VOLUME 19, NUMBER 13 • APRIL 8-14, 2013 . z∏.12.50 (VAT 8% included) . ISSN 1233 7889 INDEX-RUCH-332-127 Since 1994 . Poland’s only business weekly in English

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Pass the gasConfusion erupts after Vladimir Putinorders Gazprom to build a gas pipelinethrough Poland 10-11

PPeennssiioonn ggrraabb??The government is reviewingPoland’s pension system, andis considering nationalizing theassets of some private funds 5

Will Germany lead?In an exclusive interview,Germany’s former foreignminister, Joschka Fischer,explains why his countryhas not provided theleadership needed to heal the EU’s woes 12-13

EEnnddlleessss wwiinntteerrPoland’s wintry spring weatherhas taken its toll on businessesand infrastructure, and couldmean floods in the near future 4

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News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-4

Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5-6

Finance & Economics . . . . . . . . . . .7

Exports in Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Interview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10-11

Cover Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12-13

Opinion & Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Lokale Immobilia . . . . . . . . . .15-17

The List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Lifestyle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22

Last Word . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

In this issue

• Griffin in Powsin

• Qualia’s skyscraper

• Retail in small cities15-17

Made inPoland2013The latest

edition of

WBJ ’s

annual analysis

of Poland’s export

markets launches this

week 8

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RIF

FIN

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A new center-leftWBJ sat down with Marek Siwiec, co-leaderof Europe Plus, a new center-left politicalinitiative, to discuss its plans for the future

0

30,000

60,000

90,000

120,000

150,000

Lithuan

ia**

Czech R

epublic

Swede

nFra

nce

Poland

Germany

Ireland

United K

ingdom

Netherla

ndsMalta

*

* Highest in EU** Lowest in EU

APRIL 8-14, 2013NNEEWWSS2 www.wbj.pl

Transport

Minister

survives vote

of no-confi-

dence

Transport Minister

S∏awomir Nowak

survived a vote of no

confidence last Friday. A

motion suggesting his

dismissal had been filed

by opposition party

Solidarna Polska, and

supported by Palikot’s

Movement and the

Democratic Left

Alliance, who argued

that he is responsible

for the poor condition of

roads and railways.

Billionaire

Barbara

Piasecka-

Johnson dies

Polish-born Barbara

Piasecka-Johnson, one

of the world’s richest

women, died on April 1.

She was 76. Ms

Piasecka-Johnson was

the third wife of John

Seward Johnson, the

son of the founder of

Johnson & Johnson, and

inherited a large part of

his fortune after his

death. Her assets were

recently valued by

Forbes at $3.6 billion.

Horse

painkiller

found in meat

from Poland

Czech veterinary

inspectors confirmed

that they found traces of

a horse painkiller in

Polish horse meat sold

in the country. The drug,

phenylbutazone, which

may be harmful to

humans, was found in

meat which came from

the Polish supplier.

PGE

withdraws

from Opole

project

Poland’s largest utility

PGE has decided to

withdraw from its plan

to build new units at its

Opole power plant. The

company said that

changes in the energy

market and

macroeconomic

conditions have limited

the profitability of the

project and that

continuing it would not

create value for PGE’s

shareholders. The

contract was worth

z∏.9.4 billion. ●

Air France ..........................5

Albright Stonebridge Group..13

Allianz ..............................15

Asseco ................................8

Automatic Labs ................23

B+R Studio ..........................8

Bank Millennium ................6

Bank Pekao ......................16

BBI Development..............15

Biedronka..........................16

Blackstone ........................15

British Airways ..................5

Castorama ........................16

CCC ....................................4

CEPD Management ..........16

Colliers........................16, 17

Comarch ............................8

Cushman & Wakefield......15

Cyfra+..................................6

Cyfrowy Polsat ....................6

Elektrim ............................15

Enea ....................................6

Eurolot ................................5

EuRoPol Gaz ......................4

Gaz-System ........................4

Gazprom..............................4

GLL....................................15

Google ................................8

Griffin Group ....................16

Grupa Capital Park ..........16

GTC....................................17

H&M..................................17

Hannover Real Estate ......15

Hines ................................15

HSBC ..............................7, 8

IBM......................................8

Imtech Polska ..................16

Inglot ..................................8

Invesco ..............................15

Johnson & Johnson ..........2

Jones Lang LaSalle..........15

JSW ..................................20

KGHM..................................6

Kulczyk Silverstein

Properties ........................15

Kury∏owicz & Associates..15

Lidl ....................................16

LOT ......................................5

Lufthansa............................5

Macro Cash & Carry ........16

Marriott ............................15

Media Expert ....................16

Microsoft ............................8

“n” ......................................6

NAC ..................................21

nc+ ......................................6

NEPI ..................................15

Nordea Bank ......................6

Norges ..............................15

Parrot ................................23

PGE ..........................2, 6, 20

PKO BP ........................6, 15

Polpharma ..........................8

PRC Architekci..................16

Prologis ............................15

PZL Mielec..........................8

PZL-Âwidnik ......................8

PZU ..................................15

Qualia Development ........15

Qumak ..............................16

Randstad Polska ..............16

Skanska ............................15

Tauron ................................6

Tebodin..............................16

The Hines Global Reit ......15

Transport Consultants

Group TOR ..........................5

Warsaw Stock Exchange2, 20

X-Trade Brokers ..............20

April 10, 2013 will mark thethird anniversary of the cata-strophic plane crash inSmolensk, Russia whichclaimed the lives of PresidentLech Kaczyƒski and 95 others,including Poland’s militarychiefs and many top politi-cians. But after briefly unitingthe nation in grief, the disasterhas since turned into one ofthe most significant wedgeissues in Polish politics.

Jaros∏aw Kaczyƒski, twinbrother of the late presidentand leader of Poland’s biggestopposition party, Law and Jus-tice, has accused Prime Minis-ter Donald Tusk of complicityin Lech Kaczyƒski’s death,openly suggesting that therehad been a conspiracy toassassinate his brother involv-ing Mr Tusk and Russia’s pres-

ident Vladimir Putin. A Polish investigative com-

mission found the causes ofthe crash to have been piloterror and negligence on thepart of the Russian air-con-trollers in Smolensk.

This year’s commemora-tions are set to provide furtherevidence of the rift theSmolensk catastrophe has cre-ated in Poland.

When Donald Tuskannounced that he would bemaking an official trip to Nige-ria on April 10, many Law andJustice politicians reactedangrily, accusing the primeminister of everything fromcowardice to malice. JoachimBrudziƒski, an MP from theconservative opposition party,said Donald Tusk, “most prob-ably has a guilty conscience

and the fact that he is runningoff with his tail between hislegs is typical.”

However, Mr Tusk is expect-ed to lay a wreath at the monu-ment to the Smolensk planecrash victims in Warsaw’sPowàzki cemetery early in themorning on April 10, justbefore his flight. MeanwhileLaw and Justice plans to holddemonstrations and prayermeetings, as well as attend spe-cial commemorative masses onApril 10.

Government ministers andMPs from all parties will beattending some of those mass-es. Asked who had decided onApril 10 for his visit to Nigeria,Mr Tusk said it had been theNigerian side, adding that thedate was “unfortunate.”

RReemmii AAddeekkooyyaa

48.0was the value of Poland’s manufacturing PMI index in

March 2013, its lowest level in five months.

450%is by how much trade on the natural gas market of thePolish Power Exchange increased in March, compared

to February.

211were the number of bankruptcies of Polish companiesin the first quarter of 2013, the highest number since

the first quarter of 2005, according to data fromCoface.

5:05 pmwill be the new time for the close of trade on the

Warsaw Stock Exchange, starting April 15. Currently,trade closes at 5:35 pm.

“We should just say: ‘We’re not entering ERM II.If you want us in, invite us without that

requirement.’ Is that chutzpah? You bet it is.”National Bank of Poland head Marek Belka, during a debate last week on theterms of Poland’s eventual entry into the euro zone.

Quote of the Week

The politics of gasRussia’s Vladimir Putin has proposed building a new naturalgas pipeline through Poland. How could this affect Poland’srelationship with Russia and what would be the geopoliticalconsequences of such a project, if the Polish governmentagrees to come on board? Long on to WBJ.pl to read geopo-litical analysis firm Stratfor’s take on the issue.

On WBJ.pl

Numbers in the News

Company index

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9-10 OFFICEDAYSEvent: This fair is designed for four main groups of

attendees: office managers and personsresponsible for ordering equipment andoffice services; developers, owners andmanagers of office buildings; architects andinterior designers; and IT specialists respon-sible for company hardware.

Location: WARSAW EXPO XXI Centre, ul. Pràdzyƒskiego 12/14, Warsaw

Web: www.officedays.pl

10 MADE IN POLAND CONFERENCEEvent: Journalists, entrepreneurs and officials will

discuss Polish exports – their successes,challenges and impact on the Polish economy.

Location: National Stadium, Al. Poniatowskiego 1, Warsaw

17-21 FASHIONPHILOSOPHY FASHION WEEK POLAND

Event: The spring edition of the biggest fashion eventin Central and Eastern Europe. This timedesigners from the region will present theirideas for their autumn/winter collections.

Location: ¸ódê Special Economic Zone, ul. Tymienieckiego 22/24, ¸ódê

APRIL 30-MAY 2ANNUAL INVESTMENT MEETING

Event: AIM is the Middle East’s first Emerging Mar-kets FDI-focused event to offer a perfectblend of trade fair and intellectual featuresaimed at enriching institutional, corporateand individual investors attending with acomprehensive set of guidelines for theirfuture investment decisions in high-growthregions.

Location: Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center, Dubai, UAE

Web: www.aimcongress.com

April

Calendar

The third anniversary of

the Smolensk disaster

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Figures in focusLand of milk and honeyHow much a hectare of agricultural land costs in selected EUstates (in €)

Sources: Eurostat, ARiMR

APRIL 8-14, 2013NNEEWWSS4 www.wbj.pl

Weather

CCoouulldd AApprriill ssnnooww sshhoowweerrss bbrriinngg MMaayy ffllooooddss??

The threat of floods in thefirst weeks of May is loomingover southeastern Poland.Flood warnings have alreadybeen issued in towns and vil-lages along the Bug River.The southeastern voivod-ships Podkarpackie, Âwi´-tokrzyskie and Lubelskiemay experience some flood-ing in the near future, whenthe snow begins to melt. Andthaw is indeed coming, withweather forecasts putting thisweek’s temperatures in thevicinity of 10 degrees Celsius.

Experts say, however, thatthere is no reason for worry.“The winter is indeed snowy,but not frosty. This meansthere is not much ice onrivers making it difficult forthe water to flow,” ArturMagnuszewski, a hydrologyprofessor at the University ofWarsaw told TVN24. MrMagnuszewski also said thatneither a sudden warming orintense rainfall are expected

in the coming weeks, whichare the biggest threats whenit comes to floods.

Transport and infrastructure snowed under The unseasonable weather isalso taking its toll onPoland’s infrastructure. Dur-ing the Easter weekend, theexceptionally wet, heavysnow left some 100,000 Poleswithout power, when treebranches snapped under theweight and broke severalpower lines in centralPoland.

Hundreds of flights havebeen canceled or delayed dueto poor weather conditions.Despite deploying 1,100snowplows, driving condi-tions in Poland remained dif-ficult. During the Easterweekend, accidents claimedthe lives of 16 people and left232 injured. Local authori-ties are worried about the

strain the continuing effortsto clear roads is putting ontheir budgets.

Winter is a dangerous sea-son in Poland, and not onlyfor drivers. According to theMinistry of Internal Affairs,29 people froze to death inMarch alone. Since thebeginning of the winter sea-son 180 have died ofhypothermia and 88 of car-bon monoxide poisoningcaused by faulty heatinginstallations.

Heavy snow, heavy losses The financial repercussionsof the snowy spring gobeyond costly road mainte-nance, though. Clothes andfootwear manufacturers arestruggling as a result of thelong-lasting winter weather.At a time when they usuallyearn more on new spring col-lections, they now have lowerturnover and lower margins.Piotr Nowjalis, deputy CEOat shoe retailer CCC, toldbusiness daily Parkiet thatthis year’s March sales valuewas 20 percent lower than

last year’s.The entire economy is

experiencing a protractedslowdown due to the unfa-vorable and harsh weatherconditions. With seasonalwork delayed, one should notexpect unemployment to fallin March, as it usually does.

The jobless rate is expectedto start declining in April,though, deputy Labor Minis-ter Jacek M´cina said.

The unseasonably wintryweather in the beginning ofApril is highly unusual, butnevertheless has frustratedPoles who are anxious for

spring to begin. “Our climate and our

weather are very varied,” MrMagnuszewski told TVN24,adding that there is no rea-son to expect that this kind ofweather will become com-monplace in the future.

BBeeaattaa SSoocchhaa

The unusually long and snowy winter hasalready wreaked havoc, causing power outages,road collisions and incurring heavy losses forthe Polish economy

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The wintry conditions made holiday driving especially treacherous

Pipelines

Russia moots new gasline through PolandThe Polishgovernment says itwon’t play Russia’s“political games”

Confusion arose last Wednes-day after media reported thatRussian President VladimirPutin had ordered state-owned gas distributor Gaz-prom to consider buildinganother section of the Yamalnatural gas pipeline that wouldgo through Polish territory,bypassing Ukraine. Gazprom’sCEO Alexei Miller said thatthe new part of the pipelinecould be in operation by asearly as 2018.

The Polish governmentseemed taken aback by thenews. Treasury MinisterMiko∏aj Budzanowski criticizedthe proposal, and stressed thatany decision on whether a newpipeline would go throughPoland was solely the purviewof the Polish government.

“No one, except for thePolish company and the Polishgovernment, is entitled tomake decisions about transitvia Polish territory,” he said.

