwelle, is par- Berlin is surrounded by stable, dem- and the Americas. try’s ties with the EU, and Germany ticularly close and has produced joint ocratic states, and focuses on the in particular. initiatives on Belarus, Ukraine and 27-member bloc’s relationship with Moldova. Zaborowski points out that Russia. The starkest difference can be The indispensable one diplomacy is now not restricted to the seen in energy policy. Germany took Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław level of leaders but occurs regularly part in the construction of the Nord Sikorski, chose Berlin to give a key- on the level of deputy ministers and Stream pipeline that brings Russian gas note speech on the Eurozone crisis last senior civil servants. This is an admin- along the Baltic seabed. Warsaw worNovember. Recalling Poland’s transi- istration that is more oriented towards ried the new pipeline meant Gazprom tion from communist dictatorship to Europe. It doesn’t run foreign policy could turn off the taps to Poland and democracy, Sikorski, said, We appre- on the basis of historically driven per- use energy as a tool. Sikorski comciate the strong and generous support ceptions. It’s a pragmatically minded plained that Berlin had not consulted – the solidarity – which Germany has foreign policy. It’s partly about pur- Warsaw’s opinion before agreeing extended to us over the last two dec- suing Polish interests but it’s also be- to the project and likened it to the ades. Ich danke Ihnen als Politiker und cause we have similar interests such Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that reals Pole. He went on to urge Berlin to as Eastern Europe because Germany sulted in Poland being carved up betake decisive action to save the Euro. actually cares about it and many EU tween Nazi Germany and the USSR.

with Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk as they pose during a photocall at town hall in Hamburg February 27, 2009, before the traditional annual 'Matthiae dinner'.

‘The Kaczyńskis believed Poland’s interests were best served by the transatlantic relationship. In contrast Prime Minister Donald Tusk has emphasized the country’s ties with the EU, and Germany in particular’ Chancellor Merkel saw Nord Stream as a means of diversifying its energy imports. Poland wishes to diversify too, but Soviet-era infrastructure means it has far fewer options. Until recently, it had no alternative than to source two thirds of its annual gas consumption through a single pipeline from Russia under a swingeing take-or-pay contract indexed to high crude oil prices.

Tusk also wants to build the first nuclear power plants in Poland, just as Germany is shutting down its own in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

Germany also opposes shale gas exploration that Poland has been spearheading in Europe as a way to lessen its dependence on Russian imports. It’s partly on environmental grounds but avoiding upsetting Gazprom may be a factor. It’s somewhat surprising, then, that Germany’s trade with Poland is

Angela Merkel and Donald Tusk brief the

Angela Merkel laughs next to Donald Tusk

POLAND

GERMANY

Population: approx. 38 mln Public debt (2011): 56,3% GDP Public debt in EUR (2011): 193 bln Budget deficit (2011): -5,1% GDP growth (2011): 4,35% unemployment (2010): 9,6%

Population approx. 82 mln Public debt (2011): 81,2 % GDP Public debt in EUR (2011): 2100 bln Budget deficit (2011): -1% GDP growth (2011): 3% unemployment (2010): 7,1

Poland is the 34th most populous country in the world

Germany is the 16th most populous country in the world

source: Eurostat, World Bank

source: Eurostat, World Bank

media on details of a fatal accident on the A10 motorway, at the Polish embassy in Berlin, September 26, 2010.

during an European Union extraordinary leaders summit on Libya and North Africa, in Brussels March 11, 2011.

bigger than it is with Russia. Last year and Zafira cars in Gliwice, and is one of it was worth EUR 69 billion, up by one the largest foreign investors in Upper quarter since 2007. For two decades, Silesia, employing 3,000 staff. The auGermany has been by far Poland’s most tomotive sector and business process important trading partner with German outsourcing, especially in IT, are the exports to Poland growing nine-fold two main growth trends in the last six since 1990. Germany mainly exports years, Katarzyna Soszka-Ogrodnik, machinery and electrical goods, indus- spokeswoman for the Polish-German trial plant, automobiles, chemicals and Chamber of Commerce in Warsaw says. plastic products.

According to one of their reports in According to the German Foreign March, Poland was rated the most atOffice, Germany is the largest for- tractive country for investment in ceneign investor in Poland in terms of the tral and Eastern Europe as a result of it number of investors and the amount being in the EU and its well-qualified invested. Among the major German and motivated workforce. Poland’s investments in Poland are the chemi- success in weathering the economic cal and pharmaceutical industries, me- crisis has undoubtedly helped and has chanical engineering and car manu- perhaps helped changed German perfacture. Volkswagen produces its small ceptions about its neighbour. But the vans, the Caddy and Transporter, in greatest success is that their shared the company’s second largest factory tragic history no longer dominates in Poznań. Opel manufactures its Astra their relationship. by Adam Easton

photos in the article: Reuters (Johannes Eisele, Kacper Pempel, Vasily Fedosenko, Peter Andrews, Thomas Peter, Christian Charisius, Tobias Schwarz, Francois Lenoir

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks

20 HOW MUCH GRRR DOES THE ECONOMIC TIGER OF CENTRAL EUROPE STILL HAVE? ECONOMY

Perspectives for the Polish economy

1990

1991

photo: Leszek Zych

Ceteris paribus

Katya Andrusz is

a freelance journalist who has covered German and Central European affairs for more than a decade, working for Reuters, Bloomberg News, The Economist and The Guardian. She specialises in political and economic issues, reporting on Poland’s entry into the European Union and the region’s increasing weight in the EU from Warsaw and Brussels.

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

is a term much (Romania comes second with about 21 beloved of economists meaning ‘all million, but its economy is not much things being equal’. It is also helpful above a third the size of Poland’s), and to all those without a crystal ball who thus far less reliant on external demand. wish to describe the outlook for the Even exports held up far better Polish economy, which has surprised than many expected after appetite for even its own architects with its resil- Polish goods in Western Europe faded, ience over the last, troubled five years. as the zloty lost almost a quarter of its Poland’s economic success story value against the euro, making Poland began with a coincidence. The short- much more competitive than for examlived government of the Kaczyński ple the Baltic economies, whose curtwins’ Law & Justice (PIS) party, which rencies were at the time all pegged to is not known for its economic pres- the euro in the exchange-rate mechacience, approved a reduction in em- nism (Estonia has since adopted the ployers’ contributions and in personal euro, but that’s another story). income tax that came into effect in 2008 and 2009 respectively. The re- Football fever sult? As the global economy slumped To top it all, in 2007 Poland won a bid in the aftermath of Lehman Brothers’ to co-host this year’s European footcollapse, Polish gross domestic prod- ball championship, which not only uct expanded 1.6% in 2009, the only boosted national morale, but was also member of the European Union not to a powerful motivation to overcome go into recession. The spur to domestic years of inertia and construct more consumption brought about by the tax than 500 kilometres of motorway, not cut helped increase Poland’s independ- to mention stadia. Hotels were built ence, already greater than elsewhere and extra turf laid for national teams in Central Europe, from the travails of quartered in Poland to practise on its western neighbours. Poland’s pop- ahead of their games, while brewers ulation of 38 million makes the coun- rubbed their hands in expectation try by far the biggest market of the 10 of beer-thirsty tourists from abroad. post-communist countries that have We had football fever, consumers with joined the EU over the last eight years money in their pockets, and a free-float-

1998

1999

2000

ing currency, and for a while that was all we needed, said Maciej Krzak, economics expert at the Centre for Social and Economic Research in Warsaw.

The prime minister, Donald Tusk, called a special press conference on the day the statistics office released the 2009 GDP figures and beamed as proudly as his recent British counterparts announcing the birth of their babies outside No. 10 as he gestured to a map behind him of the EU, with each member state coloured in red for recession, and only Poland shaded green for growth.

However, Mr Tusk was not looking as cheerful when he called a press conference at the beginning of September, less than a week after the national statistics office announced that growth had slowed to an annual 2.4% in the second quarter of 2012 from 4.2% in the same period last year. Politicians shouldn’t give up their dreams for anything unless it’s for figures, he said. The figures have to add up.

Forecasts cut Not that much has been adding up lately in the Polish economy.

Companies aren’t hiring, wages are barely growing, and unemployment

2001

21

20 years of economic growth. If the IMF's April forecasts are correct, Poland is still streets ahead of the eurozone's troubled south

ECONOMY

+8% +7%

Po la nd

+6% +5%

ce ee Gr

+4% +3% +2%

Spain 2002

2003

2004

Italy

+1% 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

0% -1% -2% -3% -4% -5%

is growing. The unsurprising result?

Consumers didn’t spend as much as was hoped for during the European Championship, and they still aren’t – which is the real worry. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has savagely cut its Polish growth forecast for 2013, and it isn’t the only bank to do so.

According to Raffaella Tenconi, an economist at BoA , one of the Polish economy’s biggest problems is that it has seemingly lost the confidence of the Polish people.

I think the downturn is very much becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy of manufacturers have said they intend low confidence, she says. Of course, to cut jobs makes this forecast, for given the depth of the eurozone crisis, many, less than plausible. if you’re sitting in Warsaw and looking at what’s happening in Frankfurt, Spanish scenario it’s entirely reasonable to be cau- The jobless rate is higher than it was tious. Piotr Kowalski, who heads Fitch towards the end of 2011, even though Ratings Polish office, believes much we are at the height of the year for of the drop in confidence is due to seasonal work in the construction and the tight labour market. People aren’t agriculture sectors. And unemploybuying because they’re afraid for their ment among young people is above jobs, he says. Everyone is expecting the already unenviably high EU averunemployment to rise. The jobless age of about 23%. World Bank figures rate has remained above 12% all this show that Poland also has the highest year. While the government said re- number of temporary appointments cently that unemployment would av- in Central Europe, making up about a erage 12.4% in 2013, the fact that so fifth of all new jobs. The negative situfew companies are hiring and many ation on the labour market has been

‘The downturn is very much becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy of low confidence’

exacerbated by low wage growth, which together with relatively high inflation has meant that workers’ salaries were effectively cut for several months of the last year. This has slowed consumer spending, a vital component of Poland’s economic growth since the global crisis broke. Price increases have also been a major cause of the recent spate of bankruptcies in the construction sector such as PBG SA , ironic as the company co-built Warsaw’s brand new sports stadium for this year’s UEFA cup. Many of these firms hedged for price increases in materials from steel to cement far below their final cost, leaving them out of pocket even when investors had finished paying their bills.

My biggest fear is the Spanish scenario, says Przemysław Wipler, a member of parliament for Law & Justice who sits on the parliamentary public finance committee, referring to the country’s 50% youth unemployment rate. That would depress morale even more among young people who are already having a hard time. After a drop in 2006-08, last year almost 7% of the population lived in extreme poverty, defined as having an income no higher than 495 zloty a month for a one-person household.

-6% -7% -8% -9% -10% -11% -12% -13% -14% -15% -16% -17% -18% -19% -20% -21%

22 ECONOMY

illustration: Ignacy Ostrowski

Prime Minister Donald Tusk has

a lot on his mind, some negative, some positive. How will he reconcile these in the months ahead?

Law & Justice leader Jarosław Kaczyński is proposing a number of reforms the party says will boost growth and eliminate social inequality, but has Mr Tusk’s supporters holding their ears and running for cover. Measures would include a tax on banks and hypermarkets, longer maternity leave, repealing recent legislation to raise the retirement age, cutting disability contributions for employers, and spending more on getting the unemployed back into paid work.

The labour minister, a member of the more socially minded junior coalition party, only recently won a battle with his colleague from the finance ministry over the release of a fraction of additional funds to assist the jobless that are currently frozen, helping to shave billions of zloty off the budget deficit.

Dariusz Rosati, a member of the prime minister’s Civic Platform (PO) party and head of the public finance committee, speaks of ordinary Poles ‘feeling the pinch’ as unemployment has risen and after social benefit levels were frozen.

This, though, is not enough for his committee colleague Mr Wipler, who fears the longer-term effects on society. Of course GDP and other macroeconomic data are important, but these are our

people, he says. We could see them being lost to society if they’re ignored as they have been.

Plenty of homework

gathering is a throwback to even earlier, to Tsarist times. There’s nothing in the Polish constitution that says you need a red stamp to seal a deal, but people carry on doing it because that’s how things have always been done.

Seeking solutions to these problems is not easy. Of course, if it had not been for the euro-area crisis, higher growth Deficit target in Western Europe would have kept Although Poland’s position has apparPolish exports growing at a decent ently greatly improved this year, the rate, and market jumpiness would not country is currently 62nd in the World have sent the zloty into a downward Bank’s ease of doing business ranking. spiral. Still, blaming the situation in This puts it behind Hungary, the basket the euro zone for all of Poland’s cur- case of Central Europe, not to menrent economic woes is not an op- tion Armenia and Kazakhstan. Hardly tion, according to World Bank econo- a selling point for the EU’s self-styled mist Emilia Skrok. I wouldn’t focus too economic oasis. much on events in the euro zone – the Then there is the thorny issue of the Poles have plenty to do at home, she budget deficit. While the government says. There is a horrendous infrastruc- cut the shortfall from 7.8% of output ture gap in Poland. There are roads in 2010 to 5.1% of GDP last year, the that need building, and the railway number of economists who believed connections are appalling.

Mr Tusk would meet his aim of reducIn addition, establishing and run- ing it to the targeted 2.9% of GDP this ning firms has to be made easier, says year was always few and far between.

Peter Turo, an entrepreneur who left And now the prime minister himself Poland some 30 years ago and only has announced that the budget gap recently returned to set up a number will be 3.5% of GDP this year, above of businesses. The bureaucracy here the EU’s ceiling. really reminds me of the communist Most important now is that the govera – it’s the same mentality, the same ernment reacts to the new situation procedures, he says. And the stamp- to make sure it doesn’t threaten its

24 ECONOMY

POLISH EXPORTS

POLISH IMPORTS

Developed countries: 82,9% Developing countries: 8% European Union: 76,8% Eurozone: 52,9% Central & Eastern Europe: 9,1% Germany: 25,5% UK: 6,6% Czech Republic: 6,3% France: 6,2%

Developed countries: 64% Developing countries: 19,4% European Union: 57,2% Eurozone: 44,8% Central & Eastern Europe: 16,6% Germany: 21,2% Russia: 14,6% China: 8,8% Italy: 5,2%

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Structure of trade in percentages

of the total export and import. source: National Statistics Office (GUS)

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

150 142 131 120

Balance of trade

Exports

117

116 107

in EUR billions.

Imports exceed exports. source: National Statistics Office (GUS)

Imports

136

100

81 71 53

56 40

58 43

60

102

98

88

71

60

48

34

‘Polish fundamentals are robust, the economy has minimal structural challenges and the debt burden is well manageable’ well established credibility at home or abroad, that it says it will take steps to keep the economy on an even keel, says Ms Skrok. The prime minister has his work cut out ahead of a major speech to parliament in a few weeks, she adds. My biggest fear for the economy at the moment would be irresponsible or controversial political decisions that threaten our credibility with the markets. However, excessive passivity would also be a mistake, since that would look as though the government had either not noticed or was ignoring the new situation.

Getting better all the time Nevertheless, investors in Poland are not intending to leave as the conditions are far better than they could expect elsewhere, believes Ms Tenconi.

I’m not at all afraid of an investor run on Poland, she says. Polish fundamentals are robust, the economy has minimal structural challenges and the debt burden is well manageable. The problems in the eurozone periphery have shifted capital to other destinations with limited default risk, Poland is one of them. For the moment, investor confidence is ringing loud and clear.

If only temporarily, Poland’s creditdefault swaps sank to levels below those of France this year for the first time. And as parliamentary committee head Mr Rosati says: I’ve been surprised by how well markets have reacted to our reforms so far. Look at how our bond yields have fallen! Indeed, the yield on Poland’s five-year bond fell to a record low in September, making it cheaper for the government to borrow.

Poland’s position as Central Europe’s largest market, combined with the government’s efforts to restructure the economy and keep a tight hold on public finances, mean that investor confidence in Poland is at a higher level than the former Soviet satellite could have dreamt of two decades ago. And this is likely to remain the case – even if the economic indicators don’t look too rosy at the moment.

We envisaged a slowdown and if it turns out to be a bit deeper than we thought, that doesn’t bother us too much, says Fitch’s Mr Kowalski.

If the Polish government really implements the reforms it says it will and they bear fruit, then I think Poland could be a star. All things being equal.

by Katya Andrusz

26 FINANCIAL BLOODBATH ON THE HIGHWAYS ECONOMY

photo: Kacper Kowalski (Forum)

Flaws in infrastructure tenders have been disastrous for Poland’s construction industry

In 2009 and 2010, when Poland finally embarked on a

The A1 highway

construction on the Nowe Marzy-Toruń section. Once completed, it will run from Gdańsk in the north of Poland, to the Czech border in the south.

massive round of public tenders to speed up its road modernisation programme, the government’s main concern was that the process not be tainted with the allegations of corruption that linger over many other big projects in the region, and that the process follow EU norms, crucial to unlocking billions in structural funds from Brussels. As the government’s road-building agency undertook more than 140 tenders worth about 70bn zlotys (EUR 16.7bn), those two goals were largely met – the process was seen as relatively clean and the EU did not have much problem in refunding a large proportion of the building projects (10bn zlotys have flowed back to Poland just this year). But the result of the agency’s dogmatic adherence to standards has turned into a disaster for the Polish construction industry. Dozens of contractors have gone bust this year alone, endangering the completion of several highway projects, undercutting future investment programmes in upgrading power and natural gas infrastructure, dragging down the stock market, even throwing a scare into the country’s banks, which lent enormous sums to contrac-

tors when doing so seemed to be a no-risk proposition.

Fulfilling EU obligations meant that the conditions given us contractors were very demanding. We all wanted to do well, but it ended badly, said Jerzy Wiśniewski, the founder of PBG, one of Poland’s largest contractors, which declared bankruptcy in June after mis-pricing several highway construction projects.

