Polish treasury minister reportedly in PiS crosshairs

By bne IntelliNews September 13, 2016

Polish treasury minister Dawid Jackiewicz is reportedly days from being dismissed, local media claimed on September 13.

A sacking would mark the first major change in the Law and Justice (PiS) government since it took office in November. Polish newspapers claim Jackiewicz has found himself in hot water with the party leadership, and chairman Jaroslaw Kaczynski in particular, for giving too many lucrative posts in state-controlled companies to people within his circle, and failing to control them.

The CEOs of refiner Lotos and utility Tauron both hail from Jackiewicz’s home city of Wroclaw, Gazeta Wyborcza points out. The minister is also reported to have elevated friends to the supervisory boards of gas trader EuroPolGaz, the Polish Power Exchange, insurer PZU, and utility PGE.

“Dismissal has been demanded categorically by Kaczynski. It’s not even about who gets positions in [state-controlled] companies, but what these people start doing there,” an anonymous source within PiS told the newspaper.

Kaczynski and the PiS leadership are reportedly angry that Jackiewicz’s people have proved unwilling to push through changes. Instead, they are seen as treating their positions as little more than straightforward reward for years of loyalty to PiS, journalist Wojciech Mucha - who is close to the ruling party - wrote on Facebook earlier this month.

On taking over as minister, Jackiewicz was tasked with carrying out one of the party's most basic strategic plans - to halt further privatisation and instead put companies under stricter government control. Jackiewicz has often said that if Poland had the financial means, it would be keen to increase its stakes in key companies, especially in the energy and banking sectors. 

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