However, Deputy PrimeMinister and Economy Minis-

ter Janusz Piechociƒski toldPolish Radio on Thursday thatPoland could benefit fromsuch a deal.

Then on Friday, before thegovernment could articulate acoherent position, Mr Millerand the Polish CEO of Russ-ian-Polish pipeline operatorEuRoPol Gaz, Miros∏awDobrut, signed a memoran-dum stating that the two partieswould jointly asses whether anew gas line running throughPoland’s territory was techni-cally and economically feasible.

Polish politicians wereunwilling to make any publicstatements until the situationhad been clarified, with evenPrime Minister Tusk refusingto address the issue. It tookgovernment representativesthe better part of Friday to gettheir story straight.

Polish Treasury MinisterMiko∏aj Budzanowski said at along-awaited press conferencethat no formal agreement hadbeen entered into and addedthat the memorandum be-tween EuRoPol Gaz andGazprom “is clearly technicalin nature and only pertains toa transfer of information.”

Just a pawn?The announcement of thenew pipeline came only twodays after Ukrainian Energyand Coal Industry Ministrystated that Ukraine had notbroken any laws by progres-sively decreasing its gas pur-chases from Russia whileincreasing them from Hun-gary. That issue is only one ofseveral bones of contentionin a lengthy Russian-Ukrain-ian dispute over gas quotasand payments. Analystsbelieve that Mr Putin’s pro-posal was a veiled threat toKiev that Moscow could stilldeliver gas to customers whilecutting off the taps inUkraine.

But the Polish governmentwas reluctant to cooperatewith Russia’s apparent strong-arm tactics. “Poland will notparticipate in such politicalgames, for us gas is not a polit-ical instrument and we reallywant, as per EU regulations,to keep gas issues free frompoliticking,” Polish PrimeMinister Donald Tusk said Fri-day afternoon.

BBeeaattaa SSoocchhaa,,KKaammiillaa WWaajjsszzcczzuukk

International

Idle threats of an idle dictator?As Pyongyang rattlesits sabers, Polandencourages NorthKorea to “abstainfrom provocativemoves”

Last week’s news was domi-nated by reports of NorthKorean saber-rattling and thecountry’s preparations to go towar with its southern neigh-bor. And while the US contin-ues to send troops and equip-ment to the Korean peninsula,experts agree that Pyongyang’smoves are little more thanpropaganda.

Nevertheless, the risingtensions have sparked fears ofa war on the Korean peninsu-la, or an even wider conflict.And the rhetoric coming outof North Korea is at its mostbellicose in years.

A statement posted on thewebsite of the North Koreanembassy in Poland reads,“Kim Jong-un has made adecision to declare a life-and-death battle that will ensure anepoch-making opportunity toput an end to an ongoing clashwith the US, and to start a newera. This is the final warning tothe US and South Korea.”

When asked by a reporter

from TVN24 to comment onthe statement, one of theemployees of the embassy saidthat Pyongyang was onlyresponding to “aggressiveattacks” from the “other side.”

“We haven’t declared war,our actions are merely pre-emptive,” the unnamed sourceform the embassy said. Thesource concluded the state-ment, however, with the omi-nous: “We’re ready to counter-attack.”

Polish diplomats to stayin Pyongyang, for nowThe Polish Ministry of ForeignAffairs claims there is no needto evacuate Poland’s embassyin North Korea. The ministry’s

press officer, Marcin Bosacki,said that evacuation may beconsidered if the situation getsworse, though.

Mr Bosacki also confirmedthat there are currently no Pol-ish citizens in North Koreaapart from the embassy staff.Only one other Pole lives inthe country, but he is currentlystaying in Poland, Mr Bosackiexplained.

Mr Bosacki also added that“the Ministry of ForeignAffairs appeals to Pyongyangto abstain from drastic andprovocative moves. We ask[North Korea] to return topeace talks and comply withbinding UN resolutions.”

JJaacceekk CCiieessnnoowwsskkii

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The increasingly bellicose rhetoric coming out of North

Korea has the world on edge

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One expert saysBritish Airways couldbe the frontrunner toacquire the troubledPolish airline

Poland’s government hasadopted a draft law that ismeant to pave the way for theprivatization of the country’snational air carrier, LOT Pol-ish Airlines. The new regula-tion will enable the State Trea-sury to sell a majority stake,while under current legislationit is obliged to keep a 51 per-cent share in the airline.

LOT’s privatization is partof a deep restructuring processin the company, Treasury Min-ister Miko∏aj Budzanowskisaid last week. Offering amajority stake will give theTreasury the option of sellingLOT to a stable, strategicinvestor, he added.

Polish law is not the onlyobstacle to selling the nationalair carrier. According to EUlaw, at least 50 percent of anyEuropean airline must beowned by an EU memberstate, or a citizen thereof.

That, however, likely won’tbe a problem. “I expect thatone of the big three Europeanairlines (British Airways,Lufthansa and Air France) will

buy LOT. This would makemore sense from an economicstandpoint,” Adrian Furgalski,from Transport ConsultantsGroup TOR, told WBJ.

He added that in his view,British Airways is the fron-trunner. “They were alreadyconsidering buying LOT twoyears ago, and now finally theywill have a legal framework inplace to do so.”

First the sale,and then what?The sale will be possible aftera drastic rescue plan for LOTis implemented, cutting hun-dreds of jobs and offloadingsome of the airline’s planes.

“Only when the company isin better shape will there beany potential buyer interestedin the acquisition,” explainedMr Furgalski.

“But even when we do sell,we have to realize that theTreasury won’t be able to gettoo much money from thesale. We really should behappy that the brand LOTwill continue to exist after thesale,” Mr Furgalski contin-ued.

If another airline buysLOT, experts assume it willincorporate internationalroutes operated by LOT intoits own flight network, whiledomestic flights will still becarried out by a smaller Polishcarrier, Eurolot, owned byLOT and the Treasury.

The Treasury wants to buyout LOT’s stake in Eurolot,which would help secure thenecessary funds to keep LOTafloat, and then sell it in apackage deal along with LOT.

JJaacceekk CCiieessnnoowwsskkii

Airlines

Treasury prepares to sell LOT

APRIL 8-14, 2013 BBUUSSIINNEESSSS www.wbj.pl 5

The government isreviewing a revamp ofPoland’s pensionsystem that couldeventually see privatepension fundsnationalized

Media reports suggestingthat the government is con-sidering shifting roughlyz∏.125 billion in treasurybonds held by private pen-sion funds (OFEs) to thestate budget has sparked anoutcry and speculation thatthe government may be con-sidering getting rid of OFEsaltogether. Poland’s pensionsystem combines a state-con-trolled pay-as-you-go compo-nent with state-guaranteedOFEs that receive part ofemployees’ pension contribu-tions each month.

The government hastaken aim at OFEs to shoreup the budget before. In2011, it cut the share ofemployees’ contributions toOFEs to 2.3 percent of grosswages from 7.3 percent. Thisyear, the transfers rose to 2.8percent of wages, but this isstill less than half the previ-

ous share.Diverting the treasury-

bond holdings into the budg-et would reduce public debtand lower Poland’s annualdebt-servicing costs. FinanceMinister Jacek Rostowski haspledged that by 2015 Polandwill bring down its publicdebt to 50 percent of GDP.After the third quarter of2012, that figure stood at 55.9percent, according to Euro-stat.

No doctrineDaily Gazeta Wyborcza, quot-ing an anonymous governmentofficial, said Prime MinisterDonald Tusk’s government iscurrently considering furthercutting the share of salariestransferred to OFEs.

Moreover, in the future,OFEs might be restricted toinvesting their funds solely instocks, according to thereports. In response, theprime minister acknowl-edged that the pension sys-tem is being “reviewed” atthe moment.

“We will analyze the con-clusions drawn from thatreview, as well as the propos-als of experts and politicians

regarding the future ofOFEs,” said Mr Tusk. “Wehave no doctrine. There is nosecret plan to liquidateOFEs, nor is there a doctrinethat says OFEs must remainat all costs,” he added.

The PM said that the gov-ernment would present itsproposals on the future ofPoland’s pension system inMay.

A misunderstandingCommenting on the issue,Deputy PM and Finance Min-ister Jacek Rostowski insistedthe government does not haveplans to do away with privatepension funds. However, healso responded angrily to arecent proposal from OFErepresentatives suggesting thepension-payment period bereduced to 10 years, insteadof for the remainder of a pen-sioner’s lifetime, as is the casecurrently.

“Life-long pensions willbe paid from the funds thatOFEs have accumulated intheir accounts over the last15 years,” said Mr Rostowski,calling the proposal a “mis-understanding.”

RReemmii AAddeekkooyyaa

Pension funds

Government consideringpension-fund asset-grab

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Soon to be sold?

APRIL 8-14, 2013BBUUSSIINNEESSSS6 www.wbj.pl

Nuclear energy

The wait continues on Poland’snuclear power programAnother deadline –this one for agreeingon terms for aconsortium to fundconstruction – haspassed with noprogress

Over six months have passedsince the state-run energyfirms PGE, Tauron and Enea,as well as state-owned mininggiant KGHM, signed a letterof intent to buy into PGE EJ 1,a company established for thepurpose of building a nuclearfacility in Poland. The date forthe signing of an agreement –

the second after the first dead-line was missed – passed againin March, with no deal. As ofpress time, no new deadlinehad been set.

While it is known thatPGE, Poland’s largest electric-ity producer, will hold themajority share, how mucheach of the other state-ownedgiants will own is stillunknown.

Poland’s nuclear power-plant project has faced diffi-culties from its outset. Origi-nally planned to come onlinefully in 2020, the date that hasnow been officially set for thefirst of two plants to begin

operations is 2023. That plantis set to come fully online in2025, with a generation capac-ity of 3,000 megawatts. A sec-ond plant of roughly the samecapacity is planned to comeonline by 2029.

The biggest issue holdingup the program is its cost. Lastyear PGE chief executiveKrzysztof Kilian said publiclythat Poland would have tochoose between investing innuclear power or in shale gas.In February, Treasury MinisterMiko∏aj Budzanowski saidthat constructing a nuclearplant might be too costly forPoland, especially in view of

the economic slowdown. Thereafter, Prime Minister

Tusk held a meeting with MrKilian to discuss the future ofthe program. “Poland is by nomeans abandoning plans tobuild a nuclear power plant,”said Mr Tusk after the meet-ing, rebutting rumors that theprogram might be suspended.

“We expect governmentagencies and PGE to come upwith a responsible solutionthat will allow Poland to takeadvantage of the safest andmost cutting-edge nucleartechnology,” he added.

But precisely how much theprogram will cost is an openquestion. Estimates for thefirst plant vary between z∏.35billion and z∏.60 billion (about€9 billion-€15 billion).

PGE was due to hold a ten-der for the construction anddelivery of the plant by the endof March as well. That was adeadline that had also beenpushed back, originally fromthe first quarter of 2012. It isnot known when PGE willhold the tender, but it will like-ly have to sign the consortiumagreement with the otherstate-owned firms first.

JJaacceekk CCiieessnnoowwsskkii

Media

New satellite platformearns ire of subscribersA merger of twosatellite TV operatorswas supposed tobring viewers the bestprogramming fromboth. Instead, itsparked an outcryfrom subscribers

When the merger of satelliteplatforms Cyfra+ and “n”was announced back inNovember 2011, officialshailed the expanded offer ofsports and movies that thenew platform would provide.Eighteen months later, afterwaiting for regulators toapprove the deal and discus-sions on how it would oper-ate, the new platform –dubbed “nc+” – waslaunched.

But the claims of “the bestsport and cinema on Polishmarket,” haven’t convinced alarge number of subscribersfrom both platforms. Manywere unimpressed, and evenangry, at the new channeloffer and pricing policy. Inboth the Cyfra+ and “n”platforms, viewers were ableto buy special packages withpremium channels for z∏.20-

40 per month. But in nc+, acomparable package costsmore than double that. The“CANAL+ Silver” package,for example, comes to a totalof z∏.109 monthly.

The vociferous protestsforced nc+ officials intodamage-control mode, but itwas too little too late. A Face-book page protesting thechanges (“Anty NC+”)quickly gathered nearly70,000 likes. The president ofnc+, Julien Verley, invitedthe creator of the page,Dawid Zieliƒski, to discussthe issues protesters havewith the new platform. MrZieliƒski declined the offer,but sent a long list of ques-tions, demands and sugges-tions.

A few top nc+ executiveseven lost their jobs over thefuror. Some of these appar-ently left of their own volition,in protest against the compa-ny’s “aggressive approach”towards existing customers,several Polish media reportedunnamed sources inside thecompany as saying.

This “aggressive appr-oach” got the attention ofPoland’s consumer and com-

petition regulator, UOKIK,which has said it will investi-gate the matter.

“After preliminary analysiswe are concerned withactions to change existingagreements in a one-sidedfashion, and automaticallyreplacing existing Cyfra+ and‘n’ contracts with new ones,”the regulator said in a state-ment. If found in violation ofconsumer protection laws,the company could be finedas much as 10 percent of lastyear’s revenue.

Cyfra+ and “n” togetherhave 2.5 million subscribers.Market leader Cyfrowy Pol-sat has over 3.5 million sub-scribers.

JJaacceekk CCiieessnnoowwsskkii

PKO BP eyestakeovers inCentral Europe

Poland’s largest bank PKO BPis looking for takeovers, if notin Poland then within theregion, the bank’s CEO, Zbig-niew Jagie∏∏o, said at a pressconference last week.

“There are several foreignentities that will be interestedin exiting, or will be forced toexit, the market,” he said.