Misplaced expectations When the General Directorate of National Roads and Motorways announced the tenders, the construction industry engaged in a race to the bottom, competing so fiercely to win contracts that they left themselves no margin for error. I would have preferred to have spaced it out over time, but we had to conclude the investment process by 2015, said Lech Witecki, head of the Directorate. The reason is that 2015 is the last year in which projects under the EU’s 2007-2012 budget can still be reimbursed. Also playing a role was the government’s mad push to get high-profile highway projects completed before this June, when Poland was cohost of the European football championships. We warned

them to be careful, to keep in mind that they would all be We simply couldn’t knock off the cheapest bid, said Witecki. buying cement, steel and asphalt at the same time – some- In the end the suspicions about Covec’s ability to get the thing that could mean price rises. Everyone understood, job done proved justified, and the company was not ressaid Witecki. While construction companies may have un- cued by Beijing. After failing to pay subcontractors it was derstood, they also took a risky bet, hoping that prices kicked off the project and replaced by DSS, a former gravwould remain under control and that, if a problem did turn el supplier turned construction company which was also up, that the Directorate would be flexible and kick in a bit bankrupted by the project. extra to help struggling companies. We construction comThe bloodbath in the construction sector has turned into panies had to start for these contracts. They had the peo- a political problem for the government of Prime Minister ple and the equipment which would otherwise be standing Donald Tusk, with the result that the current approach to idle, said Maciej Radziwiłł, the former CEO of Trakcja-Tiltra , public tenders will likely change. The contractors’ cause has a railway construction company whose highway subsidi- been adopted by Waldemar Pawlak, the economy minister ary, Poldim, also recently declared bankruptcy. The rosy and leader of the Polish People’s Party (PSL), junior member assumptions of construction companies turned into a sea of of the ruling coalition, who sees the potential of differentired ink as raw material prices skyrocketed. Asphalt prices ating himself from his larger partner in Tusk’s Civic Platform rose by 14% in 2010 and a further 25% in 2011; steel rose party and of shoring up his party’s support among small by 73% and then by 10%, while fuel jumped by 13% in 2010 and medium sized businesses. Pawlak wants the government to buy bonds issued by distressed construction comand 16% in 2011.

The contracts signed by the Directorate gave the agency panies as a way of keeping them in business, an idea being no pricing flexibility, and the companies were left to absorb fiercely resisted by Jacek Rostowski, the finance minister. the higher costs on their own. Of course managers made Banks turning their backs mistakes, but the state did not protect us Minister of Treasury Mikołaj Budzanowski at all from risk, said Radziwiłł. Added to that, the Directorate stuck with draconian is suggesting that the government either fines for any delays – some contracts had kick in 385m zlotys to help rescue PBG – a provisions calling for penalties of 0.7% of company that also built three of the four the full bid amount for every day of delay. football stadiums used in the championWitecki argues that his agency’s hands ships and is involved in building a new were tied. I can’t change anything in the LNG terminal on the Baltic coast as well contract, he said. That runs into refunding as other energy infrastructure project. risks from the EU and I also run the risk of Budzanowski’s other idea is for the treasfacing challenges from contractors who ury to buy up some of PBG’s subsidiaries did not win the tender. The Directorate is to give the company a needed cash injection. The Directorate is also starting show already facing 3bn zlotys in claims from some more flexibility in its approach to disgruntled companies that did not win contracts.

The government is looking at legislation that tenders, and any rule-bending in favour of contract winners would see that amount rise significantly. Witecki pulled would ensure that money paid to lead contractors is flowout a piece of paper and sketched a highway overpass ing down the food chain to subcontractors – something that would allow animals to cross safely over the road. The that has not always happened, leaving smaller companies contract calls for this to be built in concrete but we have in financial difficulty even if the Directorate is paying its contractors claiming it’s just as good if it’s built out of cor- bills. We are undertaking a decisive change in the law on rugated steel – which is a lot cheaper. I just can’t allow that, public tenders so that all subcontractors are defined and I he said. He added: We are the biggest beneficiaries of EU will have to know that everyone has been paid. That will be funds. The EU is giving us money and we are holding open a condition of paying the general contractor, said Witecki. and transparent tenders. We have to follow the law.

The Directorate is also promising to pay funds as soon as the correct paperwork is received instead of delaying payChinese troubles ment for 47 days as allowed under contracts, something The signs of trouble came in 2010 when Covec, a Chinese that created cash flow problems for contractors in the past. construction company, bid for two tenders to build sec- As well, new contracts will allow for a prepayment of up tions of Poland’s east-west A2 highway connecting Warsaw to 10% of the bid amount in order to help with cash flow, to the German border. The bid came in 40% below the something increasingly important because banks are now Directorate’s own estimate, so low that outraged competi- very unwilling to lend to contractors. Banks are now territors complained to Brussels that Covec was price dumping fied, they see these as toxic assets, said Radziwiłł. and that there was no way that the company could build New tenders will also allow for some risk sharing in the the road for the price it suggested. The Directorate was event that raw materials prices move against contractors, also suspicious, asking the Chinese to justify their low price, although they will also contain provisions allowing the which they did by saying that if they had to, they would Directorate to claw back some costs if prices fall. The govimport labour and machinery from China and that they ernment is also working on an EU-compliant definition of excould rely on their own funds, reducing their borrowing cessively low bids, making it easier to knock off bids whose costs. Privately, the Poles expected Covec to be backed by costs seem wildly out of proportion to the Directorate’s esthe Chinese government, which was keen to grab a share timates. That doesn’t make the present situation any less of European infrastructure projects and the Polish project bitter for people like Wiśniewski, who has seen his life’s work would have been a good advertisement. The Directorate close to collapse. If we could go back in time, I think all sides also asked the European Commission to define excessively would change their approach, but we’ve signed contracts low bids, but had no legal way of rejecting the Chinese. and we’re bound by them, he said. by Jan Cienski

‘Dozens of contractors have gone bust this year alone’

27

ECONOMY

Jan Cienski is the

Warsaw and Prague correspondent for the Financial Times. He has been in Warsaw since 2003. Prior to that he spent five years as the Washington correspondent for the National Post, a Canadian newspaper.

He also spent several years in the US working for the Associated Press. From 1992 to 1995 he worked in Moscow for the German News Agency DPA. Jan has a degree in international relations from the University of Toronto.

28 ECONOMY

On track for global opportunities A big firm from a small Polish city to provide trains of the future for Germany

‘The deal for 470 railway cars is worth EUR 1.2 bn and starts from December 2013’

One of PESA's trains at the InnoTrans fair

in Berlin, where the Bydgoszcz-based company signed the biggest deal in its history with Deutsche Bahn AG

Polish rolling stock manufacturer PESA Bydgoszcz SA has signed a five-year contract with Deutsche Bahn Regio AG to supply the German national rail network with up to 470 railway cars. The deal, which is worth up to EUR 1.2 bln and carries a possible two year extension, starts from December 2013. The vehicle to be delivered is the new diesel-powered Link train, which the company is understandably proud of. 'ink is the best DMU (diesel multiple unit) in Europe at the moment said PESA’s CFO, Robert Świechowicz. The deal was inked in Berlin at the InnoTrans fair, where PESA also presented two other vehicles: the Gama locomotive and the Twist tram, and signed a contract with Lithuanian Railways to supply three

630M diesel vehicles to add to the 10 bought between 2008 - 2011. To cap an already triumphant few days for the Bydgoszcz-based vehicle manufacturer, the company presented the first of 12 Link trains to German carrier Regentalbahn AG - whose president Gerhard Knoebel said: its interior and exterior design sets the standard for German railways – and took orders from Czech carrier ĆeskeDrahy for 31 trains and West Pomerania voivodship (Zachodniopomorskie) for two.

This contract is not just a business success for PESA, which was on the verge of bankruptcy 10 years ago, said Adrian Furgalski, a member of the board of TOR Transport Consultants Group and director of the Railway Business Forum. It is an economic success for Poland and a reason to be proud of yet another product 'made in Poland' and now gone international. The position of Poland as one the top exporters of (railway) cars and buses is undeniable.

Several factories, including PESA, have introduced new cars and engines to the market and are characterized by western quality and cheaper Polish price, which under the global economic circumstances is an important factor for all railway related businesses.

According to Piotr Michalczyk, a Director at PwC in Poland, the deal could have wider positive connotations for Polish business, not only in the transport sector. This agreement, the first between the two companies, could help PESA to play more than a regional role and potentially to open other significant markets, he said.

Additionally, it is a chance to increase the exchange of technical knowledge, as many components will be sourced from German suppliers. In a global perspective, this deal could change the perception of Polish companies and strengthen their position during other significant international tenders, not only in this particular industry, he added.

The Gama is a powerful diesel family of vehicles which can be used for either freight or passenger use and can be reconfigured to adapt to different countries and used for cross-border traffic. The Twist tram is for carriers operating in mediumsized cities with smaller passenger streams. The first city to order the model was Częstochowa, population 240,000, which ordered seven.

by Richard Stephens

PESA BYDGOSZCZ company profile: PESA Bydgoszcz SA deals

with rail rolling stock construction, upgrading and repairs. It is a Polish company with more than 160 years of tradition, cooperating with leading research and scientific centres. From a design developed by a team of 200 designers working in the R&D Department to the ready vehicle, tested on PESA's own test tracks, all products are created in the manufacturing process performed by PESA Bydgoszcz.

30 THE POLISH EFFECT SHINES ON EURO 2012

The Legacy of Poland’s biggest ever sporting event

Polish football fans’

Jonathan Fowler

has been an Agence France-Presse correspondent in Poland since the end of 2006.

He focused on the build-up to EURO 2012, was part of the coverage team and is now probing the competition’s legacy in Poland. Prior to Warsaw, Jonathan was based in Geneva, covering the UN, the International Committee of the Red Cross and sports bodies such as FIFA, UEFA and the IOC, working there originally for the AP and then for AFP.

dreams of a return to the glory leaders over Kiev’s treatment of jailed opposition leader days of the 1970s and 1980s were dashed when their team Yulia Tymoshenko. There were also stark warnings of racist crashed out in the group stage of Euro 2012. But hosting violence in the two countries’ stadiums, fueled by the BBC’s the high-profile European championship was always go- ‘Stadiums of Hate’ documentary. ing to be about far more than the action on the pitch for a country looking to change its image on the global stage Platini’s pride and reap rewards on the economic front. On a string on However, what needed to be built was finally built. And non-sporting counts, Poland is upbeat about what it sees apart from skirmishes between Russian and Polish fans prias a resounding success at the 16-team tournament, which or to a group match in Warsaw and incidents of racial abuse was co-hosted with neighbouring Ukraine and ran from that led to fines for the Russian, Spanish and Croatian footJune 8 to July 1. Having won plaudits ball federations, the tournament largely from both the sport’s European governavoided controversy and turned into a giant party. The overwhelming feeling I ing body UEFA and the foreign fans who have today is pride, UEFA chief Michel flooded in, the country aims to capitalise Platini said as Euro 2012 wrapped up. on its three weeks in the global spotlight.

In addition, the pressure to get ready was Pride for Poland and Ukraine, so often dea catalyst for a string of long-delayed incried but who proved they were up to the task by putting on such a great tournafrastructure projects, including new moment. And pride for the people of Poland torways and airports.

Up there with ‘going forward’, ‘leverand Ukraine, who were such wonderful age’ and a multitude of other buzzwords, hosts. UEFA is right to be pleased, and not just because of the festive atmos‘legacy’ is a label stuck on international sporting showcases of all shapes and phere. We had 1.44 million attendance, sizes. Often maligned by critics as little and we sold 100 percent of the tickets. more than jargon that masks windowThat’s the first time we’ve really sold 100% dressing, it has real meaning for Poland, of the tickets,’ said Martin Kallen, UEFA’s which understood from the outset the operations director. He acknowledged that there was disappointment over nosignificance of the first-ever edition of the quadrennial tournament to take place shows at some games, which led to gaps behind the former Iron Curtain. There are in stadiums that were all-too visible durmany elements to the thing that we call ing some match broadcasts. One of the legacy, said Mikołaj Piotrowski, commudown points was that we sold 100 percent nications chief at PL.2012, the state-run of the tickets but for attendance we had body that oversaw preparations for eve98.6%, so in some matches we could see rything but the action on the pitch. From that seats were empty. They were all sold, the very first day it was a story about debut some people didn’t attend for some velopment, change and strengthening reason. But that’s still a very high number our image, he explained. We showed the and a fantastic achievement from our side world that we’re a reliable partner in these in the ticketing area. In addition to supvery difficult times and reliability today is the currency that porters inside the eight stadiums in Poland and Ukraine, doesn’t lose value. It could have been a very different mat- a total of seven million people watched matches by live link ter, if the critics had been proven right. When UEFA de- in the host countries’ fanzones, up from 4.2 million at Euro cided in April 2007 to pick Poland and Ukraine’s bid to host 2008 in Switzerland and Austria. The European championthe championship over that of the favourite Italy, naysayers ships are UEFA’s financial engine, and income hit EUR 1.383 claimed it was a major mistake. Attention remained locked billion at Euro 2012, up from EUR 1.351 billion at the 2008 on the massive infrastructure challenges facing the region, edition. TV rights sales, which traditionally form the bulk of with fears that neither country would be prepared in time that sum, were EUR 815 million, up from 780 million. Cost to handle the influx of fans. UEFA itself upped the pres- figures are still being calculated, but Kallen said the final resure via a string of damning reports about the host nations’ sult was likely to be a whisker less than at Euro 2008, where readiness. Poland was embarrassed by a series of delays in operating profit was EUR 700 million. The lion’s share of the construction of Warsaw’s new National Stadium, venue Euro profits is used to fund grassroots football developfor the opening match. Its problems came to be overshad- ment in UEFA’s 53 member associations.

It’s not just UEFA which came away happy from Euro 2012 owed by those of Ukraine, however, with the weeks before on the financial front. Official figures show that the number the tournament seeing threats of a boycott by European

‘When UEFA decided in April 2007 to pick Poland and Ukraine’s bid to host the championship over that of the favourite Italy, naysayers claimed it was a major mistake’

The last construction works on the

photos: Darek Golik (Forum), Jan Włodarczyk (Forum)

A2 highway at a junction between Jawczyce and Pruszków.

EURO 2012 speeded up infrastructure investment dramatically.

of fans who flooded into Poland either to attend matches or simply soak up the atmosphere was 600,000 short of the hoped-for 700,000 to one million. But at 900 million zloty (EUR 216 million), their spending during the three weeks of play beat the forecast of 768 million zloty (EUR 184 million), according to PL.2012’s figures. Over and above that short-term injection of cash, Poland hopes to build on word-of-mouth publicity from supporters, who have given the country the thumbs up. The vast majority had never been to Poland before. A full 85 % of a representative sample of 4,009 foreign fans in Poland surveyed by the PBS public opinion institute at the end of the tournament had a positive view. A total of 92 % said they would recommend Poland as a tourist destination, and 80 % that they were likely to come back themselves. When people were thinking about Poland before Euro 2012, they were thinking about a country with bears on the street or something, joked Marta Brzegowa, the capital Warsaw’s Euro 2012 spokeswoman. We showed people from another part of Europe that we’re a modern, growing capital and really in the heart of Europe. That’s very important for us. Along with the Baltic

port of Gdańsk, the western city of Poznań and Wrocław in the southwest, Warsaw formed the quartet of Polish cities that hosted matches. The good feedback about the cities among foreign tourists should pay off. Maybe not tomorrow, nor in a month, but everything that was done ahead of Euro 2012 and during the tournament will be of benefit, according to analyst Halina Wasilewska-Trenkner, a former member of Poland’s Monetary Policy Council. Poland, far from being a first-choice visitor destination, aims to climb the global rankings. Experts estimate that thanks to the Euro 2012 feedback, the number of foreign tourists, currently 10 million a year, could jump to 13.6 million in 2013 and continue to rise by 500,000 a year up to 2020.

The Barcelona Effect – in Poland?

Poland is tapping lessons from Austria, which, although already a leading ski destination, strove to change its profile thanks to Euro 2008. The city of Innsbruck is one example. Innsbruck’s reputation as tourist city in the ’Heart of the Alps’, as well as a top destination for sport events, has grown a lot, noted Michael Bielowski, managing direc-

Morskie Oko lake

is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Tatra Mountains, visited by thousands of trekkers every day.

More foreigners should be among them in the future because of the long term tourism benefits of the competition.