The bank listed acquisi-tions as one of the goals of itsdevelopment strategy for2013-2015. It plans to reservecapital and monitor the mar-ket for potential targets. PKOis interested in buying small

and medium-sized banks, andhas reportedly been in the run-ning to buy Nordea Bank’sPolish arm, and Bank Millen-nium, the Polish outfit of Por-tuguese bank Millennium bcp.

Much of the lender’s strate-gy is also focused on organicgrowth and improving cus-tomer service. The lenderwants its assets to grow by 4-5percent annually. PKO alsosaid its targeted return-on-equity is above 15 percent andcost-to-income ratio below 45percent.

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The “Anty NC+” page on

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PKO BP headquarters in Warsaw

Support for nuclear?It’s unclear how much support the project hasamong the Polish populace. While Poles cer-tainly favor nuclear power more than some oftheir Western European counterparts, anApril 2011 poll (just after Japan’s Fukushimadisaster) found 53 percent of Poles wereopposed. However, in December last year, agovernment-funded poll during a nuclearpower promotion campaign found that 56percent of Poles were in favor.

The residents of Mielno, which is locatedclose to the Baltic coast town of Gàski, one ofthe proposed sites for the first nuclear power

plant, held a referendum on the subject.Ninety-four percent of residents voted againsthosting the plant.

˚arnowiec and Choczewo, also on theBaltic Sea, are the other two shortlisted loca-tions. Support for construction is said to behigher in these towns, especially in˚arnowiec, where another nuclear powerplant was due to be built under the commu-nist regime. Those plans were discarded afterthe Chernobyl disaster.

A decision on where the plant will be builtcould take as long as two years. ●

DAILY EXECUTIVE DIGEST

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Euro zone

Belka suggests Poland shouldadopt euro without ERM IIThe NBP presidentsaid Poland needs the“chutzpah” to demandit be allowed inwithout the criterion

President of the NationalBank of Poland Marek Belkasaid last week that Polandshould try to convince EUleaders to allow it to join theeuro zone without the

required two-year member-ship in the ERM II.

“I think we should publiclyspeak about this being a veryserious barrier that could pre-vent a country such as Polandfrom joining the euro zone,”he said.

Poland has a large curren-cy market, he explained, so itshould be able to say it doesnot want to join the exchange-rate mechanism.

“We have a big currencymarket and we should justsay: ‘We’re not entering ERMII. If you want us in, invite uswithout that requirement.’ Isthat chutzpah? You bet it is.”Mr Belka said.

Mr Belka added that theERM II is unfavorable forPoland, since it paves the wayfor currency “speculation.”He said that he understandsthat the criteria are part of a

treaty but that he believesthere could be some flexibili-ty.

The ERM II is known asthe euro’s “waiting room.” Itis a mechanism by which acountry’s currency is moni-tored for two years duringwhich it is not allowed tobreak certain thresholds, withthe aim of ensuring a stableexchange rate.

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PMIlowestin fivemonthsThe Purchasing Managers’Index (PMI) for Poland’s man-ufacturing sector fell to 48points from 48.9 points inFebruary, reaching its lowestlevel in five months, HSBCsaid in a statement on Tuesday.The decline in PMI is an indi-cation of a prolonged down-turn in the Polish industry.

HSBC economist AgataUrbaƒska said that the resultwas disappointing and “high-lights that the bottoming outof the 2012 slowdown contin-ues to be questionable notmentioning that it under-mines chances for a firmrecovery through 2013.”

“The number of neworders received by Polishmanufacturers fell for thefourteenth consecutive monthin March. ... The pace ofdecline in new export orderswas the fastest since Novem-ber,” HSBC said in thereport.

The volume of productionslid for the 11th month in arow and at the fastest pacesince November amidreduced orders, with the paceof price reduction accelerat-ing to a historic high.

Production costs fell forthe seventh time in the lastnine months, at the fastestpace since June 2009, thereport authors added.

“The level of employmentin the production sector con-tracted for the seventh monthin a row in March, making itthe longest decline period inover three years. Producersreduced the purchases capitalgoods at the fastest pace sinceSeptember 2012,” HSBC said.

A PMI reading above 50indicates expansion in the sec-tor, while one below 50 sig-nals contraction.

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APRIL 8-14, 20138 www.wbj.pl EEXXPPOORRTTSS IINN FFOOCCUUSS

Trade

Poland driven by exportsThough painful and costly, theglobal economic crisis mayhave been a blessing in dis-guise for Polish exporters. Inthe period between 2008-2012,the value of Polish exportsincreased by 22 percent, or€25.7 billion. Last year alonePoland exported nearly €142billion worth of products,according to preliminary datacompiled by Poland’s statisticsoffice, a record high and anincrease of 6.9 percent y/y.

Poland’s most popularexport sectors include: food(exports of which rose by 14.8percent y/y), ceramics (12.4percent), minerals (5.4 per-cent) and chemicals (4.9 per-cent), although when it comesto value, the electrical machin-ery sector is by far the leader,with some €55 billion worth ofproducts exported in 2012.That leaves chemicals (€19.8billion), foodstuffs (€17.5 bil-lion) and metallurgy (€16.6billion) far behind.

Looking in a differentdirectionThe euro zone crisis hasforced Polish exporters to findalternative markets. The valueof goods sold to the EU has

decreased by 0.9 percent,although it’s still by far thebiggest export destination with€107.5 billion worth of prod-ucts being sold there in 2012.Nevertheless, Polish exportersare hoping new markets canhelp make up the difference.

Exports to developing andless-developed countries,while still small compared toexports to developed markets,rose by 19 percent andreached €25.5 billion. Russia isthe driving force among thesecountries, with €8 billionworth of Polish goods export-ed there.

Additionally, Poland’s Min-istry of Economy has selectedfive potential destination mar-kets for Polish products: Cana-da, Brazil, Algeria, Kaza-khstan and Turkey.

“Right now, these coun-tries account for 2 percent ofPolish exports, and with theirbig potential, macroeconomicstability and huge markets,they can become major desti-nations for Polish export,” theministry wrote in a statement.

According to forecasts byHSBC and Oxford Econom-ics, Asia will see an increase inPolish products. In 2013-2015exports to India, Vietnam andSouth Korea should increaseannually by 21, 18 and 17 per-cent respectively, and will con-tinue to grow even further inlater years.

But despite all the changein economies worldwide, andin the EU in particular, Ger-many remains the country thatimports the most from Poland– €35.7 billion of goods wasexported there (the samevalue as the year before),while the United Kingdom(€9.6 billion) overtook theCzech Republic (€ 8.9 billion)for second place on the list.

Price to quality ratioWhat’s behind the success ofPolish exports? Buyers taketwo factors into account whenmaking a purchase: price andquality. And Polish products

can boast excellent value formoney, thus winning a sizablechunk of global demand.

Undercutting competitionwith lower prices is a double-edged sword, though. Polishexporters have a clear com-petitive advantage in the formof lower labor costs (an hourof labor in Poland costs onaverage €7.20, while the EUaverage is €23.20, accordingto the EU’s statistics agencyEurostat), and can offer lowerprices, thus selling a fargreater volume of products.But this does not translateinto an equal increase in thetotal value of exports.

The furniture sector is agood example here. In termsof volume, Poland is the sec-ond-largest exporter in the

world, selling 2.7 million met-ric tons of its furniture abroad(China is the undisputedleader with nearly 15 milliontons), but in terms of value, itfalls behind Germany andItaly.

The reason is simple: forevery 100 kilograms of furni-ture exported, German andItalian companies receive€500-600 while Polishexporters only receive halfthat, according to estimatesprepared by market researchfirm B+R Studio.

The Ministry of Economyprojects that in 2013, the valueof Polish exports will rise by 2percent (to €144.8 billion),although other experts aremore optimistic in their fore-casts. HSBC predicts a 5.8 per-cent increase, while the ExportCredit Insurance Corporationexpects an 8 percent spike.

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Polish exports brokeanother record in2012. What makes thecountry’s products sosuccessful abroad?

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Polish food is becoming increasingly popular abroad

Big five customersPoland’s top five export destinations, by value of exported goods(in € billions)

Country 2012 Change y/y

1. Germany 35.7 0%

2. United Kingdom 9.6 8.5%

3. Czech Republic 8.9 4.4%

4. France 8.3 -1.2%

5. Russia 7.7 25.2%

Source: Central Statistical Office

Exports

Made in Poland focuses on innovative exportersPoland’s exporters aregrowing in bothstrength andsophistication

The phrases “hi-tech,” “inno-vative” and “state-of-the-art”weren’t often mentioned inthe same breath as “Polisheconomy” until recently. Butthat is changing, and rapidly.

For years now Poland hashad a strong stable of young,world-leading programmersand computer specialists, butit was understood that theywere being hired off by thelikes of huge global tech com-panies that were investing inPoland, such as Google,Microsoft or IBM. Perhapssome went to large Polish ITfirms like Asseco or Comarch.They were something to beproud of, but few predictedthat they would become thefoundation for an entrepre-neurial explosion.

To be fair, Poland stillplaces low in innovation rank-ings. the European Commis-sion has just released a reportputting Poland fourth-lowest

in the European Union interms of innovativeness.

But that belies a small butgrowing group of hi-tech firmsthat Poles are starting up.Poland’s growing strength inthis field was on full display atCeBIT 2013 in Germany,where Poland was the “PartnerCountry.” From ERP software

to video games tocloud computing,Polish firms made –and are making –their mark.

The trend isspilling over intoPoland’s export sec-tors as well, which iswhy in our thirdannual edition ofMade in Poland,which launches at aspecial conferencededicated to exportsthis week, we have aspecial report onresearch and devel-opment in Poland.Poles have come upwith some innova-tions that will haveglobal applications

– and money being spent onR&D is on the rise too, a wel-come development.

Poland’s export sectors areleaders in R&D – from devel-opments in cosmetics to min-ing machinery to pharmaceuti-cals to aviation, Polish firmsare producing state-of-the-artproducts at lower prices than

their Western counterparts,putting them in prime positionto find new markets andincrease market share in thosein which they are already pres-ent.

Take cosmetics producerInglot, for example. Thehome-grown firm recentlydeveloped a type of nail polishthat “breathes,” allowingwater underneath while main-taining its color. While somemight not find that particularlyremarkable, it was a boon toMuslim women, who arerequired to wash their armsand hands – including theirnails – before daily prayers.Muslim scholars have sinceendorsed Inglot’s nail polish aspermissible.

Then there is Polpharma,which recently won the awardfor “Most Innovative Product”from the Polish Academy ofSciences for its innovativetechnologies used in produc-ing osteoporosis drugs. Notonly do the innovations makethe drugs cheaper to produceand safer for the patient, theyalso allow for significantly

more environmentally friendlyproduction.

In Aviation, PZL-Âwidnikand PZL Mielec produce cut-ting-edge helicopters thatserve the most demandingcivilian and military cus-tomers. The list goes on, butyou can read more about howPolish exports are becomingmore hi-tech and sophisticatedin the sector analyses found inthe pages of Made in Poland.

For foreign firms consider-ing importing Polish productsor cooperating with Polishfirms, Made in Poland providessome other resources: a list ofPoland’s largest exporters andcontact details to governmentagencies that aid importersand foreign businesses.

There’s also a bevy ofanalysis from our partners atPoland’s various chambers ofcommerce and institutionsthat work with exporters,including patent attorneysoffices and development agen-cies. We hope that these serveforeign firms well in theirsearch for a Polish businesspartner.

As part of its mission, theWarsaw Business JournalGroup – which comprisesMade in Poland, the flagshipweekly Warsaw Business Jour-nal and several other publica-tions – supports Polish exports.For that reason, we continueto publish Made in Poland,which has been welcomed inthe market to no little success.Exporters and governmentagencies alike have found thepublication useful in their pro-motion activities. We also con-tinue to hold a conferenceeach year dedicated to explor-ing the issues facing Polishexporters.

Bigger, stronger, but alsomore sophisticated andresearch-oriented – Polishexporters continue to provetheir value to the Polish econ-omy.

Pick up your own copy ofMade in Poland, or visitWBJ.pl to download the PDF;we’re sure it will prove theirvalue to your business as well.

AAnnddrreeww KKuurreetthhEEddiittoorr--iinn--CChhiieeff

WWaarrssaaww BBuussiinneessss JJoouurrnnaall

APRIL 8-14, 201310 www.wbj.pl IINNTTEERRVVIIEEWW

Ewa Boniecka: What madeAleksander KwaÊniewskireturn to active politics andannounce he will be establish-ing Europe Plus with you andJanusz Palikot?Marek Siwiec: Our politicalscene is rigid. The ruling Civic

Platform is totally focused onitself and on its confrontationwith the opposition Law andJustice. So Aleksander KwaÊ-niewski decided it was high timeto build a strong center-left for-mation in Poland as the alterna-tive to the governing parliamen-tary majority and the domina-tion of right-wing parties.

We both strongly believethat there is room for a mod-ern, center-left party in Polandbut until now that potentialhas not been exploited. Thefirst step in building coopera-tion between existing leftistparties, leftist political groupsand feminist organizations ispreparing a common electorallist of leftist candidates forelections to the European Par-liament in 2014.

But Democratic Left Allianceleader Leszek Miller hasrejected the invitation to suchcooperation because of JanuszPalikot’s involvement. What’syour next move?Poland should send a strongrepresentation of people tothe EP – people who can havea say in decisions made there –and we would like to invitesuch people to join our elec-toral list. The fact is that whenLeszek Miller rejected ourproposal to build one leftistvoting list, it created an obsta-

cle to our plans. But I think that some mem-

bers of his party would like tosee that decision changed. Itwas an unwise one, because it isevident that one leftist electorallist would gain more supportfrom voters than separate lists.

The Democratic LeftAlliance can join Europe Plusat any time and I think thatdiscussions within that partyabout joining us will go on, sothe matter is not closed yet.The party hasn’t enjoyed muchsupport in recent years, while

Palikot’s Movement enteredthe Sejm with over 40 MPs.Some 1.5 million people votedfor Mr Palikot’s party.

It seems that building EuropePlus may prove very difficultconsidering the current war

within the left. Besides, MrKwaÊniewski hasn’t declaredyet that he will be running forthe European Parliamenthimself...I wouldn’t say we have a waron the left. It is in my view aheated confrontation with

WBJ sat down to discuss politics with MarekSiwiec, an MEP who is currently building a newcenter-left political initiative, Europe Plus,under the leadership of AleksanderKwaÊniewski, former president of Poland

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Marek Siwiec believes Poland’s political scene is “too rigid”

“People’sexpectations for acenter-leftformation arebigger than wehad anticipated.”

Politics

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Leszek Miller’s party, but Iagree that it makes our effortsmore difficult. And the thingthat is most troubling is thatMr Miller does not under-stand that the left needs somefresh air and credibility toattract voters and that by join-ing our project, the Democrat-ic Left Alliance will open up tonew people with leftist and lib-eral views and that togetherwe can offer a real alternativeto right-wing parties. Other-wise, his party will remain stag-nant.

A prominent feminist organi-zation, The Congress ofWomen, has taken offensewith Mr Palikot for his treat-ment of women. They are notsupporting you as of now, sohow do you bring key playerslike that around?We’ve guaranteed women 50percent of the places on ourelectoral list and I am certainthat those female activistslooking for a better future inPoland and Europe will sup-port our initiative, in due time.

Let’s look at leftist partiesin the West. They are chang-ing, they are looking for newideas and proposals, especiallyin a time of crisis and changesin the EU architecture. Theyhave to redefine some of theirapproaches to economic,financial and social matters inorder to deal with unemploy-ment, frustration among EUcitizens and also meet the

expectations of minorities.The same challenges face

Poland’s leftist politicians.Europe Plus is our response tothose challenges, through sup-porting deeper integrationwithin the EU, promotingmore solidarity in fighting withcrises and by making EUmechanisms function moredemocratically. If we send astrong and numerous leftistrepresentation to the Euro-pean Parliament, it willincrease Poland’s role in shap-ing European policies.

But the average Pole is proba-bly more interested in domes-tic problems than in Europe.So what can you offer them,other than the voting list?I have had many meetingswith people all over Polandand I am very often askedabout our position on domes-tic issues. People’s expecta-tions for a center-left forma-tion are bigger than we hadanticipated.

So we have thought aboutcreating a new political party,a “Poland Plus” if you will,akin to Europe Plus and whatit stands for. When the firststep of building a center-leftlist is successful, we will workon establishing a party with anequally comprehensive pro-gram, far from populism.

We are sensitive towardssocial needs, but in order toprovide state support to thosewho need it and to run an

effective social policy, theeconomy has to be effective.Leftist parties acknowledgethat economic results are alsobased on providing favorableconditions for SMEs and notonly for big corporations.

It is still an open questionwhether AleksanderKwaÊniewski will lead such aparty officially, isn’t it?It is for President KwaÊ-niewski to decide about hisfinal political involvement,but it is he who will shape thelist of candidates for theEuropean Parliament. In acouple of weeks we will knowmore about his own plans.Now it is too early to talkabout names on the list or hisdecision concerning his per-sonal involvement in theelections or in building thecenter-left party.

If Europe Plus is established,would Mr Palikot give up hisparty’s name – Palikot’sMovement – and make it partof Europe Plus? Palikot’s Movement is anindependent party that hassignificant representation inparliament and it will be MrPalikot who will have toanswer that question in duetime. The name of his partyand its brand are important,but it has to be treated realisti-cally when it comes to politicalchanges and new circum-stances. Parties in Poland andin Europe have sometimeschanged their names as thepolitical scene changed. Andcertainly when Europe Plus istransformed into a center-leftparty, it will mean significantchanges on our present politi-cal scene.

Do you envisage a situationwhereby Europe Plus couldenter into a coalition with theruling Civic Platform?If, after the 2015 parliamen-tary elections, our party hassignificant political capital,maybe it could be taken intoconsideration. For now all wecan do is speculate. ●

Marek Siwiec

Marek Siwiec was born in1955 in the Silesia voivod-ship. He joined the commu-nist party in 1977 and was amember until communism’scollapse in Poland. From1997 to 2004, he served ashead of the Polish NationalSecurity Bureau under then-President Aleksander KwaÊ-niewski, also a former com-munist party member.

Mr Siwiec was elected anMEP in 2004 and kept his

seat after the 2009 Euro-pean parliamentary elec-tions. From 2011 to 2012, hewas deputy leader of theDemocratic Left Alliance,but has since left the partyto join Europe Plus, a newcenter-left political initia-tive that he is leading inpartnership with MrKwaÊniewski and JanuszPalikot, the leader of theanti-clerical Palikot’s Move-ment party. ●

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APRIL 8-14, 2013CCOOVVEERR SSTTOORRYY12 www.wbj.pl

Exclusive interview

Fischer: Germany ‘doesn’tknow how’ to lead Europe

Remi Adekoya: What is youropinion on the current situa-tion in Cyprus in view of theGerman role leading up to thewhole mess? What could be theconsequences of the Cypruscase for Europe as a whole?Joschka Fischer: For me, itseemed there was and is a lot ofGerman, Austrian and Finnishdomestic politics involved in theCyprus issue. With its hugefinancial system made up oflargely Russian money and allthose rumors about money-laundering, Cyprus is not allthat popular in those countries Imentioned. It’s extremelyunpopular in the parties of MsMerkel and her center-rightcoalition partner. I think thecurrent Cyprus agreement isdriven by all these factors.

I am concerned there mightbe negative consequences ofthis affair in the whole eurozone, not only in the crisis-hitcountries. Investors and regularfolks with savings could losetrust in the banking and finan-cial system and the conse-quences of such a loss of trustcould be very unpleasant in themedium- to long-term future.

I understand the frustrationof many in Europe regardingCyprus, but the issue at stakehere is the future of the eurozone. Trust is essential to calmthe situation and anything thatcould lead to a re-emergence ofthe crisis should be avoided. Iwas shocked that the Europeanfinancial leadership and thepresident of the World Bankhad failed to foresee the nega-tive reactions of Cypriots to theidea of seizing their bankdeposits. That smacked of ama-teurism.

There are two levels of trust atissue here: one is investors’trust in governments and theother is citizens’ trust in euro-crats. Which are you referringto?But finance ministers are noteurocrats, they are members ofnational governments. Thatshould not be forgotten.

True, but nowadays they areabout as popular as the euro-crats who are regularly bashedfor their perceived excessivebureaucracy and big-spending

ways, aren’t they?That’s true, but that perceptionabout a big-spending Europeanbureaucracy is completely false.EU bureaucracy is smaller thanthe bureaucracy in Munich.

But how can we change theperception of fat-cat eurocratsspending taxpayers’ money? I think in Europe, as in theUnited States, it will always bepart of the reality that peopleblame the center for everythingthat goes wrong. In the US,people blame Washington andthe Beltway for all the problemsAmerica has.

As Europe becomes morepolitically integrated, the blamewill increasingly be placed onBrussels for all that is wrong.“Vote for me and I will clean upthe mess in Brussels,” is alreadya common political pitch. Thesesentiments will not go away.

On the other hand, the con-struct of the present euro zoneis an element which should bereconsidered. Take for exam-ple, the relationship betweennation states and the EU.There is a federalist element inthe construct but it is not well-designed. Member-state gov-ernments are very powerful andpossess veto rights, but nationalparliaments have less of a say.

This increases the convic-tion of EU citizens that Europeis governed by a technocracy,because governments play theblame game. They are the realpower in the EU but at homethey say “Oh, look at crazyEurope.” The Polish govern-ment is guilty of this as well. Iknow they want to avoid theanger and blame of their peopleso they act powerless againstEurope at home and then flextheir veto power in Brussels.This a dangerous game.

So what kind of changes do youpropose to Europe’s construct?Today, the European Parlia-ment plays an important role,but does not have the key pow-ers needed to control the crisis.This remains in the hands ofnational governments. It wouldbe helpful to give national par-liaments, in the context of theirrole within Europe, an institu-tional role. I am strongly infavor of considering a Euro

Chamber with representativesof national parliaments. Itwould have a majority and aminority likewise and could bevery helpful with thorny issuessuch as those regarding budg-ets.

I think it would be helpful ifthe creditors and debtors nego-tiated directly and then pre-pared decisions. This wouldalso get national media outletsand people more interested.People criticize their electednational politicians a lot, butthose same politicians still havemore legitimacy in citizens’ eyesthan bureaucrats in Brussels,for instance. More trust is need-ed in Europe today.

In November 2011 ForeignMinister Rados∏aw Sikorskimade a speech in Berlin wherehe suggested a European feder-ation under German leader-ship. What is your take on thatas a German?No, that won’t work. I agreewith Mr Sikorski that Germanyshould be more in the lead but Idoubt that will happen.

Why not?Because we don’t know how todo it.

Don’t know or are afraid peo-ple will start making WWIIanalogies? That is also an element, but it’seven deeper than that. TheGerman psyche is really struc-tured by the past. We not onlyburned our fingers but wealmost burned ourselves not tomention all the innocent victimsin other countries.

This is deeply rooted in the

German psyche, be it on the leftor on the right. It’s therewhether you like it or not. Imyself am happy it’s not beenforgotten and is defining ouridentity even amongst the newgeneration. The memory is notdisappearing, that’s good. I saythat as a German because it’svery important for us but it’s alsovery important for Europe and Ithink the excellent relations thatwe have, for instance, withPoland today are proof of thepositive elements of keepingthat memory alive. But in a nut-shell, we are reluctant to engage.

And to lead?And to lead because there is a

realistic self-perception that weare not the best at doing that.Henry Kissinger, I was told, saidrecently that if the French hadthe economic power of the Ger-mans, the euro zone crisiswould have been fixed. And Iadd to this that if the Brits werein the euro zone, they wouldhave handled the issues maybe

even better than the French. In our collective psyche, we

Germans are not designed forsuch a role. The Germans areas old as the Poles as a nation,more or less 1,000 years oldnow. But politically, we are apretty young state. It all startedin 1871, before which there wasno one united Germany but 10different Germanys. So it start-ed in 1871 and ended in 1945 inunbelievable disaster. So politi-cally, it’s not an old country.

France and Poland wereunited much earlier and playeda much stronger role in earlierEuropean history. The old Pol-ish state was a European power.But even smaller states like

Sweden, Denmark or theNetherlands have older politi-cal traditions and identitiesthan we do.

Are you saying that even ifAngela Merkel was to arrive atthe conclusion that withoutGerman leadership, Europecannot move forward, she stillwouldn’t be able to effect thatleadership?No, that’s a different scenario. Iwas in the government and wehad to make very tough deci-sions such as getting the con-sent of the majority to sendtroops to Kosovo. You had tomake the case and you had tocreate a majority, which we did.It’s doable, not easy but doable.

I am not telling you that it’simpossible to convince the Ger-mans and make the move inthat direction, but AngelaMerkel doesn’t have thecourage. She is obviously a greattactician but I don’t believe she’sa great strategist. You need acertain vision that you believein, a direction in which you wantto lead. Direction is the mostimportant element.

Angela Merkel said Ger-many would do everything todefend the euro but since thenshe’s not been consistent.

Always, she’s half or a quarterof an hour late and these latesolutions are expensive. She isrisking a very severe crisis oftrust and legitimacy.

Because as long as the solu-tions are delayed, the more youhave to rely on the EuropeanCentral Bank and other backdoors. Rather, she should say tothe German people: “This isthe direction we will go nowand I will fight for this. My des-tiny as a Chancellor depends onwhether I succeed in this ornot.”

That’s the stuff people wantto hear in a democracy andthen they start scratching theirheads and discussing with eachother and you have the oppor-tunity to convince them.

If Ms Merkel lacks vision, whythen is she so popular withGerman voters?Because Germany is economi-cally strong. It’s very simple, it isnot the chancellor who isstrong, but the country which isstrong. There is no crisis in Ger-many today and that helpswhen you are in power. Polandtoo is doing well today.

Yes, but the Polish prime min-ister of six years now, Donald

WBJ sat down with former vice chancellor andforeign minister of Germany, Joschka Fischer,to discuss the German point of view on thecrisis in Europe, the lack of democraticlegitimacy EU institutions are suffering fromtoday and what Europe’s biggest economy needsto do to keep the European dream alive

“Europe is the most importantfactor for the well-being of a

democratic Germany.”

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Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer worries that events in Cyprus

could undermine trust in financial institutions across the EU

Tusk, is nowhere near as popu-lar as Angela Merkel. Hisapproval rating is in the mid30s, not in the mid 60s.As you surely know, Poles areusually very skeptical of thepowerful and of their leaders.So that’s probably not a sur-prise.

Returning to ChancellorMerkel, you have said thatmutualizing the euro zone’sdebt is the only solution to theproblem. But is there a Ger-man leader who could get awaywith agreeing to that or wouldit be the end of that person’scareer?It wouldn’t be the end of thatperson’s career. I’ll give you anexample. I’ve had a lot of dis-cussions with very conservativegroups of German businesspeo-ple who run small and medium-sized enterprises. At first, whenI end my speech with calling formutualization, they say, “Areyou crazy? We should pay forBerlusconi, for the Cypriots, theGreeks? Never, we will neverdo that, it would be completemadness.”

Then I start explaining andwe start discussing. Afterroughly an hour and a half, themood is very different. Nobodyis happy. My interlocutors arenow scratching their heads, ask-ing “so you really think we haveto do that or the EU will even-tually collapse?” “Certainly,” Irespond.

“Oh well so we have to thinkabout how to go about it in thatcase then,” they say.