32 EURO 2012

tor of OlympiaWorld, which oversees its sporting venues. noting that the gain was estimated at five years. I think it Since 2008 we’ve had a steady growth in tourist over-night was the biggest modernisation project undergone during stays of between three and eight percent per year, a bet- these hard, difficult times for the European economy. And ter image as a summer destination, and reached new mar- we all see the results today. The country’s roads have long kets.’ Portugal also managed to diversify its tourist make-up been seen as among the shoddiest in Europe, doubling the after hosting Euro 2004, spreading beyond the tradition- time taken to travel the same distances on Western highal Algarve-focused clientele. Also high in experts minds is ways, denting productivity and discouraging some foreign Spain, notably the Catalan metropolis of Barcelona. That investors. Euro 2012 has had a really positive influence on comparison is less outlandish than it seems, and goes be- the perception of Poland abroad. It’s a great opportunity to yond tourism, because the Barcelona Effect’ is economist- attract foreign investment, said Malgorzata Krzysztoszek of speak for the long-term benefits of hosting a sporting event. Polish ’ employers’ federation Lewiatan. Research has shown In Barcelona’s case, it was the 1992 Olympics, preparations that improved productivity thanks to the time-gain in the for which saw a massive refurbishment drive and major completion of investment projects should add 2.0 percentinfrastructure projects that pale in comparison with those age points to Poland’s gross domestic product up to 2020. in Poland two decades later. While the city was already on Despite grumbling about living on what has felt like a vast the tourist circuit, the number of visitors began climbing building site, Poles feel the changes when they take to the in the years immediately before the games and continued east-west highway connecting Warsaw to the German borto do so as it became a magnet. A contributing factor was der, a project that was barely ready in time for the tournathat Spain was also in the spotlight the same year thanks ment, or check in at new airports or board cutting-edge to the Expo in Seville while Madrid was the European Capital trams. A source of discontent remains the country’s rail of Culture. Now there will be the Barcelona Effect, but al- network, but even there there have been marked improveso the Polish Effect. We believe that we ments. Critics have questioned why it took a sports event have the right to use this expression, said to speed up the process, but proponents turn that around, Piotrowski. The Polish Effect connects a saying the unbreakable deadline provided a focal point that lot of elements - country modernisation, pushed different bodies to work together. strengthening the image of the country, social engagement and social capital, he Stadiums, sprouting like said, the latter a reference to the thou- mushrooms after the rain sands of volunteers who turned out to Anti-racism activists are also happy, saying Euro 2012 gave help foreign fans. And, maybe not so a boost to their work. Polish group Nigdy Więcej (Never spectacular, the gathering of experi- Again), which in 1996 launched Poland’s first football-foence for the future, not only in terms of cused campaign and is part of the Football Against Racism big sports events, but in terms of man- in Europe network, ran a major programme ahead of and aging things here inside our country. For during Euro 2012 with UEFA’s backing. Euro 2012 created a Innsbruck’s Bielowski, such ‘soft skills’ great possibility for spreading ideas and social campaigns are as significant as the measurable eco- like anti-racism or anti-discrimination, said Never Again’s nomic impact, creating a pool of ability Jacek Purski. I’m 100% sure that we reached an audience and encouraging future event organis- that we couldn’t ever have reached using any other opporers. His city has since played host to the tunity, he added. So actually what we are expecting now 2010 European handball championship is more open doors in local football structures, local clubs, and the 2011 volleyball equivalent. local NGOs, for cooperation. On the football industry side, Euro 2012 also went hand in hand with a Euro 2012 has also had an impact. 8000 stewards were vast programme of infrastructure devel- trained to deal with crowd trouble, and they are fanning out opment more or less linked to the tourna- across a Polish league long used to the vicious circle of hooment. It helped Poland project a modern liganism and the need to turn to riot police. While Warsaw’s face to those unfamiliar with its econom- National Stadium lacks links to a club and therefore will ic realities. After the dying days of com- have to seek revenue from other events such as concerts, munist rule, which still evoke an image the country’s three other tournament arenas have become of empty shelves and queues, Poland the new home of a trio of teams. The Euro effect also inintroduced sharp reforms following the spired a stadium building boom in other cities. There were regime’s 1989 fall. It has gradually clawed four new stadiums in the four host cities, but there were its way up from the low point of that era, other stadiums built in other cities - Kraków and so on, said and during the ongoing economic crisis Kallen. ‘So for football, it’s a real legacy in terms of comfort, has been the only member of the 27-na- service level and also development in terms of football in tion EU to post growth. There have been the future. Take security. It has now reached a new level on suggestions that Euro 2012 may have acted as a stimulus the private side and it’s to be implemented throughout the programme in all but name. Poland’s tournament-linked country in all the clubs.’ investment hit 94 billion zloty (EUR 22.5 billion), according The Polish public is as pleased as punch, surveys show. to PL.2012’s data. Ninety percent was public money, with The PBS poll found that 94% reckoned their country had around half of that from the EU. Officials stress that most done a good job as co-host. As recently as September 2009, projects have not been sport-related. Only 4% of spend- only 49% had said Euro 2012 would be a success on the oring went on the four Euro stadiums. The bulk was for a ganisational front. By September 2011, that figure had hit 57%, long-needed overhaul of the country’s transport network. before climbing to 63% in March this year and 85% just before We wanted to treat Euro 2012 as an engine, as a factor that kick off. A total of 92% said they would like Poland to host anwould speed up a lot of investment projects, Piotrowski said, other major sporting event in the future. by Jonathan Fowler

‘Research has shown that improved productivity thanks to the time-gain in the completion of investment projects should add 2.0 percentage points to Poland’s GDP up to 2020’

CONFERENCES

Primetime Warsaw

Thursday 21ST FEBRUARY 2013 Copernicus Science Centre, Warsaw

Warsaw, due to its history and

significance at the crossroads between East & West, is one of Europe’s great cities, the undisputed regional economic and political powerhouse.

Basking in the recent glow of hosting EURO 2012 and its status as capital of the European Union’s most dynamic economy, there has never been a better time for the city on the Vistula river.

This, the first conference to focus on Warsaw in its entirety, brings you the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.

CONFERENCES

Primetime Warsaw

WELCOME COMMENTS

Facts, figures, trends and perspectives about Warsaw.

How Warsaw compares with other capitals and major cities. What the city should concentrate on developing, which cities it should try to emulate, what mistakes it should avoid. What kind of leadership role should Warsaw play as the de facto capital city of Central & Eastern Europe?

ROLLING REAL ESTATE PANEL DISCUSSIONS Office: We’re all downtown now – defining Warsaw’s emerging business districts.

Retail: The future is… small!

Towards community retail in big cities.

Residential: What is the Warsaw buyer looking for today… and tomorrow?

Warehouse: What is the future for city warehousing? How far out is too far?

Holistic Sustainability: Reducing CO2 in buildings, thermo-modernisation of buildings, how to implement green transport.

PANEL DISCUSSION

PANEL DISCUSSION

City of Warsaw

KEYNOTE SPEECH

A vision for Warsaw

Warsaw… Poland… European Union… the World!

Warsaw’s perspectives as the capital city of a dynamically developing EU country in an increasingly global village.

How does Warsaw define its place in Poland, Europe and the world economy in these competitive and difficult economic times? What do industry leaders think about the city and its performance and perspectives? What are the priorities and plans of the city authorities.

PANEL DISCUSSION

We get around - integrating Warsaw’s transport network

How Warsaw can benefit from a fully-integrated transport network truly of the 21st Century. What are the plans, what are the realities, how far can the city go? To what extent is sustainability a part of Warsaw’s transport plan?

Warsaw City Masterplan.

Where are we now and where are we headed?

With city and district officials, architect, developer.

PANEL DISCUSSION

Riverbank development.

Unlocking the potential of Warsaw’s natural treasure, its Vistula riversides

Warsaw is the only capital city in Europe with a relatively undeveloped riverside. Visitors are amazed when they see the sandy beaches and treelined banks. How to untap the vast potential of this ‘undiscovered’ area in the heart of the city while retaining its charm and nature.

Interview with a senior representative of the City of Warsaw

Conducted by a well-known interviewer/journalist

Conference languages:

English, Polish and German ( (simultaneous translation translation)

Moderator & Programme Creator:

Richard Stephens, Poland Today Event organiser:

Poland Today

contact:

tel. +48 694 922 898 www.poland-today.pl

Thursday 21ST FEBRUARY 2013 Copernicus Science Centre, Warsaw

SUMMARY PANEL DISCUSSION

Reflections on the unique city of Warsaw COCKTAIL PARTY For conference attendees and invited guests SPECIAL PRESENTATION

Stefan Starzyński’s vision for Warsaw and how it’s being realized today

By a leading expert on Stefan Starzyński

photos by:

Bartek Banaszak, Piotr Dziubak, Artur Gajdzinski, Jan Anderman (Forum)

36 BUILDING ON SOLID GROUND REAL ESTATE

illustration: Russell Tate

Caution in Poland’s commercial property market is advisable, but not necessarily pessimism

As the monetary crisis looms over markets and the numerous questions about the Eurozone that remain unanswered breed uncertainty all across the continent, real estate investors and developers in Poland appear to be content. The situation may not as dynamic as it was some years ago and the market requires a greater degree of caution but many still see Poland as a relatively safe haven amongst the economic turmoil.

Trust you can build on Poland’s stable economy and political situation along with the size of the country are some of the most decisive factors that make it an attractive destination for real estate investors. Michael Kroeger, head of international real estate finance at Helaba Bank goes as far as saying that Poland is currently the place to go for many international investors and their banks, and this, he believes, is likely to continue into the future. Contrary to other countries in the region, Polish markets offer stability, continuous growth and professional participants. It is trust you can build on – literally,said Kroeger.

Kroeger is not isolated in his optimism.

Real estate analysts and developers based in Poland share this view and point to projects that have been completed or contracted in recent months as proof.

Poland is one of the most attractive business areas in Central and Eastern Europe due to considerable development potential and a stable economy, said Jeroen van der Toolen, managing director at Ghelamco, a developer with over 20 years’ experience in the office sector in Poland.

Ghelamco’s lease agreements for this year, which amounted to 55,000 sqm, mark a record-high figure in the company’s history. Those contracts prove that the demand for high-quality space is still on a high level and the instability of the Eurozone has little influence on our customers, said van der Toolen.

Poland continues to attract investor interest for the right sorts of reasons: the economic and political situation, together with country size, ensure that institutional investors keep Poland very much on their radars, commented John Verpeleti, managing director – CEE investment services, Colliers Inernational.

real estate market. Currently European banks are facing undercapitalization problems and having risk concerns. Even if this issue does not concern Pekao or key Polish banks, the situation in Western Europe, - especially in Germany, as Poland main foreign trade partner - has a big influence on Polish economic growth, [and what follows] on the consumption and investment trends by the Polish population and the European investors. (…)Those factors steer the turnover in the shopping centers, commercial real estate investment demand, demand for apartments, demand from tenants side and the willingness of banks to finance.

Optimism in the office sector However, if we look at the numbers the situation in the office sector does look optimistic. According to Colliers International the new supply of modern office space in the first half of this year was over 60% higher than in 2011, amounting to some 163,000 sqm. The leasing activity in the first six months of this year was also higher than in the same period in 2011 and reached 490,000 sqm. At the same time, rental rates in schemes under construction demonstrated a downward trend, while rents in existing office buildings remained stable.

The office market in the capital and most regional cities continues its positive trend from last year, agreed Paulina Misiak, head of tenant representation services, office department, Cushman & Wakefield. Since the start of the year, 11 schemes totalling 110,300 sqm have been delivered to the Warsaw market, a result similar to the 125,300 sqm achieved over the whole of 2011. Despite strict lending policies excercised by banks, new development starts have risen and the pipeline is still growing, she added.

‘The most important issue facing the Polish office market today is the balance between supply and demand for office space’

Main challenges But Verpeleti also points to the challenges facing the commercial property market in Poland and believes that the main question for the future will be whether enough quality product will be available to satisfy those still interested.

In addition, from investors’ perspective, if pricing levels are considered ‘too hot’ it may result in differentials with other markets becoming large enough to attract some or all of that interest away. Markets are, after all, swings and roundabouts, and we would all do well to remember this dynamic, concluded Verpeleti.

Marek Koziarek, managing director at the department of commercial real estate finance at Pekao Bank, is more cautious and sees the stability of the Eurozone and its impact on the financing possibilites by banks as a key issue for the

37

REAL ESTATE

Supply and demand balance

The most important issue facing the Polish office market today is the balance between supply and demand for office space. So far this year demand has remained at a strong level but it is not certain that it will continue this way. Experts agree that the monetary conditions in the next 12 – 24 months are crucial to the sector as they influence the development plans and strategies of existing companies or those who are looking at entering the country.

Indirectly, economic conditions affect the demand for office floor space and whilst demand continues to be stable there are risks of a decline in the near-future, said Brian Burgess, managing director at Savills Poland. Waldemar Lesiak, director of the office and hotel department, Echo Investment, also points to the link between development prospects for companies and demand for modern office space. If we don’t experience a sudden macroeconomic downturn the demand for quality office space will continue to increase, he said.

Lesiak notes, however, the importance of distinguishing between the Warsaw market and regional markets. While in the capital the supply-demand indicator remains at a satisfactory level, the negative impact of the financial crisis may still be seen in some of the regional markets, he explained.

An issue that is crucial to the supply-demand question is

Anna KapicaHarward writes on

a variety of subjects related to real estate and economics but also covers social and cultural topics.

A graduate from the University of London and Sheffield Hallam University, Anna has worked in the UK and Poland. In recent years she was a Real Estate Editor at the Warsaw Business Journal and Deputy Editor at Poland Monthly.

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REAL ESTATE

predictability. John Duckworth, managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle, believes that in the current economic climate ‘the spectrum of uncertainity has widened’ and sees two possible scenarios: A positive one with low vacancy levels and a constant or growing demand, and a negative one whereby the global crisis worsens causing a slowdown in Polish economy. This would push up vacancy levels, put pressure on rents and have a negative knock on effect on developers, investors and financiers. To predict which end of the spectrum the Polish office market will sit has become extremely difficult, if not impossible, said Duckworth.

He adds, however, that given a large undersupply of good modern office stock compared with many European cities, as well as other social and economic factors, the long-term view is positive, though we may see a cooling of the market in the next two years.

Growing tenant expectations Another challenge for office space developers is to optimise investment costs in view of the growing expectations from tenants. There is an increasing demand for high quality office space which offers high flexibility and can be easily adapted to tenants’ needs as well as for properties located in areas with an easy access to public transport.

More and more companies look for offices that are energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

Arkadiusz Rudzki, leasing and asset management director at Skanska Property Poland notes that such solutions will not only help them protect the environment but can also generate significant savings. Our view is that these aspects will in the near future play a greater part in the process of choosing a location, especially that tenants are mostly inernational institutions which pay a lot of attention to the quality of the work environment, said Rudzki.

A green profile for a commercial project, including such certificates as LEED or BREAM, is now a prerequisite in the selection and negotiation process, agreed Peter Obernhuber, board member at UBM, and explained that global brands and multinational corporations are now accepting ‘green aspects’ of the commercial projects as an integral part of A and A+ standards.

Renata Osiecka,

Managing Partner at real estate consultancy AXI IMMO

Waldemar Lesiak,

Director of the Office and Hotel department at Polish property development company Echo Investment

‘While in the capital the supply-demand indicator remains satisfactory, the negative impact of the financial crisis may still be seen in some regional markets’

A word of caution for retail If green is the current word for the office sector, the word for retail is caution as the effect of the Eurozone crisis may be marked more in this sector than in the other two. The economic downturn has led to decreased demand and decreased consumer spending as well as a growing popularity of discount stores. This is reflected by the turnover across all retailers, which means that retail chains are finding they need to adjust their development strategies and focus on what they know is safe. Retail chains are interested in further expansion, however, they are very cautious when evaluating potential locations. Some of them plan expansion in smaller cities, either through own stores, or more often in cooperation with franchise partners, said Dominika Jędrak, director, research and consultancy services, Colliers International.

However, Magdalena Frątczak, head of retail at CBRE , remains quite upbeat about the situation: The Eurozone crisis doesn’t really effect Poland. It is a bit of a phantom fear, she said. Although the negative mood that prevails in most European countries can also be observed among Polish consumers, Frątczak stresses that the market continues to develop at a decent pace. She also notes that Poland is still an interesting country for new brands and lists Victoria’s Secret, Marco Polo and Gap as some of the latest comers to the market. We are clearly an attractive location for new brands and this is in part due to our stable economy, said Frątczak.

Solutions for difficult times

‘Developers are oriented mainly on BTS or pre-let projects; investments in speculative projects are now a small element of their business’

Analysts believe that one of the main challenges for the sector will be ensuring that current results stay on the same level. In order to come as close as possible to meeting this challenge retailers are better off choosing large shopping centres in big cities. In difficult times the best solution for retailers is to rent space in established projects, where they can take advantage of the potential offered by a well-functioning and well-known centre, all this at a minimal cost and risk, said Marcin Materny, retail director at Echo Investment.

The advice for developers, meanwhile, is to put in every effort at the planning stage of the project to make certain that the scheme will provide exactly what is required but not more than that. More than ever now the market requires that we do our homework. We need to provide tailor-

made solutions not solutions that we hope to grow into (…)

We shouldn’t build anything too big just because we could, given the size of the plot, adds Frątczak.

Warehouse dynamics

vantages, too. By observing the growth of this segment abroad, we can avoid the errors and adapt tried and tested solutions, said Robert Dobrzycki, managing partner Central & Eastern Europe, Panattoni.

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REAL ESTATE

Though not without its problems, the Polish warehouse Infrastructure still the problem market may be one with the greatest opportunities in the Dobrzycki also believes that the development of road innear future. The relative strength of the Polish economy and frastructure and e-commerce will affect centralisation in growing logistics sector continue to drive demand for new the warehouse and logistics segment and we will see more space. Also the investors’ sentiment for Poland continues large facilities in central locations. In terms of industrial to be positive, said Bożena Krawczyk, investment director facilities, top locations are economic zones. Large logistic Central Europe of developer SEGRO. Other logistics de- centres will still be built in Central Poland (Łódź, Stryków), velopers echo Krawczyk’s optimism. In general the Polish Silesia, the outskirts of Wrocław and Poznań. However, lowarehouse market is in good shape with vacancy levels de- gistic space near the capital is expected to lose its nationcreasing and core locations being established and perform- wide status and will gravitate towards the local market, with ing well, said Ben Bannatyne, managing director at ProLogis distribution as the prevailing aspect. Poor transportation for Central and Eastern Europe. infrastructure in Eastern Poland detracts from the investIn terms of the structure, the market is mostly focused ment appeal of this region, perhaps with the exception of on BTS and pre-lets, with speculative projects constitut- industrial facilities within economic zones. Until the infraing only a small part of it. Developers are oriented mainly structure improves, even the cheaper labour pool than in on BTS or ‘pre-let’ projects; investments in speculative the western part of the country is likely to fail to attract projects are now a small element of their business. In dif- many investors. ficult times investors are more careful and ‘count twice’ before deciding to take a risk and develop a speculative A moderately positive outlook project, said Renata Osiecka, managing partner at con- So what’s in store for the commercial property market in sultancy Axi Immo. As BTS projects are typically built for 2013? Experts say that latest macroeconomic data indicate production companies, much of the development has a slowdown in Poland’s economy with lower than expectmoved to secondary and tertiary locations. However, as ed GDP figures affected by reduced consumer spending. the investor - and lenders’ - appetite for this type of prod- This has resulted in to greater caution and questions being uct softens, we expect to see a return to core locations, asked of Poland’s outlook for 2013. noted Bannatyne.