There is an emotional

understanding among Germansthat if things get serious,Europe needs to be helped.Europe is the most importantfactor for the well-being of ademocratic Germany. Our his-tory, as you know, is not alwaysone to be proud of, but we canbe proud about the unificationof Germany and its integrationwith Europe. This is deeplyingrained, so I am not pes-simistic. A courageous leadercould convince the Germanpeople to make the move butthe longer we wait, the biggerthe mess and the deficit of trust,which we spoke about earlier.

There’s been some talk recentlyof a British exit from the EU.What consequences wouldthere be if that happened, or ifthe UK radically limited itsparticipation in the Union? I don’t see how they can limittheir participation in the EUany more than they alreadyhave. They are paying a pricefor this limitation. For example,it was a big mistake to withdrawthe Tories from the EuropeanPeoples’ Party. Cameron haslost influence in the EuropeanParliament and so has the UK.

If the debate over a Brixitgets real, then the majority ofBrits will start to seriously con-sider what it would mean. Ifthey left, it would be a severeblow for the EU but a disasterfor the UK. London’s City isthe financial center for the euroand it depends on the future ofthe euro more than on thefuture of the pound. The poundhas a great history but not a

great future. The UK is toosmall to have its own currencythat could play an importantrole in the 21st century. But weshould be patient with our Bri-tish friends. The EU is strongerwith Britain and I think Britainbelongs in the EU.

Foreign Minister Rados∏awSikorski has said he thinksPoland has a chance to accessthe inner circle of EU decision-makers in the near future. Doyou agree?I am not saying this because Iwant to please your readers, butyes, I agree. The economicdevelopment of Poland hasbeen impressive and so has therise of a new Poland, built bythe young generation. Also,Poland is one of the big-six inthe EU – that shouldn’t be for-gotten. So my answer is yes, def-initely.

According to the World Eco-nomic Forum’s 2012 ranking,six of the 10 most competitiveeconomies in the world areEuropean. However, there is awidespread perception, whichprobably has some truth to it,that Europe needs to improveits competitiveness. How doyou see it? I don’t buy into all the dooms-day prophesies screaming thatEurope is not competitive. Ger-many used to be called the sickman of Europe. We knew thereasons for that. Unificationwas an unexpected miracle butalso one which, in economicand social terms, was a hugechallenge.

We needed more than adecade and millions of euros aswell as Deutschmarks to get usthrough that. One of the rea-sons for the recovery of com-petitiveness by Germany is thatwe did it together. Eighty to 85percent of unification is behindus now. Of course there are stillstrong disparities because youcan’t expect differences createdover five decades to evaporateovernight.

Germany regained competi-tiveness and I am sure Francewill do the same. It’s not easy.It’s painful, but you have toadjust to the new realities.Globalization is not a WallStreet conspiracy or an Anglo-American conspiracy, it is real.The competition the French carindustry has from South Koreaand Japan today, and probablyChina tomorrow, is real.

The crisis must be addressedin a balanced manner. We haveto bring down public debt. Thequestion is when, by how muchand in what time frame. Wehave to increase our competi-tiveness everywhere in Europe,in some places more, in othersless.

But we also have to developa growth strategy because if wedon’t, the other two elementswon’t work. They will lead us

into a depression. The processhas to be balanced, but I am notpessimistic about it. Of course,there is also the issue of divisionof labor. Northern Europe ismore industrialized, SouthernEurope is less so. And theSouth won’t be as industrializedas Northern and CentralEurope, we won’t change that.So the answer must be that they

have to develop their own eco-nomic strengths. But we alsohave to think of a transfermechanism in the EU.

Look at the United States,Greece is better off than WestVirginia if you look at publicdebt. There are strong dispari-ties in the US too, but somehowthings are worked out. We alsohave to think about a transfermechanism here in Europe.

You know the role Russia hasplayed in Poland’s history. Theview here in Warsaw of Moscowis pretty bleak. How do Ger-many’s elites view Russia?Differently from Poland’s forsure. What we have in commonis the understanding of theimportance of Russia forEurope, for the good or for thebad. Therefore, I think bothcountries understand theimportance of the independ-ence of Ukraine for the newpost-Soviet order in Europe.Ukraine is the cornerstone ofthat and if that cornerstonewere broken, we would be in acompletely different geopoliti-cal reality via-a-vis Russia.

Poland, the Scandinaviansand some others understandthat, some others might not. Weboth benefit from economicgrowth in Russia if you look at

German and Polish trade. Wehave an interest in Russia beingmodernized but unfortunately,I don’t think the Putin era nowwill usher in much moderniza-tion. However, there are fasci-nating developments going on.

Yes, Russia is a “guideddemocracy” – whatever thatmeans – but there are also veryimpressive developments in the

young generation. Freedom ofinformation is a reality in Rus-sia because of the internet.Young Russians are lookingtowards the West. Lots of mid-dle and upper-class Russianscome to the West. In Germany,we have a very strong middleand upper-middle class Russianminority and they have goodties with native Germans.

It’s in our common interestto have a realistic picture, to seethe positives and negativesbecause Russia is very impor-tant for all of Europe.

On a personal note, Mr Fisch-er, the world knew you in thepast as a contestant of theestablished order, but in recentyears you have become less ofthat ...You are too kind! (Laughs.) Iam part of the establishmentnow. I am also a 65-year-oldgrandfather today.

So what are the thoughtprocesses that take a man fromwhere you were before to whereyou are now?Life is long and not everythingyou believed in your youth wasthe truth. A lot of illusionsbelong to that period. Gettingolder means thinking moredeeply. For 10 years, I believedin revolution and that was a bigmistake.

So now you believe in evolu-tion?Yes. There was a debate in myparty, the Greens, on whetherwe were betraying our princi-ples by joining the government.I asked them, “Where are theGreens more dangerous for thenuclear industry, protesting infront of a power plant or in thegovernment making the lawsthat govern that power plant?”

The answer was, of course,the latter. But being in the gov-ernment and making the lawsmeans you cannot be anti-establishment anymore. So youhave to make a choice. ●

APRIL 8-14, 2013 CCOOVVEERR SSTTOORRYY www.wbj.pl 13

“The pound has a great history butnot a great future. The UK is too small

to have its own currency that couldplay an important role in the

21st century.”

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Despite differences in their approach to Russia, both Germany and Poland realize

that the independence of Ukraine is the “cornerstone for the new post-Soviet order

in Europe,” says Mr Fischer

Joschka Fischer

Joschka Fischer was born in Baden-Würt-temberg, southwestern Germany, in 1948.The third child of a butcher, he never com-pleted secondary school nor attended uni-versity. However, by 1967, he had becomeactive in German student and leftist move-ments, joining the militant group, Revolu-tionärer Kampf (Revolutionary Struggle).

Mr Fischer was a leader in several streetbattles against police officers. But after aspate of leftist terror attacks in 1977, herenounced violence as a means for politicalchange and became involved in the GreenParty.

In 1998, the Greens formed a coalitiongovernment with Gerhard Schröder’s SocialDemocratic Party and Joschka Fischerbecame vice chancellor and foreign ministerof Germany. As foreign minister, he apolo-gized for the violence of his activist days.

Mr Fischer left office in 2005 as the sec-ond longest-serving foreign minister in Ger-man postwar history. Since 2008, he hasbeen employed with the Albright Stone-bridge Group, a consulting firm led by for-mer US Secretary of State MadeleineAlbright and former US National SecurityAdvisor Samuel Berger. ●

APRIL 8-14, 201314 www.wbj.pl OOPPIINNIIOONN && AANNAALLYYSSIISS

Jan-Werner Mueller

In recent years, the European Union– or, more accurately, the powerfulcountries of northern Europe – has

been subjecting its weaker members tosocial and political “stress tests” in thename of fiscal rectitude. As a result,southern Europe and parts of EasternEurope have become a kind of politi-cal laboratory, with experiments pro-ducing strikingly varied – and increas-ingly unpredictable – outcomes in dif-ferent countries. At the last EU sum-mit, Luxembourg’s prime minister,Jean-Claude Juncker, even suggestedthat the risk of a “social revolution”should not be excluded.

While that outcome remainsunlikely, it is increasingly clear thatmany European countries – and theEU as a whole – need to renegotiatetheir basic social contracts. But Euro-pean elites, preoccupied with short-term fixes, have not considered thelong-term need for such revisions – totheir own detriment.

Indeed, despite significant varia-tions by country, one trend is becom-ing increasingly apparent across theEU: voters, regardless of their politicalorientation, are ejecting at the first

opportunityleaders whoimplement aus-terity. But, beyond this overwhelmingopposition to austerity, countries’experiences vary widely.

Country-by-countryGreece has seen the rise of an overtlyfascist party, Golden Dawn, which

proudly celebrates the legacy of for-mer dictator Ioannis Metaxas.Although Golden Dawn has existedfor roughly two decades, only in thelast year did it gain enough support toenter parliament. Moreover, its pollnumbers continue to climb.

Golden Dawn’s success does notreflect a deep-seated desire amongGreeks to return to authoritarianism.The party has simply stepped in wherethe Greek state – long plagued by inef-ficiency and corruption – has retreat-ed, providing basic welfare and otherservices to desperate citizens, whileengaging in unprecedented violenceagainst people who are or look likeimmigrants. One way that GoldenDawn attempts to embody the state isby having party members out on thestreets as vigilantes.

Austerity has similarly sharpened along-standing crisis of statehood andpolitical legitimacy in Italy, reflectedin the rise

of a newanti-establishment party, the

Five Star Movement, which claims totranscend the traditional left-rightpolitical spectrum. Indeed, the move-ment lacks clear policy objectives,instead capitalizing on popular disgustwith Italy’s political elites – a senti-ment that led directly to the last elec-

tion’s failure to produce a clear win-ner. The sense of revulsion is acute:Many of the Five Star Movement’ssupporters hope to transfer control ofItaly’s government to citizen-repre-sentatives, whose every move wouldbe digitally monitored to preclude cor-ruption.

Some countries’ electorates initial-ly backed austerity, but none has re-

authorized it. In Spain, for example,voters understood the implications ofsupporting the ruling Popular Party,making it one of the only southernstates where the government had

some kind of mandate toi m p l e m e n t

tough austerity.But the mutually reinforcing reces-

sion and debt crisis that Spain nowfaces have reinvigorated Catalonia’slong-standing secessionist movement;austerity has transformed a chronic,though manageable, problem into anacute existential question.

Similarly, Portugal’s center-rightSocial Democratic Party has pushed atough pro-austerity line, including tax

hikes and spending cuts, since comingto power in 2011. But new measuresintroduced last month have driven anincreasingly frustrated population –which, until recently, had enduredpainful austerity with little of the pub-lic outcry seen elsewhere in southernEurope – to the streets to demand ageneral election two years ahead ofschedule.

Lessons to learnPolitical and social turmoilacross southern Europeholds several les-sons for

austerity’s pro-ponents – espe-

cially for Ger-many. First and

foremost, thedogma that solid

public finances – and,more broadly, a func-

tioning state – can be achieved onlythrough painful austerity is an illusion.When forced to choose between theirsocieties and their clientele, politiciansmay well decide that allowing socialtensions to rise – even to dangerouslevels – is better than sacrificing theirown power bases.

In fact, when Germany embarkeda decade ago on a reform programfeaturing major cuts to the welfarestate and a more flexible labor market,

it broke the rules of the euro zone’sStability and Growth Pact. Publicspending had to rise before it couldfall, in order to provide some slackwhile renegotiating parts of the socialcontract.

The second lesson from southernEurope is that muddling through isunlikely to work. Building the neededsupport for a new social contract willrequire an appeal to fairness, not justto fiscal rectitude. And a mechanism toauthorize the new deal – such as agrand coalition actually empowered byelections (not just reluctant support bymajor parties for technocratic leaderslike Italy’s Mario Monti) – is essential.

Alternatively, citizens could try tolead efforts to re-negotiate their coun-tries’ constitutional arrangements.Iceland, for example, has embarked

on an unprecedented experimentin crafting a bottom-up,

“crowd-sourced” constitu-tion. Similarly, albeit less

radically, ordinary citi-zens comprise two-

thirds of Ireland’sC o n s t i t u t i o n a l

Convention.If southern

euro zonecountries fol-lowed theroute offorging anew socialdeal, theywould haveto ensure thatit ultimatelyintersects withthe paths ofthe northernE u r o p e a n

members. While alleuro zone countries do not

have to converge on a single model,their interdependence means that apan-European social and economicsettlement is needed.

European leaders must movebeyond the increasingly implausiblemantra of “belt-tightening today; fullbellies tomorrow,” and recognize that,at its core, the euro crisis is a politicalcrisis. Rather than focus on quick pol-icy fixes, Europe’s leaders need to pur-sue long-term solutions. And thatincludes new social contracts. ●

Jan-Werner Mueller is professor ofpolitics at Princeton University. He is

also a member of the School of Histori-cal Studies at the Institute for

Advanced Studies. His most recentbook is “Contesting Democracy: Politi-

cal Ideas in Twentieth-CenturyEurope.”

Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2013.Project-syndicate.org

EEuurrooppee’’ss ppoolliittiiccaall ssttrreessss tteessttss

“At its core, the euro crisis is a political crisis.Rather than focus on quick policy fixes,

Europe’s leaders need to pursue long-termsolutions.”

MANAGING EDITORSJACEK CIESNOWSKI(JCIESNOWSKI@WBJ.PL)

BEATA SOCHA(BSOCHA@WBJ.PL)

POLITICS EDITORREMI ADEKOYA(RADEKOYA@WBJ.PL)

REAL ESTATE EDITORKAROLINA KOWALSKA(KKOWALSKA@WBJ.PL)

REPORTERKAMILA WAJSZCZUKCONTRIBUTORSE. BLAKE BERRYEWA BONIECKADAVID INGHAMALEKSANDRA S¸ABISZALEX ZARGANIS

COLUMNISTSADAM NARCZEWSKIANDREW NAWROCKIINTERNMARTA MARDOSZ

PRODUCTION MANAGERPIOTR WYSKOKGRAPHIC DESIGNER¸UKASZ MAZUREK

MARKETING &SALESAGNIESZKA BREJWO MARKETING &SALES DIRECTOR(ABREJWO@WBJ.PL)

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EWA BROGOSZ-KORYCKA(EBROGOSZ-KORYCKA@WBJ.PL)

PR & MARKETING MANAGER KATARZYNA MAREK(KMAREK@WBJ.PL)

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PUBLISHER VALKEA MEDIA SA EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ANDREW KURETH (AKURETH@WBJ.PL) MANAGING DIRECTOR MONIKA STAWICKA

Editorials are the opinions of WBJ’s editorial board. Other opinions are those of the authors alone. Comments, opinions and letters should be sent to editor@wbj.pl. Please include a name and contact information and clearly indicate if they are to be considered for publication.

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LLOOKKAALLEE IIMMMMOOBBIILLIIAAW a r s a w B u s i n e s s J o u r n a l ’s w e e k l y s u p p l e m e n t o n r e a l e s t a t e , c o n s t r u c t i o n a n d d e v e l o p m e n t APRIL 8-14, 2013, LI 18/13

Over 50,000

sqm of mall

space finished

in Q1More than 54,000 sqm

of shopping-center

space was completed

during Q1 in Poland

divided over three new

projects, according to a

new Jones Lang LaSalle

report. The level of

competition is on the

rise, with 644,000 sqm

expected this year – the

highest volume since

2009. JLL’s experts

predict that the large

influx of the new

volume scheduled for

this year may cause

some downward

pressure on rents in

underperforming

assets.

New City

changes

handsThe Hines Global Reit

investment fund has

acquired the New City

office complex in

Warsaw’s Mokotów

district from

Europejskie Centrum

Przemys∏owe. The

complex is situated on

ul. Marynarska 15, in

the Mokotów district. It

comprises an 11-storey,

40,000-sqm building,

completed in 2010 and a

recently finished, four-

storey scheme

comprising 4,000 sqm.

The two-building

complex is fully leased

to 51 tenants. The value

of the deal was not

revealed. ●

Qualia’s skyscraper . . . . . . . . . .15

Regional investment . . . . . . . . .15

Malls in small cities . . . . . . . . . .16

Eurocentrum construction . . .16

Griffin in Powsin . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Colliers interview . . . . . . . . . . .17

In this issue

16 16, 17

Griffin estate in PowsinSingle and semi-detached houses, as well

as apartments, will be built on a 37-ha

plot in Powsin

Office

New skyscraper in Warsaw’s downtownQualia’s new officebuilding will pave theway for more high-risetowers on ul. Nowogrodzka inthe heart of the Polishcapital

Qualia Development, the realestate subsidiary of Poland’slargest lender PKO BP, plans tobuild a 106-meter office build-ing at the intersection of ul.Nowogrodzka and ul. Marsza-∏kowska, in the very heart ofWarsaw. It will replace the exist-ing seven-storey scheme built inthe 1960s, which belongs toPKO BP. The company hasalready applied for a demoli-tion permit.

The new building, designedby Kury∏owicz & Associatesarchitectural studio, will standadjacent to the neighboring 11-storey Wolf Marsza∏kowskabuilding. It will comprise 27,000sqm of office space and a five-

storey underground garagewith 200 parking spaces. Itslowest floor will be located 18meters below ground level, 1.5meters deeper than the neigh-boring subway tunnel.

The new development willconsist of two parts – a seven-storey wing with a spacious atri-um at the front and a 106-meter, 26-storey wing behind it.

A new branch of PKO BP isplanned on the undergroundfloors, as well as some shopsand restaurants.

The construction work willstart no sooner than in 2015,since Qualia will need at least ayear to obtain all the necessarypermits. The demolition of theexisting structure and construc-tion of the new one could takeup to three years.

A new wave of high-rise buildingsQualia’s new skyscraper will beone of two planned develop-ments of this magnitude in this

part of Warsaw’s downtown,alongside BBI Development’splanned 180-meter investmentat the intersection of ul. EmiliiPlater and ul. Nowogrodzka.

A few city blocks further,another addition to the newNowogrodzka skyline willappear, when the existing 140-meter Oxford Tower, alsocalled the Elektrim building or“the twin tower of Marriott,”situated at the intersection oful. Nowogrodzka and ul.Cha∏ubiƒskiego, is raised by 35meters to a height of 175meters.

Other skyscrapers will beerected on the neighboringplots on ul. Emilii Plater,between ul. Nowogrodzka andul. Wspólna, currently occu-pied by high school and a jun-ior high school. The city plansto move the schools and sellthe land where two buildingsmeasuring up to 200 meterscould be built.

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Economy

IInnvveessttoorrss bbaacckk iinn CCeennttrraall EEuurrooppee€958 million wasinvested in theCentral Europeanmarket in Q1 2013

Investment activity in the keyCentral European markets ofPoland, the Czech Republic,Slovakia, Hungary and Roma-nia was maintained in the firstquarter of 2013 with €958 mil-lion invested, 6 percent morethan the five-year average,according to a report by Cush-man & Wakefield.

Despite value decliningfrom the previous quarter’s€1.826 billion figure, C&Wexperts are optimistic. Positiveinvestor sentiment and under-lying activity suggests invest-ment volumes for the yearshould match those posted in2012, they say.

“Investor activity hasincreased marginally. Some

investors are considering tak-ing more risk and reviewingthe more developed and rela-tively mature parts of CE andfinding not just a yield advan-

tage and better relative eco-nomic growth than in thewest, but also an improvinglevel of liquidity,” saidCharles Taylor, partner at

Cushman & Wakefield. The Polish market saw vol-

umes decline in Q1 2013, with€465 million invested com-pared to €818 million in Q12012 and €618 million a yearbefore that. The Czech mar-ket recovered in Q1 with sixtransactions closed and vol-umes up at €237 million, com-pared with just €20 million forthe same period in 2012. Simi-larly, Hungary attracted €159million in Q1 2013, signifi-cantly up on the same periodin 2012.

Offices and industrialup, retail downInvestors continued to favorthe office sector, with some€646 million invested. Themost significant transactionsincluded the purchase of NewCity in Warsaw by Hines,PZU’s purchase of Skanska’sGreen Towers in Wroc∏aw and

the purchase of Andel Park Bin Prague by GLL. Allianz,Invesco, NEPI, Kulczyk Sil-verstein Properties and Han-nover Real Estate also madeinvestments into the officesector in this quarter.

The industrial sector saw asignificant increase in invest-ment volumes, mainly due toone transaction – Norges’joint venture with Prologis,investing €258 million in high-quality distribution facilities.The investment accounts for50 percent of the total invest-ment in the industrial sectoracross Central Europe during2012, the report found.

By contrast, retail invest-ment activity was at its lowestsince 2009, with the onlynotable transaction beingBlackstone’s acquisition ofGaleria Leszno in westernPoland.

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The new PKO BP building was designed by Kury∏owicz &

Associates

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Warsaw Business Journal presents Real Estate weekly newsletter

• Know about the newest projects before they’re on the market• Keep up to date on the latest tenders and auctions• Learn the latest trends in Poland’s dynamic office, residential and retail sectors • Find out who’s who in Polish real estate

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PZU’s purchase of Skanska’s Green Towers in Wroc∏aw

was one of the biggest deals in the office sector in Q1

2013

Retail centers in small citiesThe retail potential of small cities is

still very high, as their inhabitants are

starving for shopping malls

Griffin Group willlaunch a high-endresidential scheme inthe Powsin area ofWarsawInvestor Griffin Group plansto build as many as 380 luxuryhousing units – includingdetached and semi-detachedhouses, as well as apartments –on a 37-ha plot in the Powsinneighborhood of Warsaw’sWilanów district.

Griffin bought the land lastyear from a bankruptcy trusteeat “a bargain price,” the firm’sCEO Przemys∏aw Krych said.The estate, which will be bor-dered by ul. Gàski, ul. Przy-czó∏kowa, ul. Nowokabackaand Park Natoliƒski, will pro-vide the same standard of lux-ury as the well-known OsiedleKonstancja, in the nearby poshsuburb of Konstancin, but willbe marketed at lower prices,according to Griffin.

Future residents of theestate will be able to choosefrom single houses rangingfrom 300 to 500 sqm, units insemi-detached houses or spa-cious apartments. The estatewill comprise large recreation-al areas with ponds. The devel-oper is also planning to buildtennis courts and bicycleroutes within the estate, whichwill also have 24-hour securitymonitoring.

One of the major draw-

backs of the location are highunderground water levels. Theplot on which the estate will beconstructed did have someunderground streams, but thecompany says they have driedup. Griffin representativesassure that there is no longerany threat of the area flooding.

“The construction shouldlaunch no sooner than in twoyears,” said Przemys∏awKrych. “We would like to waituntil the economic situation

[in Poland] stabilizes.”The new and as-yet

unnamed estate will provideeasy access to roads, rail and

public transport. It will be situ-ated within a 15-minute walkto the Kabaty subway station.

KKaarroolliinnaa KKoowwaallsskkaa

APRIL 8-14, 2013LLOOKKAALLEE IIMMMMOOBBIILLIIAA –– RREEAALL EESSTTAATTEE16 www.wbj.pl

Retail

Malls popular in small townsSmall cities can be anattractive location formodern shoppingcenters, a new reportfinds

The most popular locationsfor planned retail schemes incities between 30,000 and100,000 inhabitants are Kutno,Nysa, Sochaczew and Cieszyn,according to the recent“Poland, Retail Gaps – SmallCities Review” report by Col-liers.

According to Colliersexperts, smaller cities withfewer than 50,000 inhabitantsshow the most promise amongthe locations they analyzed.Such centers attract both localdevelopers as well as investorsoperating nationwide.

Since late 2011, 12 schemeswith more than 137,000 sqm ofretail space have been deliv-ered to these markets. Thebiggest ones were Alfa Cen-trum in Grudziàdz and Odrza-ƒskie Ogrody in K´dzierzynKoêle.

The majority of retailchains operate in the FMCGsector. Among the 59 smallcities analyzed, 52 have DIYstores. The main retail chainsin cities with the populationbelow 50,000 are Biedronka(181 stores) and Lidl (52) inthe FMCG segment, Media

Expert (66) in electronicsand PEPCO (48) represent-ing the fashion industry.There are some unusual situ-ations with stores that aretypically found in large citiesopening up in small towns,such as grocery chain Almain Nowy Targ.

Small towns, big shoppingContrary to popular belief,smaller cities are not too farbehind the major ones interms of spending. The pur-chasing power index for retailtrade in small cities (20,000-50,000 inhabitants) is 105.5(with the national average of100). Admittedly, Warsaw(149) and Wroc∏aw (119) areahead of the game in terms of

spending power, but othermajor cities in Poland, such asLublin and Bydgoszcz havepurchasing power similar tothat of smaller cities, with 103and 106 respectively.

What some developersmight find discouraging is thefrequency with which dwellersof smaller urban centers visitshopping centers. As many as43 percent people living incities between 20,000 and50,000 go to shopping centersless frequently than once amonth, which is significantlymore than Poland’s average of35 percent. Moreover, 38 per-cent from the same group ofcities do not go to shoppingcenters at all, as compared to33 percent nationwide.

KKaarroolliinnaa KKoowwaallsskkaa

Office

Eurocentrum buildingrising on scheduleEurocentrum OfficeComplex in downtownWarsaw, scheduled forcompletion in June2014, is already fivestoreys tall

Work is progressing on theconstruction site of the 15-storey Eurocentrum OfficeComplex on Al. Jerozolimskie,situated at the border of thecapital’s ÂródmieÊcie andOchota districts. Five storeysof the development have beenerected so far.

Featuring LEED CS Goldcertification of energy efficien-cy and environmental per-formance, the class-A schemewill deliver 65,800 sqm ofleasable space and is expectedto be the largest environment-ally friendly office building inPoland. It will comprise anunderground parking lot for274 vehicles, a reception hall,and a conference room.

The building is being erect-ed with high-quality materialssuch as red African granite,glass, and metal used for thebuilding’s body.

“The first phase of theinvestment will be completedin June 2014 and 36 percent ofthe building’s space has

already been leased out, withImtech Polska, Tebodin,Qumak, CEPD Managementand Randstad Polska amongthe tenants,” said SylwiaFilewicz, head of developmentand construction at GrupaCapital Park.

The construction on thebuilding was launched lastsummer. Grupa Capital Parksecured z∏.324 million infinancing from Bank Pekao.

The building’s location isalso convenient transport-wise, with a railway station aswell as tram and bus stops

nearby. There are three otheroffice developments in thearea: the Jerozolimskie Busi-ness Park, Ochota Office Park,and Kopernik Office Building.It is also located within a shortbus ride to modern shoppingcenters Reduta, Blue City,Macro Cash & Carry and Cas-torama.

Erbud is the general con-tractor of the development. Itwas designed by PRCArchitekci and the office spaceis being commercialized byCushman & Wakefield.