Mike Atwell, head of CEE capital markets at CBRE, names three core fundamentals that are important in such situaThe logistics of opportunities tions: occupational market performance, investors’ activity A big opportunity for the warehouse sector lies in the de- and availability of financing for investment transactions. velopment of e-commerce. It is likely to take over some Looking at Poland in the context of the above inspires more of the space currently occupied by the retail sector as de- confidence. There are differences across all the markets in mand moves from ordinary stores to online shopping. It is Poland but there is still occupational demand for quality hard to determine now how large this move will be, but it’s projects in good locations, said Atwell. He concludes that generally agreed that technological development is good 2013 is likely to be a year of reduced transactional activity for the logistics sector and is likely to gain pace when large but driven by three core fundamentals: firstly, strong ocinternet retailers enter Poland. While in Poland e-commerce cupational markets; secondly, more equity based investors; does not yet play as important a role as in the West, this and, thirdly, finance being readily available at the quality market keeps growing every year. The delay has some ad- end of the market. by Anna Kapica-Harward

‘Some chains plan expansion in smaller cities, either through their own stores, or in cooperation with franchise partners’ Dominika Jędrak, Director, Research

and Consultancy Services, at international real estate consultancy Colliers International

Robert Dobrzycki,

Managing Partner Central & Eastern Europe at international warehouse and logistics development company Panattoni

‘While in Poland e-commerce does not yet play as important a role as in the West, this market keeps growing every year’

Cloudy with a ray of hope A brief look at prospects for the Polish real estate market

OFFICE

Mladen Petrov:

is a Warsaw-based Bulgarian-born journalist, most recently with Bloomberg Businessweek Polska.

He is a frequent contributor to Capital, Bulgaria’s leading weekly publication.

His articles have appeared in publications such as The Jewish Daily Forward (USA), Haaretz (Israel) and Malemen, Forbes and Newsweek in Poland.

He is also a winner of the EU-funded ‚Journalists Against Discrimination’ award.

WAREHOUSE

Current situation: With 60% of Poland’s modern office space Current situation: With the supply of large warehouse units located in Warsaw, the capital’s office market is set for fur- drying up and speculative development significantly rether growth. Almost 100,000 sqm of office space came to duced (8,3% of the total), tenants are often having a hard time finding the appropriate space. the market in H1, over 80% of 2011’s annual supply.

The numbers: There’s relatively high demand for space. There The numbers: 560,000 sqm of warehouse space leased in was 300,000 sqm take-up in H1, an increasing vacancy rate H1 2012, a 40% decrease y-o-y. At end of Q2 the vacancy at 7.4%, with prime office rents stable at around EUR 27 rate is 11,7% (or 810,000 sqm, of which 375,500 sqm are losqm. There’s 660,000 sqm of office space currently under cated in the Warsaw area). Current modern warehouse stock stands at almost 7 mln sqm - the market has tripled in size construction.

Outlook: Developers are to going to be busy in Warsaw, with since 2005. Over 245,000 sqm of warehouse space is under the total volume of completions bringing office stock to construction in H2 2012. H1 effective rents range between 4.68 mln sqm of space by the end of 2014, up from 3,86 mln EUR 2,3 - 4 sqm. sqm at present. About 20% of the 2012-2014 development Outlook: A possible supply gap is on the way for the Polish pipeline is currently pre-leased. The high supply will put ef- industrial market. Developers might go back to a speculative fective rent under further pressure, while the vacancy rate development mode, but if this happens such projects will not be available on a large scale any time soon, coming onto the is set to increase.

The broker: Tomasz Buras, Savills: With high office pipeline market earliest in the second half of next year. Meanwhile and a growing vacancy rate – especially resulting from older the vacancy rate is expected to remain more or less at the buildings coming back to the market – we will see a stronger same level. turn into a tenant’s market in 2013. Incentives offered by de- Developer’s take: Bartosz Mierzwiak, Prologis: Starting from velopers to tenants are already good and in some cases very June/July this year we can see a change of mood and unforgenerous, but may increase in the next 12-18 months. tunately it’s not a positive one. On the development side next The institutional investor: Fabian Hellbusch, Union Investment: year we don’t expect big changes. The built-to-suit projects Poland has survived the stress test of the debt crisis with- will account for the majority of projects. There are tenants out going into recession. The real economy, which feeds the however, which is a good news for those who available space property markets, is quite stable. We see favourable market to let. Those looking to develop speculatively nevertheless conditions for real estate investments in Warsaw. But we will should be warned: there are tough times ahead. carefully watch if Poland will be able to keep on decoupling The broker: Maciej Chmielewski, Colliers International: Demand for modern warehouse space is constantly growfrom the economic developments in Europe. ing, leading to a decrease in vacancy in some regions in Poland which may result in rental rates going up. The majority of warehouses which are currently under construction are almost fully leased. Developers still have some land ready for new investments which may meet future tenants’ needs.

being scaled back, says a recent EBRD report. Are Warsaw’s office and retail sectors and Poland’s warehouse market any exception? Here is an outlook for 2013 and some important numbers to take into consideration. by Mladen Petrov.

Information based on reports by CBRE, Colliers International, DTZ, Jones Lang LaSalle, REAS and Savills

photo: Bartek Banaszak

Clouds are gathering over the economy. Poland saw a 3.5 % GDP growth in the first half of the year, but in 2012 it is to decline to 2,6-2,7%. Concerns about economic growth are increasing, despite forecasts for 2,9% growth in 2013. Next year growth should be significantly held back as public infrastructure spending abates, and some social transfers are

‘We see favourable market conditions for real estate investments in Warsaw’

RESIDENTIAL

Current situation: The so-called Developer Act of 2012 increased the number of newly released flats across Poland to record-high levels. With transaction volume remaining considerable, the number of unsold dwellings is also increasing, also partly due to banks tightening their mortgage policies.

The numbers: In Q2 the total offer in the six urban centres (which 6 urban centres) neared 56,700, a 23% growth over the past twelve-month period. At the end of H1 Warsaw RETAIL alone offered over 21,000 new units. Kraków is currently the most oversupplied city.

Current situation: Retail sales in Poland went down by a cou- Outlook: A slowdown in new projects is expected in the folple of percentage points in the first five months of 2012 over lowing quarters. With the offer growing and stable sales, the the same period in 2011 (June is not included because of sell-out period is being lengthened, currently seven quarters distortions due to EURO 2012), most likely due to worries for Warsaw and Tri-City. over the future of the economy. To what extent the drop The analyst: Paweł Sztejter, REAS: The number of transaccontinues will be something everyone involved in the retail tions taking place in the residential market might fall, given market will be watching closely. the current developments!, yet unless other negative factors The numbers: New stock completed in 2012 amounts to appear, its scale should be less dramatic than in 2009.

260,000 sqm and comprises 19 new projects, including The developer: Dror Kerem, Neocity: Oversupply on the 10 new shopping centres, four extensions, three stand-alone Warsaw residential market will last for the next 2 years, till retail warehouses and two retail parks. 31% of supply deliv- the end of 2014. Hence I expect slow activity during most of ered in H1 2012 is located in cites below 100,000 inhabitants 2013. With raw material and financial costs on the increase, meaning that growing numbers of the retail projects are no further price reduction is expected. Towards the end of smaller in scale than has hitherto been seen. the year I believe banks will see stabilization of prices and will Outlook: 600,000 sqm of new retail space will be delivered be more inclined to offer mortgages. 2015 will show some to the Polish market in 2012, spread equally over both large recovery. Nevertheless no one should expect the boom to and smalle cities. Retail chains that entered the market in H1 return. If you wish to buy for your own use next year will be 2012 included fashion brands Karen Millen (British), Victoria’s a good time to do so. If you wish to purchase as an investor Secret (American), Bonita (German) and LC Waikiki (Turkish), you may want to wait to the end of 2014. shoe brands Kari (Russian) and Tretorn (Swedish). New retailers American Eagle Outfitters and Bath & Body Works plan to enter by the end of 2012.

The developer/owner: Ran Shtarkman, CEO of Plaza Centers: The main concern is whether the Polish economy will suffer from slowdown similar to other European countries. In my opinion, it is prone to resist the crisis once more. All of our three shopping centres, in Toruń, Zgorzelec and Suwałki, are performing well and showed improvement in the last year, so at the beginning of next year we plan to launch the construction of our project in Łódź.

view of Warsaw's downtown and cranes working on the construction site of the National Stadium

Alexander Otto,

CEO of ECE Projektmanagement

Fabian Hellbusch,

Head of Real Estate Marketing & Communication at Union Investment

Stefan Brendgen,

CEO of Allianz Real Estate GmbH

Manfred Wiltschnigg,

Member of the Management Board of Immofinanz AG

Bernhard Berg,

Chairman of the Management Board of IVG Institutional Funds GmbH

Franz Jurkowitsch,

CEO of Warimpex

Sven von der Heyden, Chairman

of Von der Hayden Group

MUCH MORE TO COME Poland bracketed with Turkey as exciting investment destination for German and Austrian players

Andreas Schiller

is Editor-in-chief of SPH Newsletter, after having been Editor-inchief of German real estate magazineImmobilien Manager from 1996 to 2003 Andreas spent four years as its publisher before opening Schiller Publishing House.

He is a regular contributor to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and to Austrian daily Der Standard.

Poland is ‘right on top’ for German institutional and private real estate investors. Of the EUR 877 million spent in H1 2012, as reported by Jones Lang LaSalle, a large part of it was of German origin, or, more correctly, of German-speaking origin as it includes Austria as well. Austrian investors and developers have been active in Poland for a long time.

Two current investments have attracted attention. This summer Allianz Real Estate, the property subsidiary of German insurance giant Allianz, bought five office buildings in Warsaw’s Platinium Business Park for roughly EUR 173 million from Globe Trade Center. Only a few weeks later we saw the purchase of Warsaw Financial Center for about EUR 210 million by a consortium of Allianz Real Estate, which holds an 87.5% share, and London-based Tristan Capital Partners, who have the remaining 12.5% share through their managed fund, Curzon Capital Partners III. The vendors were Viennalisted CA Immo and Pramerica Real Estate Investors.

With those purchases Allianz Real Estate is the ‘new kid’ among the German investors in Poland. Stefan Brendgen, CEO of Allianz Real Estate GmbH, explains: As part of our strategy of diversification, we have investigated the office

and retail markets in Poland for many years and did some due diligence regarding investment opportunities. With Platinium Park and WFC this year we made our debut as investors. Not a small debut, one might add. The combined share of both investments in the portfolio of Allianz Real Estate Germany is around 8%, he states. In contrast to Allianz, IVG Immobilien AG - headquartered in Bonn and Frankfurt - has been in Poland for many years now, as has Deutsche Grundbesitz, the predecessor of todays’ RREEF, the real estate investment arm of Deutsche Bank. Both acquired their first assets at the beginning of the 2000’s. Some of the purchases at that time included shares in shopping centres: for Deutsche Grundbesitz in ‘Galeria Łódzka’, opened in 2002, for IVG in Wrocław’s ‘Galeria Dominikańska’, opened in 2001. Both centres were developed by German developer ECE – their first in Poland. All three players not only stayed in Poland, but have been a notable success story with their investments and developments.

ECE meanwhile has six centres under management – the two just mentioned plus two in Gdańsk, one in Kraków and one in Szczecin (Galeria Kaskada, opened in September

2011). There are no plans to stop. The next centre to be Manfred Wiltschnigg, Member of the Management Board completed is in Bydgoszcz, with the opening scheduled for of Immofinanz AG. And, similarly to ECE, Immofinanz is also the end of 2014. Poland is the most exciting international a developer, with projects in the pipeline such as Nimbus market for ECE besides Turkey, said ECE CEO Alexander office in Warsaw, Galeria Zamek shopping centre in Lublin Otto. In Poland we see big potential for growth with new - on which construction is to start this year - as well as residential project Dębowe Tarasy in Katowice, on which work developments, refurbishments, and centre management.

IVG Immobilien’s Polish assets under management com- started in June. Poland continues to feature as an attractive prise 14 buildings with nearly 140,000 sqm leasable space, market, although the big boom might slow down soon. But an investment volume of around EUR 400 million. The clear Class-A properties in Class-A locations will still work and focus of IVG is on investment, having stepped out of devel- promise good yields. Our development activities should be opment. Money is currently being raised for the IVG Warsaw seen against this background, Wiltschnigg explained, addFund, whose closing is planned before the end of this year. ing: Poland is one of the largest CEE-countries and still ofBernhard Berg, Chairman of the Management Board of IVG fers excellent perspectives for future development – not Institutional Funds GmbH, said that: In Warsaw today a core- only in Warsaw, but in other large agglomerations as well.

This is a statement often heard by German-speaking investment-strategy can be realized for offices and retail.

Class A buildings with a wide multi-tenant structure exist, as players. International developer Sven von der Heyden, do some more with a single-tenant-structure. Such invest- Chairman of Von der Heyden Group, has been active in ments are our explicit recommendation for German institu- Poland for more than 22 years and is betting on the City of tional investors who are looking for good and stable returns. Poznań, having built a series of Class A Office buildings in Warsaw. We have so far completed two office buildings in Early starter the centre, the Poznań Financial Center and Andersia Tower.

As already mentioned, Austrians were among the first The third one, Andersia Business Center, in Poland. While Germans had chiefly been looking at is slated for completion in November. PFC Western Europe, the US and Asia as well, Austrians were fo- was acquired by former Allied Irish Bank cused on CEE. Of the ‘big ones’ like CA Immo AG, Immofinanz, subsidiary BZWBK Real Estate Fund and UBM and Warimpex, special mention must be made of Franz the latter by German open ended Fund Jurkowitsch, CEO of Warimpex – a real pioneer. He became DEKA Immobilien. We are slightly behind active in the Polish market in the middle of the 80’s with our original leasing expectations given the Holiday Inn hotel in Warsaw. Poland is a core market for the overall macro-economic environment, Warimpex. It was with good reason that in 2007 Warimpex admited Von der Heyden, but have now was listed on both the Vienna and the Warsaw stock ex- closed a couple of leases and shall reach changes, said Jurkowitsch. So far we have developed nine 35-40% occupancy by the end of the year. hotels and three office buildings in Poland. With nearly 40% The general outlook for Poland is very of all our properties in the country, Poland has the biggest positive. Or, as Franz Jurkowitsch from share in the gross asset value of Warimpex. The company’s Warimpex puts it: In Europe we generally signature assets are the Intercontinental Warsaw hotel and have to fight with instable market conthe Andel’s Hotel in Łódź, which is located in a refurbished ditions. Poland is not totally out of this, but we can assume the further growth of textile factory of the Manufaktura complex.

Another part of Manufaktura - the shopping centre - has Poland’s economy. After the fall of the iron curtain many recently been acquired by Hamburg-based Union Investment international investors underestimated Poland. A strong Real Estate GmbH.The seller of almost the whole scheme domestic market, budget discipline, a stable currency, was a property firm owned by French companies Fonciere a well-educated and motivated population as well as conEuris and Rallye and by the project developer Apsys, who will tinuing economic growth were, and still are, essential reacontinue to manage the centre. Offering some 112,500 sqm sons to count on Poland. For Warimpex, the country will of rental space, the fully let property is currently the larg- stay one of our most important markets. Currently we are est shopping centre in Poland. Union Investment has been looking for development opportunities, promising success, active in the country since 2008. Our investment volume said Jurkowitsch of Warimpex. Hellbusch echoed him: in Poland is around EUR 350 million, which is about 2% of Investors are looking for markets without potential for backour overall figures, said Fabian Hellbusch, Head of Real lash. Poland did much better in absorbing the impact of the Estate Marketing & Communication at Union Investment. euro crisis than many other European countries. Besides Our clients own a variety of office, retail, and hotel prop- Warsaw, especially Łódź, Kraków and Wrocław are intererties. The UI portfolio includes offices Horizon Plaza esting regions for investments. We’re keeping an eye on all and Zebra Tower in Warsaw as well as, for example, the locations for office, retail and hotel investments, however.

3 Stawy shopping centre in Katowice, purchased in 2008 Allianz Real Estate’s Stefan Brendgen stated almost the same: Although we recognize positive and promising ecofrom GE Real Estate. nomic data in Poland in general, so far the capital Warsaw, Underestimated no longer with its robust economy and promising development perCompared to 3 Stawy, the Silesia City Center shopping spectives, is our focus. But we are also investigating regional centre scheme in Katowice is much bigger - at 86,000 sqm centers like Łódź, Kraków, Gdańsk, Katowice or Wrocław. it is among the five largest in Poland. It is also one of the Given the limited demand for offices there, our interest 24 properties in Poland in which Vienna-based Austrian in those cities is mainly on shopping centres, confirmed real estate giant Immofinanz is invested in. We are in office, Allianz's Stefan Brendgen. Further acquisitions are in the retail, and logistics with an at-book-value of around EUR pipeline, we are in good talks. After the first two transactions 935 million. The lion’s share is allotted at an almost 50:50 this year we would like to enlarge our footprint in Poland. ratio in 18 office and three retail properties, commented

by Andreas Schiller

43

REAL ESTATE

‘After the fall of the iron curtain many international investors underestimated Poland’

44 THE DANGER IN SILENCE SOCIETY

Racism in Poland is not rife, but it is tolerated. This is the problem.

Last summer’s Euro 2012 footballing enthusiasms in

Krzysztof Bobiński

is the head of Unia & Polska, a pro European organization. He was till the year 2000 the Warsaw correspondent of the Financial Times.

Currently he writes occasionally for openDemocracy.org and the European Voice.

well documented by Nigdy Więcej (Never Again), an antifascist group headed by Rafał Pańkowski, which worked with UEFA to combat racism before and during Euro 2012.

Panorama showed racist slogans daubed on urban walls and houses and left to fester by seemingly indifferent city authorities. Football club managements also don’t seem to care about this kind of behaviour and nor does PZPN, the Polish football authority, which in its arrogance failed to respond to requests from Panorama to comment on the scenes which Chris Rogers had filmed.

The chief reason which this racist behaviour did not seep into the Euro stadiums is that Poland’s hardcore fans had in the main not been there. The ticket prices had been too high, the distribution system had militated against them, and simply watching football is not what they do, attuned as they are to tribal loyalty to their local clubs and their home turf. In fact, Euro 2012 was attended by middle-class fans who all too often stay away from ordinary weekend matches for fear of what might happen to them if they fall foul of the mob. What does all this tell us about the level of racism and, more particularly, antiSemitism in Polish society at large? According to research

by Antoni Sułek, a respected sociologist, the last ten years have seen a marked fall in anti-Semitic attitudes. In 2002, as many as 43% of Poles said that Jews had too great an influence on the country. Ten years later, that number had fallen to 19%. The same number spontaneously replied ‘Jews’ when asked which minority in Poland had too much influence ten years ago, but a mere 6% said so this year. The numbers are not high, but they are high enough to fuel racist attitudes in the stadiums and on the internet, where anonymous commentaries are rife with racism.

The publishers of such websites seem to care little about the social impact of these kind of sentiments. Little attempt is made to censor these remarks, which more often than not contravene Poland’s racial hate laws.

These, in turn, are far too rarely invoked.

Poland seem long past. The championship was the source of sporting thrills, but it also sparked an important debate over charges of racism in Poland made public by a BBC Panorama documentary broadcast before the championship. Panorama suggested that Polish football fans are rabid racists, and that anyone dark-skinned would do well to stay away because if they came, they might come back in a coffin in former England captain Sol Campbell’s memorable phrase, broadcast in the programme. The documentary shocked Poles, who were gearing up to greet fans from all over Europe. Just as the country stood braced with a welcoming smile, arms outstretched and armed with the slogan ‘feel like at home’, a BBC programme that implied all Poles were racists came like a stab in the back.

The outcome belied Sol Campbell’s warning. There were few incidents on the terraces. The Croatian football association was fined EUR 80,000 after some of their fans made monkey noises at Italy’s Mario Balotelli, and the same player was similarly treated by a couple of hundred of Spaniards in their match with Italy. Otherwise, the fan zones were a happy tangle of thousands of fans cheering the teams of their choice as they played on massive television screens, while the various foreign teams were welcomed in their hotels by Poles delighted to see many of football’s greatest names in their midst. There were clashes in Warsaw before the Poland-Russia match, with Poles provoking Russian fans who seemed happy to be provoked. However, the skirmishes replaying age old hatreds were soon (literally) squashed by Polish riot police and never turned into the full scale war that some feared. As the championship continued, and after clips showing how friendly Poles were to foreigners appeared on You Tube, while the newspapers and broadcast media reacted defensively, criticising the BBC for not being fair. Racism was not just a Polish phenomenon, they said, adding that things were worse elsewhere.

Some even claimed that the whole issue of Polish racism and anti-Semitism had been blown out of all proportion by the British broadcaster in order to sabotage the Euro Where’s the support? championships, to get more people to travel to London for A case in point is that of Radek Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, who, tired of anti-Semitic remarks on the internet the Olympics. about him and his wife Anne Applebaum, a well-known No lead from the authorities, including PZPN journalist, asked the public prosecutor’s office in April 2011 So what had the fuss all been about? The truth is, there is a to pursue the authors. Over a year later, the prosecutor’s problem. The Panorama reporter, Chris Rogers, had merely office declined, arguing that there was ‘no public interest taken a camera to league matches in Poland and Ukraine, in such an investigation’. The office suggested that if the the co-hosts of the championships, and filmed what he had minister wanted, he could bring a private case against the seen. And he had seen fans chanting anti-Semitic slogans, perpetrators. Sikorski declined to do so. Nevertheless, he sporting racist symbols and generally showing that racist said that he was well aware of the damage done by such right-wing politics is part of football fan culture in Poland. racist behaviour both on the internet and the football terChants of Jude Jude Judeaimed at opposing sides are races to Poland’s image abroad. not uncommon at league matches, while fans of third and There are also the domestic political implications. Poland’s right-wing opposition parties, such as PiS (Law and Justice), fourth division clubs ape their ‘betters’ from the top league by displaying similar symbols and behaviour. The cases are have for some time taken a supportive interest in the coun-

photos: Filip Blazejowski (Forum), Teodor Ryszkus (Forum)

try’s football fans. These have in turn made no secret of their disgust at the ruling PO (Civic Platform) and its leader, Donald Tusk, ironically a football aficionado who in his midfifties continues to play the game himself. The Gazeta Polska weekly, a robust supporter of PiS, makes no secret of its interest in football fans, implying that they are true patriots and, by implication, potential PiS voters. A recent article bemoaned that efforts to clean up the terraces will turn football into a ‘boring spectacle’. In the article, Wojciech Mucha wrote we can expect segmentation on the terraces, stewards, that the loudest fans will be herded into small sectors, and then got rid of altogether....It will all be well be- of limited social relevance. The public has become accushaved, clean, safe and horribly boring. Right-wing politicians tomed to racist behaviour on the terraces and on the net. have been more than reserved in their criticism of football Anti-Semitic slogans daubed on walls in Łódz or Warsaw hooligans. PiS politicians have vouched for hooligans ar- shock passers-by little more than the sight of overfilled rested by the police. Marek Suski, one of the party’s leaders, rubbish bins. The Panorama programme came as a jolt. repeatedly refused in a recent radio interview to condemn It exposed something that people had stopped noticing. those fans who went after the Russians before the Poland- And after the programme many, including the authorities, Russia match. He even went as far as to compare the in- simply went into denial, pretending there was no problem cident with the Soviet massacre of Poles at Katyń in 1940. or pointing out there was more anti-Semitism in France.

I want to remind you that it was they who murdered us there. But the problem does exist, and it is not just a question We weren’t the ones who invaded them on 17th September of Poland’s image, but also of the domestic political cli(1939). It was them. …there is much more aggression by the mate. The flirtation between the political right and the Russians towards us than there is by us towards them, he thinking wing of the football hooligan community threattold Radio Tok FM. ens to slow down the development of a tolerant society.

That threat is greater in difficult economic times, when Limited shock value hardship strengthens authoritarian attitudes. A fascination Poland is not rife with racism. But racist groups are very with fascism, the sight of outstretched hands making the active both on the football terraces and the internet. Nazi salute, even if performed by mere hundreds of young Not enough is being done to put such people on the de- people at a local football match, should not be disregarded. fensive. The authorities appear to be passively tolerating a Even if the great majority doesn’t care or indeed notice. social phenomenon that they see as difficult to combat and

by Krzysztof Bobiński

‘Euro 2012 was attended by middle-class fans who all too often stay away from ordinary weekend matches for fear of what might happen to them if they fall foul of the mob’ Fans watching the

opening game of the Euro at the fanzone in Warsaw. Poland tied with Greece 1:1.

Hooligans on the

terraces and outside the stadiums keep families away from supporting football.

46 SOCIETY

A new kind of mayor A chat with Poland’s first openly gay ‘sołtys’

I sit in the oversized red couches of the lobby of the Forum Novotel hotel in Warsaw, waiting to interview Marcin Nikrant, the first openly gay village mayor in Poland, for a good ten minutes before I realize that he is actually sitting on the couch next to mine. He looks almost nothing like in the photos I had seen before. He is blonder, more tanned and wearing summer, non-mayor-like attire. Sitting in his blue t-shirt, matching watch, grass green shorts and red Converse shoes on the huge red sofa he almost looks like a Roy Lichtenstein painting. We laugh realizing that we were waiting for each other. Nikrant was elected village mayor, or ‘sołtys,’ of Leśniewo, located in northwestern Poland and with a population of 1500, when he was 26, in February 2011.

It was his second attempt, after a failed campaign in 2007, a year before he came out as being gay. According to Nikrant he didn’t get the position at the first attempt because of his unripe age. Four years later, with a number of people in the village aware that he was gay, he was finally elected, and with an overwhelming majority. Nikrant describes the job of a sołtys as representing ones constituents, primarily dealing with mundane but important things such as potholes, malfunctioning drainage or stray dogs. There is this stereotype of a village mayor as an older man who has a farm. I am far from this stereotype, but I do take care of stereotypical things, such as dogs barking in the middle of the night or attacking ducks and chickens, he laughs.

When he reaches for the Coke he ordered, he reveals tattoos of stars on the insides of his wrists.

photos: Jakub Król. By courtesy of ‘Replika’ magazine

Where do you write that you’re gay on a CV? Nikrant is in Warsaw for workshops supporting the Campaign Against Homophobia (KPH), where he has been active for the past two and a half years in the Together Safer programme (Razem Bezpieczniej) which offers online help to the victims of violence and hate due to their sexual orientation.

When the campaign found out that he was elected mayor of Lesniewo, the news went viral, and after a Q and A in Replika , the campaign’s publication, a series of articles, profiles and interviews in some of the biggest Polish publications followed. Most of the interviewers did, however, get one thing wrong. They made it seem that everybody knew about Nikrant’s sexual ori-

entation, which, according to Nikrant, wasn’t true. I didn’t say what my sexual orientation was on election night. Do you know anyone who writes that they are gay on their CV? Where, under experience? Some people in the village knew that Nikrant was gay, and when someone asked him about it after the election he saw no reason to avoid it.

I hate pretending, I’d rather live my life exactly the way I am. Super Express, the biggest Polish tabloid, did an article where they asked people in Leśniewo with an age average of 60-70 about their gay mayor.

‘Their attitudes were more negative.

They said I was hiding the fact that I was gay. No one confronted him directly, however. Otherwise, the reactions were mostly positive. I got congratulatory emails from all around the country, my mailbox was full. He even got queries from institutions such as the Nowy Theater in Krakow asking whether he needed funding for trips for the poor children in his village.

Boardwalks and amphitheaters While that particular offer didn’t come to pass, Nikrant, who wasn’t born in Leśniewo, but in another small seaside town, is constantly trying to acquire funds from different sources for his various plans around the village. So far, so good, according to Mr. Mayor, as his friends call him. I’m generally satisfied, everything is going very well. With his village council, composed of the head of the culture club, the chief volunteer firefighter and the local sports coach, they renovated four bus stops and improved road safety with speed bumps, new traffic and street signs. Nikrant started a state-of-the-art website with a 40,000 visit count since January through which his constituents can liaise with the council. He is most proud of renovating the reservoir area, complete with benches and a mini boardwalk, as the people of Leśniewo call it.

Nikrant won’t stop at that, however. The young mayor has big plans - he wants to renovate the village amphitheater behind the fire station. But we need funds, funds, funds, he says. The village’s yearly budget, at around 35,000 zloty is astoundingly small and he has to apply to the district authorities for additional funding. This year Leśniewo received an additional 23,000 zloty.

What’s a few letters in front of one’s name?

When asked about his future in politics, Nikrant looks down and smiles.

‘People started understanding that I am not hurting anyone with my sexual orientation’

He doesn’t deny that he has had vague thoughts of doing something more, going further in politics, but he claims to be living in the moment.

Right now I am very happy and satisfied, however my priorities might change in a couple of years, he says.

Up until recently he was also working as a manager at a supermarket chain, but he says that he had no perspectives for professional development there. Now Nikrant wants to devote himself to being mayor, even though he only receives a small stipend.

There are more possibilities, more time for my constituents, for my family, for my partner, he says. He quit his landscape architecture studies, explaining that he doesn’t need a few letters in front of his name (in Polish you put M.A. before your name, not after) to be happy in life.

Nikrant, smiling, repeatedly says that he is in a good place right now.

But this came after some difficult years of bullying, which started in elementary school. Over time, I gained some confidence, a thick skin, I changed the negativity into a tool that helps me, he says. For this change he credits his involvement in the Campaign Against Homophobia, a non-heteronormative environment, as he describes it, where he met other homosexual people. Then I stopped being afraid, I told myself: Marcin you do not have a problem with this. That was two and a half years ago. Though now he feels relatively safe even in his small village, he says that a few years back he would experience violence and hatred on Polish streets.

The times are changing MARCIN NIKRANT Born: November 22nd, 1985, in Puck Nikrant won the the village mayor elections on February 13th, 2011. After 18 months of ‘mayoring,’ thanks to his own commitment and to the engagement of the community, the village of Leśniewo placed third in the ‘Beautiful Village of 2012’ competition, for which they received 1000 PLN from the Puck county authorities.

LEŚNIEWO Location: North-central Poland,

Pomeranian Voivodeship, Puck County, 11km west of Puck

Population: approx. 1500 Founding: 1432 - first mentioned in

historical documents. Then called Mechowo.

The village was founded as serf estate for the Cistercian Order.

I ask him what has changed in Poland, especially considering that a few months after he was elected mayor, a homosexual man and a transsexual woman were elected to the Polish national parliament. Awareness within Polish society is changing, he says, attributing it to the efforts of human rights NGOs and to the increasing presence of an open-minded youth in the nation. People started understanding that I am not hurting anyone with my sexual orientation, adding that the once-prevalent stereotype of a gay man also being a paedophile is disappearing. On the cover of the Polish edition of Newsweek there was a homosexual couple of two mothers – a few years ago that was unthinkable, says Nikrant.

by Hanna Kozłowska

47

SOCIETY

48 BECAUSE THIS IS OUR COUNTRY CULTURE

Polish cinema in the 2nd half of the 20th century

photos: Maksymilian Rigamonti (Newsweek Polska/Forum), Jacek Piotrowski (Agencja Gazeta)

Andrzej Wajda and

Robert Więckiewicz, the actor playing former President Lech Wałęsa on set of the biopic film about the legendary 'Solidarity' leader.

In Andrzej Wajda’s film ‘Man of Marble’, the bricklayer Birkut goes to vote in 1957 and throws his ballot into the box. He was a Stakhanovite, one of Stalin’s over-achieving super workers whose figures are carved in marble.

A reporter asks him why he is voting, seeing as he has been cheated and experienced so much injustice. He replies: because this is our country....

Birkut’s tragedy is that when he wanted to pass himself off as his arrested friend, it turned out that he, the idol, has no power; he is just a figurehead. After that, he rebelled and was sent to prison. He came out in 1956 and in 1970 he died when soldiers fired at protesting workers. In the 1970s, in the same shipyard where Lech Wałęsa worked, his son would go on to set up the free trade union Solidarity.

This is the legend of the Polish People’s Republic, portrayed in Wajda’s two films ‘Man of Marble’ and ‘Man of Iron’; films that took away from the authorities the power of the figurehead worker. Today their only importance is historical.

‘Man of Marble’ still works, however, as to this day we are left wondering why Birkut voted for the People’s Republic.

The film revealed the secret of that regime; that it was totalitarian, grey and poor, with long queues. Yet when I hear stories about that Poland, I want to say, as Birkut had said: But it was our country, we didn’t have any other. And we would love it even less if not for Polish cinema between 1956-1981, which remains unsurpassed.

The films of Wajda, Munk, Kawalerowicz, Has, Konwicki, Kutz, Polanski and Skolimowski (before these two were forced to emigrate), Różewicz, Morgenstern, Zanussi, Kieślowski, Holland, Marczewski, and the comedies of Bareja, expanded the confines of ​​freedom. In the 1990s when Czesław Bielecki was preparing the ‘Socland’ exhi-

bition, he asked me to illustrate the exhibition with fragments of old Polish films. I realised then that the golden age of cinema, from Munk’s ‘Man on the Tracks’ and Wajda’s ‘Ashes and Diamonds’ (1950s) along with Skolimowski’s ‘Hands Up!’ and Wajda’s ‘Man of Marble’ (1960s/70s) to Kieślowski’s ‘Blind Chance’ and Bugajski’s ‘Interrogation’ (1980s), revealed and described the ruling system. But it also gave something more. It opened the door to the future, and showed a dynamic reality open to change.

Communist ideology after 1956 was dead, although nobody had believed in it anyway, even those in power who had to go to Moscow to explain their actions. They too had to play a double game. Sometimes they took risks, like the Minister of Culture Tejchma, who approved the making of Man of Marble and ended up paying for it with his job.

I never met a single person in communist Poland who would say of themselves: I am a communist. That was something sooner heard in France or Italy. Another paradox of the People’s Republic was that the opposition which formed after 1956, created by Jacek Kuroń, Karol Modzelewski and Jan Józef Lipski, was fundamentally left-wing and appealed to socialist ideas. Primate Wyszyński and Cardinal Wojtyła (the future John Paul II)were not far from the left either, hence the alliance of opposition and Church at the time.

The process of social emancipation took place within the socialist system. In what other system could workers' trade unions, such as Solidarity, gain such importance?

A protest against death The West saw in Poland a Trojan horse among the countries controlled by the Soviet Union. The Russians said that we were the ‘happiest barrack in the socialist camp’.

49

CULTURE

Although all spheres of life were controlled by the Party, it was not an Orwellian world; the system was full of holes, a mass of gated obstacles to get around. This can best be seen in the example of cinema, which was never fully controlled by the state. It was funded and censored by the state, but the producers were ‘film teams’, a one-of-a-kind structure created in 1955 during the thaw after Stalin’s death.

The teams were a cooperative led by directors and writers and they won the trust of audiences, establishing contact with them over the heads of the authorities. Team leaders, most belonging to the Party, such as Jerzy Bossak or Jerzy Kawalerowicz, showed no deference. Leading Polish screenwriters such as Jerzy Andrzejewski, Tadeusz Konwicki and Kazimierz Brandys gradually moved closer to the opposition. Despite pervasive censorship and periods of increased control and purges, like in 1968, Polish cinema was still in the hands of filmmakers, not politicians. ‘Ashes and Diamonds’ and ‘Man of Marble’ - two films that pushed censorship to the limit (the limit being allegiance to the Soviet Union) - made clear that the existing order was intractable.