KKaarroolliinnaa KKoowwaallsskkaa

0

50

100

150

200

Interm

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Stokro

tka

Carrefo

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Kaufl

andLid

l

Biedro

nka

Biedronka mushrooms in small cities Main FMCG retail chains in cities with a population of 30,000-50,000 (number of stores)

Source: Colliers

CO

UR

TE

SY O

F C

AP

ITA

L P

AR

K

Eurocentrum features LEED CS Gold certification and

will deliver 65,800 sqm of leasable space

CO

UR

TE

SY O

F G

RIF

FIN

GR

OU

P

The development will comprise as many as 380 units

Residential

New luxury estate to be built in Powsin

APRIL 8-14, 2013 LLOOKKAALLEE IIMMMMOOBBIILLIIAA –– RREEAALL EESSTTAATTEE www.wbj.pl 17

Interview

MMoorree tthhaann jjuusstt sshhooppppiinngg

Karolina Kowalska: Despitethe crisis, shopping centersare expanding in Poland.Seven malls exceeding 50,000sqm are currently being built.Is demand really that high?Sean Briggs: You need to con-sider each city and project onits own merits. Warsaw seemsto be full of shopping centersbut when you look at thedetail, there are still a fewopportunities. I have alwaysbeen cautious about macroindicators and simply dividingX by Y and saying one is at asaturation point. Most bigcities still have opportunitiesfor some types of retail devel-opment.

In Warsaw there are already alot of shopping centers butdevelopers seem insatiable.They are planning to buildGaleria Wilanów inMiasteczko Wilanów, just fivekilometers away from SadybaBest Mall, and relatively closeto Galeria Mokotów as well.Do we really need GaleriaWilanów?The number of people living inthis area has increased overthe recent years and the catch-ment area has been furtherimproved with theSiekierkowski bridge. Oneneeds to look at the demo-graphics and the catchmentarea, so I wouldn’t like to passjudgment on Galeria Wilanówwithout looking at theirresearch. Sadyba Best Mall isclose to Galeria Mokotów andboth trade well.

An analogy might be madefor the proximity of Z∏oteTarasy and Arkadia and theclothing outlets on ul. Marsza-∏kowska, for example. Theyare all relatively close to oneanother. However, H&M

managers said that their cus-tomer base for each of theH&M stores in these locationsis really quite different. GTC isa successful and experienceddeveloper. They wouldn’t bebuilding something if theyhadn’t done their research. Iam sure the project will be asuccess.

What about the expansion ofthe existing centers in War-saw, such as GaleriaMokotów?Galeria Mokotów has alreadybeen extended a few times andif there is an opportunity forfurther expansion then therewould be good demand for theadditional space. Many retail-ers prefer extensions, as theycan already judge the centeron its previous track record. Itis usually safer to extend theexisting shopping centers thanbuild a new one. If a shoppingcenter is successful and retail-ers there are trading well, andyou, as the owner, are beingapproached by a number ofretailers, you have a reason toextend it.

There are also opportuni-ties for the remodeling andrefurbishing of some of theolder shopping centers toimprove their performance. Itmight be adjusting the layoutto improve customer flow,updating the interior finishesor changing the tenant andmerchandise mix. We areworking on such a case inGdaƒsk, the Morena shoppingcenter.

How does the situation look insmaller cities, though?In smaller cities I believe thereare more opportunities forsmaller local convenience-typeshopping centers. Such con-

venience centers may be bestsuited for city suburbs orsmaller cities.

You can of course build ashopping center of over 50,000sqm in any place, but you willneed to have a pretty signifi-cant catchment area. Probablythere aren’t that many oppor-tunities left for bigger shoppingcenters. But if you look at thefootfall numbers nationwide,the number of people shoppingthere is still increasing.

What about other countries inthe CEE region? Is Poland thebiggest market in terms ofbuilding shopping centers andexpanding them or are thereany countries better at it?The largest market is by farRussia. There are alreadyquite a lot of shopping centersin Russia’s two main cities,that is Moscow and SaintPetersburg, as well as themajor regional cities. Butgiven its size, Russia still has along way to go and there are alot of opportunities there.

How about smaller cities orany other region? Do youthink they need shopping cen-ters? There are many places wherethe inhabitants would like ashopping center. For exampleMalbork has a population ofaround 40,000 people andbenefits from a significantnumber of tourists who visitthe Malbork castle. At themoment, the people from thetown have to drive all the wayto Gdaƒsk or Gdynia for theirshopping experience.

How is the crisis affectingshopping centers?In Poland the official retailsales figures are still prettyhealthy and growing. Howev-er, retailers are saying tradingis difficult. This might beexplained by the heavy dis-counting that maintainsturnover but reduces margins.

I suspect the reality is probablysomewhere in the middle. Inthe major cities the best shop-ping centers are doing welland some have a waiting list ofretailers wishing to open.

There is an owner of shoppingcenters in southern Poland,Rafa∏ Sonik, who puts youthintervention centers in shop-ping malls. Do you think suchan initiative makes sense?I think that anything thatestablishes a connection withthe community is good. Inmany shopping centers thereare areas that are difficult tocommercialize, so a creativeuse like this is a good idea.Certainly children wanderingaround shopping centers caus-ing trouble instead of being atschool creates a problem. Any-thing that tries to prevent suchbehavior is great.

Are shopping centers in otherEuropean countries trying tobecome more than just aplace to shop as well?Exactly, the best shopping cen-ters offer more than just shop-ping. Visiting a shopping cen-ter should be a leisure experi-ence so depending on the sizeand location of a center therecan be a variety of other uses.This could range from the tra-ditional cinema and restau-rants to children’s play areas,kindergartens, languageschools, exhibition areas andso on.

How do you see the future ofshopping centers in Poland?I am optimistic. The climatehere favors enclosed environ-ments and even with theincrease in internet sales,many retailers are finding thatinternet shopping goes hand inhand with regular shops. Peo-ple like to see, try and touchbefore buying, which is bestdone in a shop, even if the pur-chase is ultimately donethrough the internet. ●

Lokale Immobilia sits down with Sean Briggs,managing director of retail agency at ColliersInternational to talk about the condition and thefuture of malls in Poland and in the CEE region

CO

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APRIL 8-14, 2013 TTHHEE LLIISSTT www.wbj.pl 19

Corporate Services

IT Consulting CompaniesRanked by total number of consultants www.bookoflists.pl

Notes: NR = Not Ranked, WND = Would Not Disclose. Research for The List was conducted inNovember 2011. Number of employees is as of October 2011. All information pertains to the companies’activities in Poland. Companies not responding to our survey are not listed.Footnotes: (1) Financial year: July 1 - June 30; (2) Financial year: July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009.

To the best of WBJ ’s knowledge, the information is accurate as of press time. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy and thoroughness, omissionsand typographical errors may occur. Corrections or additions to The List should be sent, on official letterhead, to Warsaw Business Journal, attn. MonikaBrysiak, ul. Elblàska 15/17, 01-747 Warsaw, via fax to +48 22 257-7500, or via e-mail to wbjbol@wbj.pl. Copyright 2013, Valkea Media SA. The List maynot be reprinted or reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission of the publisher. Reprints are available.

Rank

Company nameAddressTel./FaxE-mailWeb page

Number ofconsultants:

Total /Polish /Foreign

Revenue from ITconsulting (z∏. mln)

Total revenuefrom consulting

(z∏. mln)

Total revenuein Poland (z∏. mln)

Main activities Selected clients

Total number ofemployees /

Year founded inPoland

Top local executive /Title

1

PwC(1)

Al. Armii Ludowej 14, 00-638 Warsaw22 523-4000/22 523-4040pwcpoland@pl.pwc.comwww.pwc.pl

43342112

WNDWNDWNDWND

WND188.8146.9146.7

WND453.7389.1399.7

Financial advice; strategic advice for public and private sector: businessplan; investment consultancy; development management and strategy;transaction and crisis consulting; sustainable development consulting;

economic inquiry and expertise; legal, tax and audit consulting

TP; PKN Orlen; PZU; PKO BP; PGNiG1,7651990

Olga Grygier-SiddonsPresident

2

Ernst & Young(1)

Rondo ONZ 1, 00-124 Warsaw22 557-7000/22 557-7001ernst.young@pl.ey.comwww.ey.com/pl

394WNDWND

WND32.023.022.0

WND176.0133.7120.8

WND497.0406.1444.0

Business consulting; IT consultingPKO BP; BOÂ; PGE; Energa; Orlen; Lotos;

Poczta Polska; Agora; Cyfrowy Polsat1,5851990

Duleep Aluwihare; Piotr Piela;Aleksander Poniewierski

Managing Partners

3

DeloitteAl. Jana Paw∏a II 19, 00-854 Warsaw22 511-0811/22 511-0813dpoland@deloittece.comwww.deloitte.com/pl

305305

-

WNDWNDWNDWND

211.0341.0335.6363.7

216.2344.6340.3371.8

Business, tax, financial consulting; audits PZU; Frontex; Tauron; PKP Cargo; Pekao1,1191990

Marek Metrycki; Dariusz KraszewskiManaging Partners

4

Capgemini Polska Sp. z o.o.ul. Pi´kna 18, 00-541 Warsaw22 464-7000/22 464-7100office.pl@capgemini.comwww.pl.capgemini.com

265WNDWND

WNDWNDWNDWND

WNDWNDWNDWND

WND471.5392.3333.2

Strategies and business transformation; IT technology consulting;supply chain management; customer relationship management;finance, business process and efficiency management; IT project

management

WND4,2001996

WND

5

KPMGul. Ch∏odna 51, 00-867 Warsaw22 528-1100/22 528-1009kpmg@kpmg.plwww.kpmg.pl

1891845

10.321.013.6

16.5(2)

41.866.570.7

72.3(2)

230.0407.0455.0

440.3(2)

Cost and efficiency management; IT risk management; companyefficiency improvement; IT system selection, implementation and

maintenance; IT system and process requirement inspection; generalbusiness advisory; corporate finance; transaction services; restructuring

WND1,2891990

Andrzej Âcis∏owskiSenior Partner

6

SII Sp. z o.o.Al. Niepodleg∏oÊci 69, 01-214 Warsaw22 486-3737/22 486-3734informacja@pl.sii.euwww.pl.sii.eu

9090-

10.012.09.26.5

WNDWNDWNDWND

38.444.030.521.8

Software design and implementation; IT systems integration andmaintenance; infrastructure development and maintenance; consulting

and analysis; testing

Citi Handlowy; Gemalto; Volvo; Polkomtel;Pekao

7002006

Gregoire NitotPresident

7

Infovide-Matrix SAul. Gottlieba Daimlera 2, 02-460 Warsaw22 440-2500/22 440-2501infovidematrix@ivmx.plwww.infovidematrix.pl

6060-

64.7151.2155.2165.2

64.7151.2155.2165.2

66.1186.8209.2213.7

Consulting services and IT solutionsDeutsche Bank; Raiffeisen Bank; Ministry

of the Interior and Administration;Generali; PGNiG

5871991

Jan MaciejewiczPresident

8

Carrywater Group SAAl. Jerozolimskie 65/79, 00-697 Warsaw22 630-6655/22 630-6656biuro@carrywater.comwww.carrywater.com

5252-

WNDWNDWNDWND

WNDWNDWNDWND

5.510.08.78.6

Business consulting; IT consulting; project managementGrupa TP; Enea Operator; Liberty Direct;

RWE; Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa63

1996Pawe∏ Biarda

President

9

APAX Consulting Sp. z o.o.ul. Chmielna 19, 00-021 Warsaw22 244-2050/22 244-buiro@apax.plwww.apax.pl

382810

WNDWNDWNDWND

WNDWNDWNDWND

WNDWNDWNDWND

Strategic advice; restructuring; operational advice; financial advice;IT consulting; interim management

Grupa PKP Cargo; Impel; MiasteczkoMultimedialne; Polskie Porty Lotnicze;

Agencja Rozwoju Przemys∏u

402007

Dariusz BrzeziƒskiManaging Partner

10

MDDP Business Consulting (MDDP Sp. zo.o. Finanse i Ksi´gowoÊç Sp.k.)ul. Mokotowska 49, 00-542 Warsaw22 322-6888/22 322-6889biuro@mddp.plwww.mddp.pl

1717-

1.2WNDWNDWND

5.36.05.74.9

5.36.05.74.9

Strategy definition and implementation; cost management; riskmanagement; project management; performance and productivity

management; IT systems implementation management; due diligence;advice on SOX; internal audit; restructuring; corporate advisory

Bumar; Pfizer; TVN; Polpharma; NFI EMF22

2006W∏odzimierz Makowski

Partner

11

HardGamma Consultingul. Ho˝a 51, 00-681 Warsaw22 423-7060/22 211-1607info@hardgamma.comwww.hardgamma.com

651

WNDWNDWNDWND

WNDWNDWNDWND

WNDWNDWND0.5

Development strategy; business strategy; definition and execution forTMT companies and technology start-ups; innovation management;

internet/social media advisory; VC advisory

Microsoft Poland; TVN; Groupon; LoyaltyPartners; Allegro

72006

Krzysztof Kowalczyk President

NR

Accenture Sp. z o.o.ul. Sienna 39, 00-121 Warsaw22 464-0000/22 464-0001pl.office@accenture.comwww.accenture.com/pl-pl

WNDWNDWND

225.7172.1215.8257.2

320.1244.1306.1364.8

322.2245.9308.9367.0

WND WNDWND1993

WND

NR

getsix Sp. z o.o.ul. Szwedzka 5, 55-040 Bielany Wroc∏awskie71 388-1300/71 388-1310office@getsix.plwww.getsix.pl

WNDWNDWND

WNDWNDWNDWND

WNDWNDWNDWND

WNDWNDWNDWND

Virtual office services; start-up support; business planning andmodeling; accounting services; payroll and HR; IT services;

legal and tax advisoryWND

452006

Monika Martynkiewicz-Frank; Claus Frank; Roy Heynlein

Partners

NR

The Boston Consulting Group Sp. z o.o.ul. Mokotowska 1, 00-640 Warsaw22 820-3600/22 820-3636kontakt@bcg.comwww.bcg.com

WNDWNDWND

WNDWNDWNDWND

WNDWNDWNDWND

WNDWNDWNDWND

Services for companies in banking, insurance, energy and telecom sectors

WNDWND1997

Franciszek Hutten-CzapskiPartner

1st half of 2011 / 2010 / 2009 / 2008

APRIL 8-14, 2013MMAARRKKEETTSS20 www.wbj.pl

SO

UR

CE

: W

SE

PLN-EUR

4.18

66

4.17

74

4.1

813

4.