‘Ashes and Diamonds’ takes place on the night the World War Two ended. The brilliant and intuitive Zbigniew Cybulski plays the role of Maciek, a war-weary hero who shot Nazis during the occupation, and now has to shoot a communist. He loses faith in the sense of his struggle and seeks a way out of the trap. The young anti-communist is in love with a barmaid, and while kissing her he looks for the magazine of his pistol, when at the same time behind the hotel room wall he hears the steps of the man he has to kill. The communist in the film is also in a trap. The events take place at the same time, convulsively intertwined while Soviet tanks rumble down the street. Drunk people dance the polonaise, welcoming a freedom which is the beginning of a new slavery, lies and camouflage. Nowhere else in the cinema of communist countries was the crushing force of history, deceiving a further generation, shown with such drama. The film, which ends with the famous scene of Maciek’s agony as he is shot dead in a junkyard, does not depress but rather acts as an invigorating shock. It was a protest against death, in the name of life.

of the passengers. This film - like so many others at the time - did not ask questions about the system, but rather about the nature of man. A film that still brings pleasure, and one that was once considered to be an artistic scandal, is Kazimierz Kutz’s youthful masterpiece, ‘Nobody’s Calling’. A boy, similar to Maciek from ‘Ashes and Diamonds’, who after the war did not carry out his orders, flees to the new Western Territories. Kutz’s film removes the hero from history and is a remarkable exploration of first love.

The deserted former German town to which a group of settlers from the east arrives becomes a love trance scene, Tadeusz shown in a way that has no equivalent in world cinema.

The film from those years that I go back to most often is Sobolewski is one of Poland’s ‘The Saragossa Manuscript’ by Wojciech Has, an adapta- most prominent film tion of the nineteenth-century novel by Jan Potocki, and critics. He has worked one of the wildest eccentricities in film history. Nothing for the magazines ‘Film’ and ‘Kino’, really happens in the film; in fact it is really about itself. where from 1990 The adventures of a Spanish officer (Zbigniew Cybulski) to 94 he was also travelling through Sierra Morena are a series of trials that Editor-in-Chief.

He now writes for aim to convince the doubter of the existence of parallel ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’ worlds and the superiority of fiction over reality. The eso- and is the co-host teric film in a sense talks about us, demonstrating how to of the film program ‘Kocham Kino’ on TVP. detach ourselves from reality, finding an outlet in the arts. In He studied Polish the Poland of the time people stood in queues, not just for philology. meat but even for films and books. Cinema fulfilled a role which can be compared to the role of art when Poland was under partition. Cinema led us, educated us and opened our horizons, at times smarter than the audience. My generation grew up with it. In the 1970s, cinema entered a new, final, mature phase. It was a time when the opposition was already manifest, and then later became the mass movement Solidarity. Now it was not enough to merely reveal the false reality, which was already visible anyway.

Self knowledge, then silence

The heroes of the films of Zanussi, Kieślowski and Marczewski were young people starting their lives, finding out its limitations and asking basic questions. ‘Camera Buff’ and ‘Blind Chance’ by Kieślowski were reminiscent of ‘Bildungsroman’, a novel about the formation of man.

Kieślowski’s ‘Decalogue’ had the same character. ‘Blind No equivalent in world cinema Chance’, made in 1981 but not released until five years latIn the 1960s another perspective came to dominate in er, seems to be his most important film, a farewell to the Polish cinema – existentialism, showing people taken out of People’s Republic, a departure from the limits of consciousthe context of history and politics. Polanski’s brilliant debut ness that were imposed under communism. Kieślowski ‘Knife in the Water’ takes place inside a car and on a boat, showed three variants of the life of the hero Witek, who is at where we see a game played out between two men and a the same time an activist in a Marxist youth organisation, a woman involving the laws of nature, competition, sex and dissident Catholic, and finally an apolitical doctor (with only power. The excellent ‘Night Train’ by Jerzy Kawalerowicz the latter variant being real, the others hypothetical). Social has elements of film noir, melodrama and thriller. In the film, roles and perceptions appear to be the result of chance, a train is standing in a field and the passengers - carrying with the same honest man able to stand on opposite sides with them their unfulfilled desires and frustrated love - are of the barricades. Witek (played by the then rising star of involved in the pursuit of a criminal. It was as if the killer be- Polish cinema Bogusław Linda) strives for perfection in his ing chased took upon himself the evil that resided in each life. His quest is told from a higher perspective than the

50 CULTURE

restrictions of the system - from the perspective of the over 30 years brought together by the figure of a hero, the death that awaits him in any of the variants of fate, and alter ego of the director: ‘The House of Fools’, ‘Inner Life also from the perspective of absolute, ultimate fulfilment, Life’, ‘Ajlawju’, ‘Not Funny’, ‘Day of the Wacko’ and ‘We’re full of knowledge.

All Christs’. These comedies are based on a perverse forPolish cinema went full circle and reached a higher level mula. Koterski tells the audience: look, I’m laughing at myof consciousness. Witek from ‘Blind Chance’ cannot fit into self, disrobing in front of you. If you find this similar to your the roles life presents him with. Like his predecessor Maciek experience, don’t be shy, join me, it will be a relief for you. from ‘Ashes and Diamonds’, he can’t fit into the roles that The world around us seems stupid, obnoxious and aggreshistory has prepared for him. But Kieślowski doesn’t step sive. But you’re a part of it. You are the same. If you want to over the mark; he knows that the sense of limitation does change the world, start with yourself. not depend on the system and it will pass Suffice it to say that Polish cinema has enjoyed a revival with it. The story in ‘Blind Chance’ could in the last decade; it has regained its audience, often be told in today’s Poland (or anywhere equal to or greater than that for Hollywood blockbustelse in the world). In the first years af- ers. Can we talk about success? The decade did indeed ter 1989, the Polish film industry was in produce some great directors: Andrzej Jakimowski, deep crisis; it had lost its meaning and Małgorzata Szumowska and Leszek Dawid. However, most of the privileges it had gained un- a large proportion of the 50-60 films made each year der the previous regime. The watershed are entertainment products, mostly romantic comedies. in the history of Polish cinema was the A separate important trend after 2000, which has alintroduction of martial law in 1981. In the so attracted audiences, are films about the dark periyears of repression, when Polish culture ods of post-war history: the Katyń lie (‘Katyń’ by Wajda), went underground, when demonstrators the Stalinist trials where underground anti-Nazi heroes fought with police on the streets, cinema, were sentenced to death (‘General Nil’ by Bugajski), which until just before then was the ‘most the massacre on the coast in 1970 (‘Black Thursday’ important of all the arts’, fell silent and by Antoni Krauze), and martial law and the martyrdom of Father Popiełuszko (‘Popiełuszko’ by Wieczyński). withdrew to the sidelines.

These films were illustrative and useful as a teaching tool, Losing its way but they didn’t enter into a dialogue with the present as In the new Poland, in the early years of the old Polish films from 1956-1981 did. I am thinking of the 1990s, state patronage declined and such masterpieces as ‘Kanał’ by Wajda about the Warsaw the former film teams became private Uprising, and ‘The Passenger’ by Munk about Auschwitz. companies. Privatised cinemas showed Those films posed questions as great literature does, American hits. The old masters of Polish whereas the new films are only chronicles. They say: ‘You cinema seemed to be lost - there were no conditions for have to remember’. But they don’t say why.

There is one director, however, who undertook in his films the emergence of a new generation, a new Polish school or a new cinema of moral anxiety. It was not until after the old therapeutic task of Polish cinema. He touched on a 2000, when a film fund was introduced similiar ot those in key problem for Polish culture: the relation to evil that was Western Europe (especially France), based on taxes paid caused not only by ‘them’: the communists, the Russians,

by TV and cinema viewers, and the establishment of the the Germans - but also by ourselves. Our culture, formed Polish Film Institute, that cinema became protected and in the days of slavery, created the ideal of the motherland film production increased to about 50 films a year. In the that is oppressed by innocence. After 1989, this idealised first years after 1989, Polish cinema, trained in resisting image had to be destroyed. The director in question is communism, was unable to cope with freedom – in fact it Wojtek Smarzowski, and his last three films, ‘The Wedding’, was terrified by it. There was no common myth that Polish ‘The Dark House’ and ‘Rose’, are perhaps the most imfilmmakers could appeal to, and films in the early 1990s portant cinematic achievements of the decade. The war were dominated by dissolution. Jan Jakub Kolski’s magi- in ‘Rose’ is in the form of sexual violence, carried out incal tale ‘Johnnie Aquarius’ showed the end of illusion, the discriminately by Germans, Russians and Poles. Evil is end of a miracle. The most popular film in the 1990s was here divorced from history, ideology and nation; rather Władysław Pasikowski’s police drama ‘Pigs’. Linda, with his it is common and human. It knows no bounds. What is noble, classy face, played a security service agent who be- the difference between rape by Russians or Germans? came a police officer. This rogue cinema, a reaction to the What is the difference between Polish secret police basemarauding reality of the time, had therapeutic relevance: it ments and Gestapo torture cells? A former comrade in broke through the barrier produced in the years of martial arms, fighting with Hitler, becomes the executioner of his law, the barrier that separated ‘us’ - the decent part of the compatriot after the war. In the film, Poles become the nation - from ‘them’ - the bad communists. In Krzysztof persecutors of Mazuria’s autonomous population. The film Krauze’s ‘The Debt’, the greatest film of the 1990s, decent reveals that our peaceful life today was built on a foundapeople become killers. In the film, two thirty-somethings tion of rape. That violence is still present in the collective from good Warsaw families take out a loan and end up kill- unconscious; it resides in us and may be revealed. But the ing the demonic debt enforcer. It is a film about the devil bloody ballad is also symbolic. A raped woman scorned by of capitalism, which places greater temptation in front of those close to her finds a protector, a man who suffered young people and enslaves them to greater extent than the during the war who loves her with the most delicate love. system in which previous generations had lived.

What is interesting is that the film, filled with the most If it is possible to talk about a mission of Polish cinema brutal rape scenes, found strong resonance with women. after 1989, it was undertaken by Marek Koterski - the big- A bloody western turned out to be a melodrama in which gest revelation of those years - in a series of films made love is redemption. by Tadeusz Sobolewski

‘The golden age of Polish cinema, revealed and described the ruling system But it also gave something more.

It opened the door to the future’ To see the Polish names of the films mentioned, please go to the section ‘magazine’ at

poland-today.pl

52 START UP

The meaning of ice Can frozen water become red hot in Poland?

POLAND TODAY will profile a new Polish

start up every month, as well as giving them space for an advert opposite the article for free, as part of our commitment to supporting entrepreneurship in Poland. If you would like us to consider your company for a profile, or you know of a company you think should be considered, please contact us through

www.poland-today.pl

Marcin Skłodowski and Maciej Olejniczakowski

start up

want to bring ice into people's lives in Poland

Ice is hardly

the new ‘in-thing’. So Marcin, an experienced landscape It has, after all, been around for mil- architect, and Maciej, whose backlions of years and is even rumoured ground is in TMC (technology, media to have killed off the dinosaurs - it’s and communications), started dothat old. Which leads directly to the ing market research in Poland and burning question: Why can it be so soon felt they had found a real niche. difficult to find ice in Poland on a There were quite a few companies hot summer’s day? That’s a ques- producing bagged ice, but ice distion Marcin Skłodowski and Maciej pensing machines had not yet been Olejniczakowski pondered over about tried on any significant scale, they three years ago, and, in a moment of claim. So they decided to go for it. fermented-grape fuelled inspiration, We knew…. (there) was a 50/50 chance. decided to act on their hunch and set Either it was going to be a big hit or a up Quickice. They met at elementary big bust, says Marcin. So far their maschool in Warsaw at the age of seven, chines have all been manufactured and were close friends until the end abroad – they’re only now looking for of high school, but then gradually lost a manufacturer in Poland. Ice vendcontact until, by chance, they found ing machines are actually quite a new themselves living in the same building concept, even globally, says Maciej.

Quickice has made Poland one of the in Old Mokotów (Stary Mokotów). first countries in Europe to have them.

In the meantime Marcin had spent Starting a vending machine business several years in Texas, where the ‘ice from scratch has been perhaps the culture’, as he terms it, really struck biggest hurdle for the duo. Trying to him. Every single gas station, grocery introduce a relatively new product in store, camp ground, marina, hotel a quite innovative and experimental and beach has a massive ice freezer way has definitely been a challenge. selling two to five kilo bags of ice, he Plus neither of us comes from a mansays. And this is a place where pret- ufacturing, engineering or exporting ty well every home has a refrigerator background, so everything from getwith a built-in ice dispenser, he adds. ting the right health certificates, to Okay, but what about the difference in hiring contractors, shipping, customs weather between Poland and Texas? issues, and fixing problems with the Wouldn’t this be a factor when con- machines – even down to the tiny desidering bringing ice to the Polish tails like finding warehouse space - has masses? This is true to a certain extent, had to be figured out very quickly on says Marcin, but the more important the job, explains Marcin. reason … is because people dont use ice the same. In the States, he explains, Looking beyond Poland you would never go to the beach or to So how are things going so far? The first a ball game without a huge cooler of phase has been mostly a testing phase, ice to keep your drinks cool. says Maciej. There wasn’t a lot of prec-

edent to follow. After the field test of a few dozen machines across the Polish coast and the (Mazury) lake district this summer, we have enough market feedback to give some final tweaks to our machines and start mass production.

Being proud of their country, and for a multitude of other reasons, they would like the machines to be 100% ‘Made in Poland.’ We’re currently in talks with producers here to make this happen. Knock on wood, it will, hopes Maciej.

Marcin and Maciej’s ambitions are not confined to the borders of Poland.

Where do we not hope to export our machines to, they exclaim almost in unison. The potential for growth is pretty fantastic, claims Maciej, mentioning Europe, the Middle East, Africa, even the US and South America.

Right now, though, they remain focused on Poland.

Our short-term goal is to place a few hundred machines on the Polish market within the next year or so, says Marcin. The demand, they believe, is out there. We had our machines at almost every marina in Mazury this summer. Sales of bagged ice… in the few stores nearby that still sold ice, slowed a bit, but still stayed decent, while our sales went through the roof.

And there weren’t more sailors on the lakes than in the previous years. So far they have used their own funds and taken out loans. Now they’re looking for serious investors. If anyone’s interested in becoming an ice baron…

by Richard Stephens

54 SPORT

The Polish sporting complex Tomasz Zimoch, one of Poland’s most well known sports commentators, gives his views on a landmark summer in the country’s sporting annals

When you think about the year 2012 and Polish sports, what springs to mind first?

When it comes to the organization, the Euro was indeed a success, but how would you assess the performI think that we hosted a great event, ance of Franciszek Smuda’s team?

Not even a

breathtaking goal from captain Jakub Błaszczykowski could ensure victory for Poland against Russia

the European Football Championship.

I have shed the popular Polish belief It was something very special. that we are a football ‘power’. We still And what matters most today is not think that we should dominate and that who lost or won, but that we organ- we have the resources and the people ized a world-class event. We proved to do it, but the truth is that we don’t. that sports can unite and entertain, We need to realize that sport is like an and I believe we managed to look at arms race. The political forces of the the world from a different perspec- world have shifted and it’s getting tive. Everyone thought we were bound harder to compete. All in all, I’m not dis- TOMASZ ZIMOCH to fail. There were voices saying that appointed. Although deep in my heart Tomasz Zimoch is a Polish sports journalist we wouldn’t manage to build the sta- I believed in our national team, I knew and commentator. He has worked for Polskie diums, and that it would be a logisti- that we could not succeed - we are not Radio for several years and in 2010 he was cal fiasco on our part. As it turned out, like Spain, we don’t have great individ- awarded the Gold Cross of Merit by President Lech Kaczyński for his work in journalism everything is possible, and when I recall ual players, our power lies in the team. and for promoting a physical culture other football events that I have been When something fails, physical prepa- and the Olympic ideal. to I’m positive that we have nothing to ration, for instance, things go awry, esbe ashamed of. The Euro tournament pecially if you add pressure to the mix. captivated the entire nation, inspired all The team played before their own fans, of us. It wasn’t an event only for foot- the players aren’t all on ‘big’ club teams What do you believe needs to ball hooligans, but also for all the intel- and they don’t often get the chance to be improved so that we can do lectuals, who considered them a threat. participate in such important matches. better, to avoid any disappointWhat’s also relevant is that we hosted It’s not a matter of bad choices or se- ments and national discussions the Irish. They showed us what a joyful lections, because we could have used about yet another failure? and emotional experience sport can be only two, maybe three more good playDisappointment is perhaps, in a and how one can identify with the team, ers, if any. I suggest we stop looking at way, our inferiority complex. But then not only when it’s winning. We should sport in terms of 'we must' do this or what should the Swiss say? I mean, consider what to do in order no to let that. I have no idea where our expecta- they are a rich country, but in general that lesson go to waste. tions of playing in the final come from. they’re not very successful in sports.

They have Federer and a few others, but they’re not a decisive force.

And what about other fields, can we be considered a power in any of them?

Why don’t we win Nobel Prizes?

Or Oscars? Why don’t we succeed in other areas, yet demand success from athletes or our football players? If we continue to look at sport from this point of view, we’ll miss what’s most important about it.

Photo caption sera natem apienia ident utemque sa perume ium, tecepeliam haruptaquam arum que vidigenditi ulpa volupta tiorit officab oreperum hilit aborpore ra sim

And which game of the tournament did you enjoy the most?

I don’t think that there was a single boring or ‘bad’ game. There were wellplayed passes, goals, great individual plays and also a wonderful atmosphere in the stadiums, and that is an integral part of the show. Each game was one of a kind, so I won’t even try to classify them.

Apart from Euro 2012, the Olympic Games in London were also held this year. What was the greatest moment of the games in your opinion?

help her neighbour’s sick daughter financially. There were many unexpected outcomes, but I guess surprise is also an essential element of Polish sports. I was convinced that we would leave with two gold medals in weightlifting. It seemed that Marcin Dołęga had the gold in his pocket, but in the most decisive moment, weights that he could normally lift with one arm turned out too be too heavy. From a Pole’s perspective, the last Olympic Games certainly left us with a sense of yearning.

Norwegians, or the Swiss win? Isn’t their attitude and approach to sports better than ours? Of course it is.

What’s more, their financial resources are far greater. But they came home with fewer medals than we did. On the other hand take the Hungarians, who are struggling with a crisis and yet among their medals are eight golds.

It’s not easy to say what satisfies us, but still we need to ask ourselves whether we are capable of being better and doing more? Do we have that many athletes and prospective frontrunners? We could add Dołęga, the volleyball team, Konrad Czerniak and Radosław Kawęcki to the equation and we would have more medals, but would that really change the reality of Polish sports? All of this is extremely complex. It takes years of preparation and huge financial resources among other things. But more importantly, sport is supposed to teach and build character. U nfortunately nowadays it’s a lot harder to find artists or true fighters.

The Olympics for sure didn’t lack You mentioned the ‘arms race’. I share beautiful moments. As for the Poles, your view that competition in sports we definitely found that we are not is getting tougher, however I feel that in the lead when it comes to world for a country like Poland, with over sports, and it will probably take time 30 million people, 10 medals is simply before things get any better. But we not enough. What’s the reason for this? won 10 medals, so there’s no need Of course I would rather see us havto despair. If we consider that the ing more medals, but then again I have competition now is fiercer, the re- to ask, how many would be enough? sult from London can be regarded as one of our best. Our volleyball Somewhere between 15 or 20 team was dubbed champions even could be considered satisfactory. before they went to the Olympics, I don’t want to look for an explanabut as it turned out that they weren’t tion and I don’t have a remedy for the What would be a good direction able to handle the pressure. And hats issue. If I had one I would be work- for Polish sports? We are currently off to Tomasz Majewski, who proved ing in a different field. But how many investing in every sport possible, to be ready for the competition and medals did the Austrians, Swedes, even in those disciplines where the learned from his mistakes at the last chances for winning medals are slim World Championships. Defending a to none. Perhaps we should follow title is truly a great feat. Moreover, the footsteps of the Hungarians, or he’s very intelligent, a philosopher the Swedes before them, and conof Polish sports, so to speak. There centrate on specific disciplines? were many others medalists whose That’s a very tough question. It’s a stories deserve recognition and menbit similar to business, you need to detioning. Among them Zosia Klepacka, cide where to put your money. If we a woman with an incredible story, bet on specific sports we might prewho fought for a medal not only for clude other individuals from becomherself, but also in order to sell it and ing successful in the remaining disciplines. Polish sports leave a lot to wish for. However, I suppose there might be a solution. The funds that we have at our disposal are being spent on many things, and if we add them up, it will turn out that there is far more money than we initially thought. Tell me (...) in which discipline did the British win the most medals?

55

SPORT

‘I guess surprise is an essential element of Polish sports’

Photo caption sera natem apienia ident utemque sa perume ium, tecepeliam haruptaquam arum que vidigenditi ulpa volupta tiorit officab oreperum hilit aborpore ra sim

Tomasz Majewski,

after winning the gold medal and defending his title at the London Olympic Games.

The Polish Olympic team

enters the Olympic stadium in London.

They were to win 10 medals.

56 SPORT

Cycling…

having more respect for the coach- then again luck is an essential element Exactly. Wiggins won the road es and being less jealous of others. of sports. The upcoming months will race, but all in all the Brits dominated Or maybe we should simply be more be challenging for her, as she will mainly on the (cycling) track. They consistent in our actions, just like the have to prove that her success wasn’t know that it is a sport that generates British. Although I’m not so sure that merely a one-off. medals, that it pays to compete in. the years ahead will be as fruitful for They are aware of the fact that suc- them as one might expect.

What are you looking forward cess is achieved not only by the athto most in the year ahead? letes, but also thanks to the coaches, 2012 is also the year of Agnieszka I like sports in general, so I’m lookmedicine and logistics. I’m impressed Radwańska’s fantastic performance ing forward to many competitions. with how they monitor sports. Some at Wimbledon (she was runner up I would like to see our football team of their medalists started out in en- in the women’s single final – ed.). playing better and some great tentirely different disciplines. This hardly Was it a performance that reflects nis tournaments, and I’m also countever happens in Poland. It’s possible her true place in women’s tennis? ing on the World Ski Championships that some athletes who never had a We could analyze the performance in Val di Fiemme, Italy. I used to anshot at winning a medal in their own of any athlete in this aspect. In wom- ticipate specific events, but now sport could fight for a chance to be en’s tennis the competition is now lev- I realize that everything about sport on the podium in a different field. eled. Any of the 30 best players could is beautiful and unpredictable.

I suppose there are things that we be in a Grand Slam final. I dare not Even when the competitors aren’t need to change, such as reducing bu- say that she didn’t deserve to be in fighting for a championship tireaucracy, working more and harder, the final, however she was lucky, but tle, those events can be more exciting than the blockbuster games.

After all, sometimes a lower league match can be more riveting than a game between the big names in football. interview by Jakub Markiewicz

Markiewicz is a 2nd-year student

in law and finance at the Koźmiński University in Warsaw.

Sylwia Bogacka

won the silver medal in the women's 10 m air rifle competition in London, her 3rd Olympic Games

ena Williams pose for photos with trophies during the awarding ceremony for the final of womens singles at the Wimbledon tennis Championships in London, Britain

photos in the article: Piotr Nowak (Fotorzepa/Forum), Caters News

Agnieszka Radwańska and Ser-

58

The city that almost bled to death

HISTORY

But Warsaw recovered and attitudes to the city, amongst both inhabitants and visitors, are changing

WARSAW Located 260 kilometres from the Baltic Sea, 516 kilometres from Berlin and 1152 kilometres from Moscow.

Around 1,710,000 inhabitants live in the Greater Warsaw area. It is located in the heartland of the Masovian Plain, with an average elevation of 100 metres above sea level.

There are 18 districts in the city. As of 2011, 8,3 million tourists visited Warsaw, there are 63 museums, 76 parks, 28 cinemas, 56 theaters and musical establishments, 24 tram lines, 249 bus lines, 275 km of bike trails, and an unbelievable 3288 rooms inside the Palace of Culture and Science

Gerhard Gnauck

has been Warsaw correspondent for Die Welt since 1999. Prior to that he was a CEE editor at Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for three years. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Freie Universität Berlin.

words, in the former eastern territories of Germany - the German traveller enjoys the pleasant feeling that his countrymen once built things there.

Yet we were responsible for much destruction in other parts of the country. It is particularly complicated living as a German in Warsaw. Quite simply the Second World War, the occupation and the Holocaust left a more tragic mark on this city than on any What is life like in Warsaw? Did other European capital city. Between you actually choose to go to Poland? 1939 and 1945 Warsaw lost more inForeigners who live in Poland’s capi- habitants than all of France. Decades tal city are familiar with these ques- passed before the population once tions. I came to Poland from Germany, again reached the 1.3 million mark of and for a long time Poland’s reputa- the pre-war years. tion among Germans was not very good, even though - or perhaps be- A dash of Italian style cause - the two countries are direct Foreign nations have dominated the neighbours. However, the relationship modern history of Warsaw, but which in reverse was even more problematic. foreign influences helped create the It is certainly a challenge to be a city? I have done some research and German living in Poland. In many re- discovered a few names. At the time gions you encounter the legacy of a of the Polish kings (up to 1795) many long common history. Wit Stwosz of the master builders were Italian: (Veit Stoß in German), who was a great Corazzi, Marconi, Castelli and Chiaveri, medieval artist from Nuremberg, lived to name the most prominent. There in Kraków, for example. In Łódź you was a ‘Saxon’ influence - two Saxon often come across traces of German kings, August II and August III, ruled textile manufacturers. And in Silesia, Poland for altogether more than sixty Masury, Gdańsk, Pomerania – in other years. Today there is still a small park,

the so-called Saxon (‘Saski’) Gardens on the site of the former Saxon Palace, to remember them by. The palace, however, was destroyed by later German rulers and so-called ‘Saxon Axis’ is no more to be seen. There are not many traces of German culture around any more.

In the 19th century, when European cities started to resemble their present incarnations, the names Starynkiewicz and Lindley stand out. Sokrates Starynkiewicz, a Russian general, was the Mayor of Warsaw from 1875 – 1892.

Politically it was a dark age: Warsaw was just one of many provincial garrison towns in the Tsar’s empire. But Mayor Starynkiewicz initiated a great period of urban development. Many parks and green spaces, including Ujazdowski Park, were designed and built. A modern sewage system was created, modern gas street lighting was introduced and the first telephone lines were laid. The English engineers William Lindley (Senior) and William Heerlein Lindley (Junior) were to thank for the sewers. The telephone system, started in 1881 – only six years after the telephone was invented - came from US company International Bell.

Not long afterwards the network was

‘It is a city which is continually evolving and which is never just ‘being’

The City of Warsaw has

A Jewish market.

office blocks, since 1989 which have been designed by foreign architects. emerged as a modern The best known are Norman Foster European capital, with a high-rise and Daniel Libeskind, the latter having downtown and created a sail-shaped high-rise apartall the trappings ment block which will soon be even taller than the Stalin-era Palace of Culture. By comparison German architects have kept very much in the background, with one notable exception: the National Stadium, where the June taken over by a Swedish firm. To put 2012 European Football Championship it succinctly: Warsaw was a provincial was held). Interestingly, even a new city in the Russian empire, but it was a architectural city guide published in modern cosmopolitan one.

German, entitled ‘Warsaw – Phoenix Naturally, I was interested in how many from the Ashes’, was written by a Swiss Germans lived in the city. The statistics architectural expert, Werner Huber. throw light on this. There was a census So it is not very easy to be German in the year 1897 which counted 11,317 living in Warsaw. Sometimes I resort people who declared German to be their to the words of a German author who mother tongue. Larger groups consist- wrote: ‘Beautiful cities are boring; ed of ethnic Poles (421,569), Jews who spoke Yiddish (185,077), and Russians and other East Europeans (59,763, three quarters of whom were men – to a large extent soldiers and civil servants). Germans did not play a big role in Warsaw at that time. Later, of course, it was all very different. After Hitler’s troops occupied the city, German architects started making plans for Warsaw to become a ‘new German town’ in which a ‘Hall of the People’, crowned with a lofty dome, would replace the Royal Castle. The occupying forces destroyed the castle but they did not get round to building anything.

The Jewish community grew steadily until it became the 2nd biggest in the world after New York

photos in the article: Piotr Malecki (Napo Images/Forum), Piotr Mecik (Forum), Krzysztof Pacula (Forum), L. Zielaskowski

‘Foreign nations have dominated the modern history of Warsaw’

Not the cosiest place in the world What about the last two decades?

There are quite a number of buildings, including high-rise hotel buildings and

Warsaw Water Filters, designed

by William Lindley, completed in 1886. The historical waterworks, after renovations, serve the capital to this day.

The Pac-Radziwiłł Palace on Miodowa Street was rebuilt in 1825 according to a design by Henryk Marconi.

ugly cities are beautiful’. Warsaw can never again be as it was. This city is not a cosy place to be in, not even for Poles. It is certainly not cosy for the Germans. However, a popular cabaret artist and TV personality called Steffen Möller has helped to improve the situation somewhat. He too came to Poland from Germany. He has learnt good Polish and has become popular here. He has observed a lack of ‘local patriotism’ among Warsaw’s inhabitants, even a strange sado-masochism, towards the city. The good thing about this sado-masochism is that it makes it easier for newcomers (and there are many of those in Warsaw) to feel at home here. As for me, there is someone who has linked my life with the life of Warsaw in a special way: my Polish grandfather. During the war he was active in the Resistance Movement, fighting the occupiers. I often pass by one significant place in his life history – the street corner where, on hearing the words ‘Hands up’, he became a German prisoner of war in September 1944. But that is another story.

As I have said, it’s not a cosy place.

However, people in the street have become friendlier in recent years.

The post-socialist mixture of grumpiness and distrust is disappearing.

Young people have begun to identify with their city. Warsaw is exciting.

Tiring, and yet stimulating. Today it can be described in the same way that Berlin was at the beginning of the 20th century. It is a city which is continually evolving and which is never just ‘being’. Warsaw will no doubt continue to surprise us in many ways.

by Gerhard Gnauck

The PAST building

was constructed in the early 20th century for a Swedish-owned telephone company and was the tallest building at the time.

It became an iconic building during the Warsaw Uprising, seeing some of the most vicious fighting

HISTORY

It happened in...

October Warsaw, October 1956.

Worker’s rally at the Ursus tractor factory

Communist Poland saw many worker’s protests in 1956.

After Stalin’s death in 1953, the USSR started releasing the tight grip it had on its satellite countries. In February 1956, on the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev gave a secret speech criticizing Stalin and the ‘cult of the individual’ which had a huge impact on both the internal politics in the Soviet Union and among the satellites, which saw it as an opportunity to find their own way of realizing socialist premises. Poland started looking at the shortcomings and failures of socialism in the country, with the authorities allowing some freedom of speech. While the intellectuals were engaged in discussion and criticizing the system, the workers’ situation was bad, and not getting any better. In what is called the ‘Poznań June’ events, workers in Poznań organized a general strike which was pacified by 10,000 soldiers and resulted in 70 deaths. The strike amplified and accelerated the process of democratic and economic reform and in October 1956, after a period of political and social turmoil, a new generation of Communists came to power, headed by Władysław Gomułka. While Poland had a relatively peaceful regime change, in what is called the ‘October Thaw,’ Hungary, another USSR satellite had a full-on revolution, brutally pacified by the Soviet army. Back in Poland, the spirit of liberal reform that Gomułka introduced, however, was short-lived, and the regime went back to being as oppressive and stagnant as ever just a year later.

by Hanna Kozłowska

photo: Zdzisław Olubczyński (Forum)

60

62 FOOD

* ‘surowe’ means raw in Polish

Surowe Suwałki 12 international chefs cooking in the wilds

We had to build a couple of kitchens

kins, covered them, built a huge fire over in the middle of nowhere – the nearest the hole, then collapsed the fire into it place was about 20 miles away. It was and covered it with wood and towels – logistically demanding. But the land- basically a hangi. The dinner that night, scape was stunningly beautiful and the with everyone’s creations, was amazing. raw materials were interesting. So said Government ministries routinely take a Alessandro Porcelli, the founder, organ- lot of flak, so credit where credit’s due. izer and all-round inspiration of Cook Poland’s Ministry of Agriculture was exit Raw, speaking on the phone with tremely supportive, particularly Darek Poland Today. ‘What’s Raw?’, as their (Dariusz Goszczyński), their head website asks. Well, it’s not like anything of communications. I talk with a lot else, so it’s not easy to define. It’s a col- of governments and it’s not always lection of renowned avant-garde chefs easy, but dealing with them was a from around the globe meeting more nice experience. They do a great job or less once a year in an inspirational lo- of promoting the country through gascation to harvest – in its broader sense tronomy. Poland is already developing – the earth’s natural culinary resources. its marketing-through-food concept.

The place: Suwałki in northeast Poland. It looks like they’re on to a good thing.

The locals had a different perspecby Richard Stephens tive on time. Everything was ‘maybe’ – it was very charming, like a forgotten land – stunning! enthused Porcelli.

Underlying it all, the building of bridges between cultures while interacting with the local community is imperative.

At the end of the field-trip (for want of a better word) the chefs individually produce their own ‘ode to the country’, as Porcelli put it, each adding their own unique twist. The chef from New Zealand (Ben Shawry) dug a hole in the ground, put in two piglets and pump-

SUWAŁKI Located in north-eastern Poland, close to the Lithuanian border.

Population of 70,000 Close to Suwałki is Lake Hańcza, Poland’s deepest lake, at a maximum depth of 108.5 m. The town’s most famous son is Oscar-winning director Andrzej Wajda, who was born there in 1926.

COOK IT RAW Cook it Raw kicked off in Copenhagen

in 2009 and has since taken place in the Friulian vineyards of Collio, the Finnish wilderness of Lapland (2010) and the ancient city of Ishikawa, Japan (2011), Cook it Raw Poland took place from 25th – 30th August near the town of Suwałki The 12 participating chefs were:

Albert Adrià (Spain), Inaki Aizpitarte (France), Modest Wojciech Amaro (Poland), Pascal Barbot (France), Claude Bosi (UK), Kobe Desramaults (Belgium), Alexandre Gauthier (France), Magnus Nilsson (Sweden), Daniel Patterson (USA), Ana Rôs (Slovenia), René Redzepi (Denmark), Ben Shewry (Australia)

63 FOOD

The Polish representative, Wojciech

The chefs were surrounded by stunning

nature and the freshest of natural ingredients, the best that Suwalki had to offer. They fished, hunted, explored, picked and collected the food that would make up their final evening dish

Modest Amaro, has received a Michelin Rising Star for his atelier Amaro restaurant in Warsaw.

Pascal Barbot

from France opened his restaurant Astrance in July 2000 and only one year later had a Michelin star, the youngest restaurant ever to receive one. The restaurant in Paris now has 3 stars.

The only woman

photos in the article: Julio Moya, Anton Sucksdorff

amongst the group was Ana Ros, whose restaurant is in Kobarid in the Slovenian countryside

64 TRIPS

Clanking armour on cobbled streets A family weekend break in Sandomierz via a park full of dinosaurs

Our car

Matthew Day covers Central Europe for the UK’s The Telegraph, while also writing on Central and Eastern European affairs for the Scotsman. He has reported on major events such as the 2010 Smolensk disaster and Poland’s recent presidency of the EU. He first came to Central Europe in 1992 as an English and history teacher.

dashed past the first sign for Sandomierz not long after crossing Warsaw city limits. The rather battered metal plate told us that we had only another 176 kilometres to go before we arrived at our final destination. As a place to go in Poland, the little town of Sandomierz, population c. 25,000, appears somewhat pushed off the beaten track. Big places such as Gdańsk and Krakow, understandably perhaps, hog the top of the league but even when it comes to Poland’s smaller attractions Sandomierz is not often found on a must-see list.

This is a shame as the town, or the old town at least, is a little beauty. Plonked on a hill overlooking the Vistula River and boasting a street layout almost unchanged since the 14th century, it comes with dozens of historic and beautiful buildings, everything enveloped in an atmosphere of restful charm. Sandomierz is also reasonably close to Warsaw and that makes for an un-taxing drive.

The road heads almost due south from the capital, cutting through orchard after orchard as it makes its way through the heartlands of Polish fruit farming. Dusty town towns lined with ugly, post-war building like Góra Kalwaria and Kozienice slide slowly by and thankfully do little to detain or delay you on the journey south.

Not kitsch, period While the countryside was quiet and relaxing the same could not be said about the road. Consisting of badly patched potholes and little else it shook our little Skoda to its springs and forced me to weave an alarming path

The Cathedral Basilica was built

from 1360 to 1680.

Sandomierz has around 120 historical buildings from different periods.

Dusk falls on the charming streets of the Old Town.

that swept up this hill, we approached our hotel, which stood in the shadow of the old town. We had elected to stay at the three-star Hotel Sarmata, not because anybody had recommended it but because it had good reviews on the internet and the prices seemed reasonable to someone like me who dislikes parting with money. The Sarmata turned out to be great choice.

It had the looks and feel of a 19th cenaround the more sinister holes. But tury manor with period furniture and at the village of Kostusin the pothole paintings of long-dead aristocrats. patchwork gave way to a strip of fresh Normally I’m not a great fan of the oland unblemished tarmac that darted de-worlde look as too often it slides over low hills and twisted through for- into the kitsch world of stuffed animals ests with lithe vigour, and it was this with awkward expressions and tacky that bore us into Sandomierz. The ‘antique’ clocks made by the truck load small old town sits apart from the in China. But in this case it worked. more modern section on its hill, and, All was tasteful, the rooms spacious turning right near the river onto a road and spotless, and everything coated

65 TRIPS

in a delicate bygone charm. In a nod to the modern world, however, our room came with a flat-screen television the size of a billiard table, and free internet.

Just a bit up the hill and round the corner from the hotel stands the Opatów Gate. 33-metres tall, made of brick and dating back to the 14th century, it makes an impressive entrance to the old town. In the past there were four such gates but now only one survives, maintaining a lonely vigil over the town. It also provides a grand view. I bought a ticket from a joyless old lady who looked as if she last smiled around 1972, and did my best to bound up the innumerable flights of stairs to the top. Once there I had the old town laid out before me in a criss-cross of cobbled streets, and all dominated by the town hall and its white, octagonal clock tower. The oldest building on the square, the town hall was built not long after a raid by pesky Lithuanians in 1349 although in the following centuries it was reshaped and rebuilt until it reached its present incarnation. It sits in the middle of an oddly slopping square lined by attractive buildings. Most, if not all, have been converted into shops or restaurants. Many of the shops sold tourist bric-a-brac with an emphasis on knightly escapades. Wooden swords, wooden shields, imitation cross bows and plastic helmets - all for children I presume - made up a large section of the retail offer in the shops, reflecting the town’s glory years centuries ago when it was a ‘royal’ settlement and no doubt knights rode around rescuing damsels in distress, slaying dragons and rarely washing.

Sandomierz markets its knightly past, calling itself a Royal Town, and you are never far from big swords and the sound of clanking armour. Off a side street we found a man in full armour, quietly cooking in the hot summer sun and selling tickets to a museum full of helmets, swords and other bladed instruments designed to remove your extremities. The museum itself was not exactly riveting but the man was kind, letting the children go in for free and then allowing himself to be attacked by wooden-sword wielding six-year old.

Later that day we had a rather average pizza on a small square off the main one, and absorbed the atmosphere. Children played in a fountain, church bells tolled and the sound of wedding songs made their way

Sandomierz’s underground

tunnel system. This brick-lined corridor runs under the Old Town market square.

SANDOMIERZ Located in south-eastern Poland Population of just over 25,000 In the early 12th century the chronicler Gallus Anonymus ranked it together with Krakow and Wroclaw as one of the main cities of Poland In 1809 the city was damaged during fighting between the forces of Austria and the Duchy of Warsaw during the Napoleonic Wars

Not every town

can boast a town hall from the 14th century.

The Gothic Opatów Gate was funded by

King Casimir the Great. It used to be one of four gates leading to the city.

66 TRIPS

through the thick heat of the summer evening. Surrounded by beautiful buildings but without the throngs of people you would expect of such a place, Sandomierz’s relaxing charm wafted over us. It was a good place to be.

The dinosaur and fun park

at Bałtów has become, from nothing only a few years ago, a real attraction, bringing visitors from across Poland

Soup to clear the sinuses But when you have children in tow, charm and old buildings have only limited appeal so we set out the next day to the small village of Bałtów (pronounced ‘bautoof’), the home of JuraPark, and, consequently, an awful of lot of plastic dinosaurs and fairground attractions.

Getting to JuraPark involved retracing our route from the day before, turning left just short of Kostusin and heading into a river valley. Off the main road we were immediately in a world of scruffy farms and solitary sized and looked the part, and both grazing animals. Every now and then my kids had a whale of a time. we whizzed by an old person sitting Back in Sandomierz later that day by the road on a bench, and no doubt we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. gave them something to talk about The menu was short and to the point, over dinner. Further into the country and the food was excellent considthe valley narrowed, the now-confined ering nothing cost more than 40 zł. river picked up force and then we were I had a wonderful horseradish soup in Bałtów. The main buildings of the that made your sinuses tingle slightly complex consist of an attractive red- but was not overpowering, followed brick water mill but the park spreads by chicken with vegetables. The meat across acres and even includes a short was moist and the cook had not gone ski slope. To be honest, as I paid the down the traditional route of boiling 55 zł for a family ticket to see the di- vegetables to the point you can eat nosaurs, I wasn’t really looking forward them with a spoon, and had instead to it. I had in mind cheap and tacky kept them slightly firm and full of dinosaur models, looking like they had flavour. Having spent a restful night fallen out of a giant Christmas cracker, on a stomach full of good food, the but my fears were misplaced. The di- next day we took a trip into the unnosaur trail was well laid out in land- derworld. Beneath the foundations of scaped gardens, the models were life- Sandomierz lies a labyrinth of tunnels

The ravine

of Queen Jadwiga in the southwestern part of Sandomierz.

and passages that were once used to store vital supplies. Now most of them are open to the public, and the tourist route covers 470 metres and 34 chambers. After a while one tunnel looks pretty much like another but you have to admire the skill and effort that went into excavating the warren, and also the tunnels provided a respite from the searing heat of the day. Once we surfaced, mole-like and blinking into the sun, we headed to a pleasant Italian place called Wino Kawarnia De-Gusto (ul. Sokolnickiego 1, for those who are interested) for a very tasty plate of pasta before roaming across the square, down a slight hill and then up another to Sandomierz Castle.

There has been a castle on the same hill overlooking the Vistula for centuries despite serious attempts by invaders to erase it. In 1656 the Swedes, perhaps honing the minimalist interior design skills that they would later use to conquer the home-furnishing world, blew the place sky high, leaving only bits left standing. That is how it remained for a long time until it was rebuilt between 1960 and 1986. The handsome castle now houses the regional museum and appears to have become a favourite spot for couples to have their wedding pictures taken. We had an ice cream, looked at a couple of collections of interesting junk on sale, and then it was time to head home.

Going back to the Sarmata, we piled into the car, turned left down the hill and in a flash Sandomierz was nothing more than an image in my rear-view mirror. But as drove away we were happy that we had made the effort to visit the town. by Matthew Day

photos in the article: Forum (Grzegorz Bogacz, Marek Grzegorz Koperkiewicz, Wojciech Pacewicz, Andrzej Sidor, Jan Wlodarczyk, Tomasz Zdrojewski), Jurapark Bałtów

‘In 1656 the Swedes, perhaps honing the minimalist interior design skills that they would later use to conquer the home-furnishing world, blew the place sky high’

68 LIFESTYLE

Pucker up: one kiss or three?

Negotiating the intricacies of meeting & greeting Polish style

Cynthia Naugher Skłodowski,

a Texas native, has lived in Poland for four years with her Polish husband and young son.

Her career so far has included stints in NYC at both Cosmopolitan and Seventeen magazines, as well as for a Dallas advertising firm, and she is now concentrating on trying to get the hang of Polish life and culture, which is a full-time job in itself.

Ah, the Polish greeting. It looks so familiar and natural that you think you should have it nailed – and then you find your face hanging in the air, lips fully puckered as your friend has already moved onto the next person.

Hello, awkward.

Having lived and worked in Poland for nearly four years now (with a Polish husband and all), I’m a little ashamed to admit that at times I still get thrown off by its intricacies.

You see, we Americans shake hands.

When we meet really good friends, we hug (a big no-no invasion of personal space here in Poland!). While cheek kissing is gaining in popularity in the US, it still holds a bit of a novelty status – something reserved for days when you and your friends are feeling particularly ‘Sex and the City’.

In Poland, the cheek kiss is an integral part of friendly interaction. Poles pride themselves on their savoir-vivre, and the Polish greeting comes as part and parcel. Unfortunately, what seems so simple an act to Poles is actually much more complex than one would expect. Here, we are going to try to unravel the mystery.

The good old handshake When meeting someone for the first time or in formal situations, a handshake and a ‘dzień dobry’ (‘good day’) are standard. Of course, this depends on the age, gender and relative position of the people meeting. On occasion, an older Polish man meeting a woman might perform the dying tradition of the hand kiss (more on this in a moment.) It’s not the norm anymore, so if this happens just go with it and smile. In business, a good handshake is always the best option. If you eventually get to know your colleagues or even your clients really well, you might decide to move onto the kisses in less formal settings. This will rarely, if ever, happen in the office. In social settings, Poles will tell you that three kisses are the rule. However for a myriad of reasons, it is quite often only one. This

depends on the situation, the person, the setting, the weather…. Sometimes it means I know you so well, we can skip formalities or It’s my party, and I would never get to actually talk to anyone if I gave everyone three kisses.

Yes, unfortunately it could also mean, I don’t really like you, but I’m doing this to be polite.

It's instinctive, kotku Alas, there are no real rules defining one or three kisses. Poles just seem to instinctively know. Having such instincts also means that they cannot actually explain this to others.

After quizzing a multitude of Poles with this burning question, the only answer that I have come away with is that ‘you just know’. I, and I suspect the majority of foreigners, unfortunately do not ever seem to ‘just know’, which leads to many awkward moments. Also of note is that in all situations, men generally only shake each other’s hands - unless a whole lot of alcohol is involved.

As to the actual kiss, aim for the other person’s right cheek first, and don’t actually put your lips on the person’s cheek. Also, don’t smack so loudly that you blow out their eardrums – it’s really more of a symbolic kiss than an actual one.

Hand kissing is an old-school tradition and a quickly fading one. It was the height of Polish savoir-vivre for older generations. Today it serves mostly as an overt display of respect (or charming flirtation) from men to women. You will probably only see it on occasion – mostly initiated by older men. Don’t expect it – and men, unless you hail from the aristocracy, it’s best to leave this tradition alone.

Baffling as it all seems, the bright side of this is that Poles generally realize how confusing their greeting rules can be to foreigners and are quick to either forget or ignore any missteps. Unless, of course, you try to kiss the lady in the immigration office.

She might not forget.

by Cynthia Naugher Skłodowski

RANDOM FACTS ABOUT KISSING: Philematolegy is the science of kissing.

The lips are one of the most sensitive parts of the body – they are almost 100 times more sensitive than even the tips of the fingers.

Kissing at the end of a wedding ceremony actually comes from a tradition in ancient Rome, where a kiss was used to sign a contract.

A cheek kiss only involves two facial muscles, whereas a deep kiss involves 34.

Ancient Roman author Pliny once wrote that kissing a donkey’s nostril would cure the common cold. (Not recommended

by Poland Today…)

ALREADY MASTERED THE POLISH GREETING? Here’s how to say hello in other countries.

Japan: People here usually bow to each other – this can range from a simple nod of the head to a full-on 90 degree bend at the waist.

Middle Eastern countries:

Men generally shake hands, though less firmly and for a longer time than in the west. Physical contact for greetings between men and women is generally a no-no.

Belgium: Handshakes are always a good way to start – but once you get to know someone, three cheek kisses starting on the left are the way to go. Unless you’re both men. Then you still just shake hands.

Kenya: When greeting an elder, grasp

their right wrist with your left hand when shaking hands – it’s a sign of respect.

Argentina: Handshakes are the best way to

greet someone that you’re meeting for the first time, but after that, cheek kisses are the way to go when greeting and departing.

The 1970s. An old-fashioned hand kiss at,

ironically, a meeting of the National Women’s Council and Women’s League.

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photo: Jerzy Michalski (Forum)

LIFESTYLE

70 LIFESTYLE

The voice on the box Wait, why does January Jones talk like Chuck Norris?

Applauding the captain

is Associate Editor of Poland Today.

She occasionally helps the New York Times in Poland and is a freelance blogger for natemat.pl.

Hanna has previously worked for the travel magazine Podróże and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. She is a recent graduate of Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, where she was Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Gazette.

I was definitely puzzled and amused by the lektor when I first moved here, said Michael Andrusco, a legal proof-reader from Canada. In order to understand what he was watching, he would turn up the volume really high, hoping to catch the actors’ voices under the voice-over. His lack of emotion made it comical when, for example, a woman would scream OH MY GOD!!!!! and the lektor would provide a monotone ‘Boże’ [God] in translation, Andrusco added. An obvious surprise to a Canadian, the voice-over is also a shocker for other Europeans. When a German, French or Italian turn on the TV to watch ‘House’ they know that the actors‘

mouth movements won’t match the sound, but it will seem that they are speaking German, Italian or French, despite being in a hospital in the middle of New Jersey. For them, it’s ‘God bless dubbing.’ When a Norwegian or Dutch wants to watch ‘House’ they will expect to hear the original voice of TV’s favorite grumpy doctor and occasionally look at the subtitles

illustration: Chuwy

Hanna Kozłowska

once the plane touches down on the runway. Paying for ‘public’ restrooms.

In those restrooms a triangle to signify the men’s room and a circle for the women’s. There are many Polish ways or customs that foreigners find strange. But none compare to the shock experienced by non-Poles by the simple act of turning on Polish TV. Say you want to watch the alcoholdrenched, cigarette-smoke-infused, well-dressed world of ‘Mad Men,’ you will hear the faint voice of Jon Hamm or January Jones, but they will be largely overpowered by the voice of Tomasz Knapik, one of the select few men who read all the lines to foreign films on Polish TV. Knapik is actually best known in Poland for his narration of ‘Walker, Texas Ranger,’ so when you see the beautiful January Jones, her ‘voice’ makes you think of Chuck Norris in a cowboy hat. This technique, a documentary-like voice-over which makes all non-Polish films or TV shows, be it ‘Downton Abbey’ or ‘Game of Thrones,’ sound surprisingly similar to each other, is called a ‘lektor’ (‘reader’) translation. The voice-over does not vary his tone or range along with the actors on the screen, he just barely changes his intonation to hint that another character is speaking, summarizing the content of his or her line.

that ‘the Poles like it’. I’m glad that cinema in Poland doesn’t follow the same example, he added.

Lektor as artist

Unless you are watching an animated movie, a rare example of great translation on television, dubbing is offensive to Polish ears. I did think it was better than dubbing because at least the original dialogue was still playing, Andrusco agrees. Subtitles, many Poles feel - especially the older generation - are a nuisance. They are too small to see from far away and they zoom across the screen much too fast.

Such are Polish habits, said Joanna Stempień-Rogalińska, spokesperson for Telewizja Polska (TVP), the staterun television broadcaster. Ever since Polish television started showing foreign programming, in the early 1970s, it was always translated through a lektor. Rogalińska also emphasized that a good voice-over is ‘value-added’ to the production, that it is an art in itself. It’s not just a mechanic reading. They are creators, artists, she added, giving the example of the late Jan Suzin, who was known for narrating westerns. It all depends on the type of viewer, however, admits Rogalińska. More and more TV stations, who generally attract younger viewers than TVP, such as the commercial broadcaster TVN, are introducing subtitles. And with digital television you have a choice of voice-over or subtitles. While the trend may be changing, it will be a long time before the ‘charismatic’ male voices give ground to litin their native language (ever wonder tle letters zooming across the screen. why their English was so good?). The TVP and BBC statistics from 2007voice-over, however, won’t surprise a 2008 say that, respectively, 45% and Russian or a Bulgarian, as theirs are 52% of Poles prefer the lektor version, the only other countries in the world with only 4% and 8% saying they are who use the same film translation subtitle fans. And dubbing is also on technique. Yes, I was surprised about the rise, according to Rogalińska. TVP the lector when I first arrived said Leif is increasing its dubbed programming.

Christiansen, a Danish consultant who No doubt the Polish voice-over phehas been in Poland for 14 years. In my nomenon will continue to amuse and opinion the German way is not good, bewilder foreigners, but at least now but the Polish way is even worse and they will be able to turn off the nasal many of our Polish friends feel the voice of Walker, Texas Ranger, any time same, so Im not so sure it can be said they want. by Hanna Kozłowska

‘Subtitles, many Poles feel, are a nuisance’

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