1898

4.

1898

4.1

820

28.0

3

29.0

3

02.0

4

03.0

4

04.0

4

05.0

44.15

4.20 PLN-USD

28.0

3

29.0

3

02.0

4

03.0

4

04.0

4

05.0

4

3

.277

3

3.2

590

3.2

552

3.26

93

3.27

50

3

.235

8

3.2

3.3 PLN-GBP

28.0

3

29.0

3

02.0

4

03.0

4

04.0

4

05.0

4

4.9

707

4.9

528

4.95

12

4.93

99

4

.935

6

4.9

264

4.9

5.0 PLN-CHF

3.4

349

3.43

23

3

.442

2

3

.441

6

3

.445

7

3.

4389

28.0

3

29.0

3

02.0

4

03.0

4

04.0

4

05.0

43.4

3.5 PLN-RUB

28.0

3

29.0

3

02.0

4

03.0

4

04.0

4

05.0

4

0

.105

5

0.10

50

0.10

45

0.10

39

0

.103

2

0.1

024

0.102

0.106 PLN-100JPY

28.0

3

29.0

3

02.0

4

03.0

4

04.0

4

05.0

4

3.4

878

3.46

46

3.4

968

3.4

951

3

.431

0

3.3

613

3.3

3.6

currency rates

Central banks

move markets

Currency report

The week after Easter wasmore volatile than previousweeks, as investors focusedon central banks’ monetarypolicy decisions.

The Bank of Japanannounced it would immedi-ately begin an asset-repur-chase program worth €75 bil-lion, with no limits regardingthe maturity of the purchasedassets. This statement causeda massive depreciation of theyen, which reached the levelof ¥97 against the US dollar.Those are levels unseen sinceAugust of 2009.

The European CentralBank kept interest ratesunchanged, but MarioDraghi said that economicgrowth in the euro zone isstill in danger. TheEUR/USD market dived atfirst, but was denied furtherdownward movement at$1.2750.

The main currency pairrebounded strongly andreached $1.30 after the USannounced that non-farmpayrolls added just 88,000jobs (against a forecast ofabout 200,000).

On the z∏oty market, localtraders focused on externalevents. The EUR/PLNattacked the z∏.4.20 level (itshighest since February of thisyear) but the end of the weekbrought a corrective move-ment, which brought the mar-ket down to z∏.4.17.

The USD/PLN wasunable to break the crucialresistance of z∏.3.28 andheaded down to z∏.3.21. Sincethe global situation is farfrom stable (now includingpolitical risks coming fromNorth Korea), I still believewe will see higher levels ofthe PLN currency pairs in theupcoming weeks. ●

Adam NarczewskiX-Trade Brokers DM SA

SO

UR

CE

: N

BP

Major indices

Top 5 Closing % change (week) 52-week high 52-week low

ABMSOLID 0.40 21.21 3.15 0.10PAMAPOL 2.30 19.79 2.99 1.70POLAQUA 4.95 16.47 6.25 3.20FASTFIN 0.44 15.79 0.49 0.30ZREMB 0.50 13.64 0.55 0.21

WIG 44,623.89 (April 04 close)

Change for the week: -1.16% 52-week high: 48,222.72

Change year to April 04: -7.24% 52-week low: 36,653.28

Top 5 Closing % change (week) 52-week high 52-week low

BOGDANKA 123.80 3.69 143.00 114.00KGHM 160.00 1.39 194.80 92.14HANDLOWY 91.70 0.77 102.10 64.20BRE 343.60 0.47 356.90 255.70KERNEL 59.30 0.34 76.00 51.00

Bottom 5 Closing % change (week) 52-week high 52-week low

REGNON 0.01 -50.00 0.10 0.01ADVADIS 0.01 -50.00 0.08 0.01CALATRAVA 0.07 -36.36 0.53 0.06IDEON 0.06 -33.33 0.20 0.04EUROMARK 0.03 -25.00 2.09 0.03

Bottom 5 Closing % change (week) 52-week high 52-week low

EUROCASH 50.70 -4.61 56.25 34.17JSW 89.20 -4.50 101.00 81.86PKNORLEN 49.81 -3.09 57.40 31.44PGNIG 5.36 -3.07 6.10 3.63SYNTHOS 6.12 -2.86 6.88 4.92

WIG20 2,342.64 (April 04 close)

Change for the week: -1.16% 52-week high: 2,628.36

Change year to April 04: -10.80% 52-week low: 2,035.80

mWIG40 2,594.74 (April 04 close)

Change for the week: -1.14% 52-week high: 2,718.31

Change year to April 04: 1.02% 52-week low: 2,147.52

sWIG80 10,817.23 (April 04 close)

Change for the week: -1.11% 52-week high: 11,245.80

Change year to April 04: 2.72% 52-week low: 8,984.43

NewConnect 32.30 (April 04 close)

Change for the week: -1.22% 52-week high: 42.49

Change year to April 04: -2.77% 52-week low: 32.08

WIG-Banki 6,306.27 (April 04 close)

Change for the week: -0.99% 52-week high: 6,723.16

Change year to April 04: -6.20% 52-week low: 5,163.30

DJIA14,606.11 (April 04 close)

0.19% (for the week)

CHANGE: 8.90%

(year to April 04)

52-week high: 14,684.49

52-week low: 12,035.09

NASDAQ3,224.98 (April 04 close)

-1.30% (for the week)

CHANGE: 3.62%

(year to April 04)

52-week high: 3,270.30

52-week low: 2,726.68

S&P5001,559.98 (April 04 close)

-0.59% (for the week)

CHANGE: 6.67%

(year to April 04)

52-week high: 1,573.66

52-week low: 1,266.74

FTSE1006,344.12 (April 04 close)

-1.05% (for the week)

CHANGE: 5.25%

(year to April 04)

52-week high: 6,533.99

52-week low: 5,229.76

DAX7,817.39 (April 04 close)

0.28% (for the week)

CHANGE: 0.50%

(year to April 04)

52-week high: 8,074.47

52-week low: 5,914.43

NIKKEI12,634.54 (April 04 close)

2.42% (for the week)

CHANGE: 18.21%

(year to April 04)

52-week high: 12,650.26

52-week low: 8,238.96

world stock indices

44,000

44,800

45,600

46,400

47,200

48,000

04.0

4

03.0

4

02.0

4

28.0

3

27.0

3

26.0

3

25.0

3

22.0

3

21.0

3

20.0

3

19.0

3

18.0

3

15.0

3

14.0

3

13.0

3

12.0

3

11.0

3

08.0

3

07.0

3

06.0

3 2,300

2,340

2,380

2,420

2,460

2,500

04.0

4

03.0

4

02.0

4

28.0

3

27.0

3

26.0

3

25.0

3

22.0

3

21.0

3

20.0

3

19.0

3

18.0

3

15.0

3

14.0

3

13.0

3

12.0

3

11.0

3

08.0

3

07.0

3

06.0

3

2,500

2,560

2,620

2,680

2,740

2,800

04.0

4

03.0

4

02.0

4

28.0

3

27.0

3

26.0

3

25.0

3

22.0

3

21.0

3

20.0

3

19.0

3

18.0

3

15.0

3

14.0

3

13.0

3

12.0

3

11.0

3

08.0

3

07.0

3

06.0

3 10,800

10,900

11,000

11,100

11,200

11,300

0002222222000

04.0

4

03.0

4

02.0

4

28.0

3

27.0

3

26.0

3

25.0

3

22.0

3

21.0

3

20.0

3

19.0

3

18.0

3

15.0

3

14.0

3

13.0

3

12.0

3

11.0

3

08.0

3

07.0

3

06.0

3

32.00

32.25

32.50

32.75

33.00

04.0

4

03.0

4

02.0

4

28.0

3

27.0

3

26.0

3

25.0

3

22.0

3

21.0

3

20.0

3

19.0

3

18.0

3

15.0

3

14.0

3

13.0

3

12.0

3

11.0

3

08.0

3

07.0

3

06.0

3 6,200

6,280

6,360

6,440

6,520

6,600

04.0

4

03.0

4

02.0

4

28.0

3

27.0

3

26.0

3

25.0

3

22.0

3

21.0

3

20.0

3

19.0

3

18.0

3

15.0

3

14.0

3

13.0

3

12.0

3

11.0

3

08.0

3

07.0

3

06.0

3

Other indices

A slow week

Stocks report

Last week, already shortenedas the result of the EasterMonday holiday, started slow-ly on the Warsaw StockExchange. On Tuesday,March manufacturing PMIfigures were released.Poland’s score fell to 48points, the worst performancein five months. That causedWSE share values to grow bya much smaller margin thanother European markets. Themain indices in Frankfurt andParis gained 1.3 percent and1.8 percent respectively, whilethe main WIG index and theblue-chip WIG20 indexgained just 0.35 percent and0.24 percent respectively.

Wednesday was muchworse. Due to worse-than-expected macroeconomicdata from the US, most ofthe European bourses sawfalls, and the WSE was noexception. The WIG sank by1.55 percent, while theWIG20 lost 1.65 percent.The leader that day was

PGE, whose shares gained1.3 percent after newsemerged it could withdrawfrom a multi-billion-z∏otyinvestment in Opole.

At the other end was coalminer JSW, which saw itsshares plummet by 4.6 per-cent.

On Thursday, investorswere waiting for MarioDraghi’s decision on theECB’s benchmark interestrate. When it was an-nounced that it wouldn’t bereduced, trading in Warsawheld steady at the previousday’s levels. The WIG andWIG20 both saw slight gainsof 0.04 percent and 0.26 per-cent respectively.

Friday started with anupward swing but disap-pointing news out of the USjob market soured moods.While the WIG20 closed theday with a 0.16 percent gain,the WIG fell slightly by 0.06percent.

JJaacceekk CCiieessnnoowwsskkii

APRIL 8-14, 2013 SSPPOORRTTSS www.wbj.pl 21

Skiing

DDoobbrroowwoollsskkii bbrreeaakkssPPoolliisshh sskkiiiinngg rreeccoorrdd

American football

SSnnooww wwaayy ttoo ppllaayy

The bad weathercaused a raft ofpostponements in thePLFA Topliga

The Topliga game between theWarsaw Eagles and theWroc∏aw Devils was post-poned last week due to badweather, with the match nowdue to be played on June 22.

The postponement was thesecond in as many games forthe Devils, who have yet to setfoot on the field during the

2013 season. The Eagles’home season at Polonia Stadi-um will now begin on April 20,when they are scheduled totake on the Gdynia Seahawksin a rematch of NAC SuperFi-na∏ VII. The Devils are nowset to play their first game onApril 13, at home against theWarsaw Spartans.

Stadium managementdecided that the combinationof already difficult weatherconditions and an unfavorableforecast for the next few days

would cause the turf tobecome unplayable, forcingthe postponement.

The game between theWroc∏aw Giants and Koz∏yPoznaƒ was also postponed.No make-up date has beenannounced, although thegame will be played later thisseason.

The Giants, who won theirseason opener on the road,will now play their first homegame of the year on April 20.

AAlleexx ZZaarrggaanniiss

The Polish skierbroke his own speedrecord after reaching234.933 km/h

Polish speed skier J´drzejDobrowolski broke the Polishspeed skiing record at theSpeed Master event in Vars,southeastern France, last week.

Mr Dobrowolski held theprevious record of 230.19 kmper hour, but he went morethan 4 km/h faster as hereached a fastest speed of234.933 km/h. The Poleachieved the feat on theChabriéres slope from aheight of 2,750 meters, and agradient of 98 percent.

After breaking his ownrecord Mr Dobrowolski toldjournalists “I’m really happy Imanaged to improve myrecord. From the morning theweather was beautiful andthere were perfect skiing con-ditions. I felt the power andknew that I could get a goodresult.”

However he still has a longway to go to beat the currentworld record, which is held byItalian skier Simone Origone

at 251.40 km/h. As WBJ went to press Mr

Origone was in first place in

the Speed Master event, witha speed of 248.174 km/h.

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Two stadiums were empty over the weekend as the result of canceled American

football games

Kaas Sings PiafApril 23Sala KongresowaPl. Defilad 1Warsaw

This year marks the 50thanniversary of the death ofFrench singer Edith Piaf. MsPiaf is regarded as one of thegreatest French singers of alltime due to her distinctivevoice which deftly interpretedthe emotional lyrics of many ofher best-known songs. One ofthose, “Hymne à l’amour,”

was written for world boxingchampion Marcel Cerdan,with whom she had an 18-month affair before he died ina plane crash in 1949.

To mark the anniversary,fellow French singer PatriciaKaas has produced an album ofMs Piaf’s greatest hits, with thesongs featured on this recordforming the repertoire for thisWarsaw concert. Since releas-ing her debut album “Made-moiselle chante...” back in1988, Ms Kaas has sold over 16million records worldwide. She

also represented France in the2009 Eurovision Song Contest,eventually finishing eighth.

As well as performing inthe Polish capital, Ms Kaaswill appear in some of theworld’s most famous venuesduring her current tour,including the Royal AlbertHall in London, New York’sCarnegie Hall, Olympia inParis, and the OperettaTheatre in Moscow.

DDaavviidd IInngghhaammFor more information log

on to kongresowa.pl

Ellie GouldingApril 20Klub Stodo∏aul. Batorego 10Warsaw

British singer-songwriter EllieGoulding comes toPoland this Aprilon the back of therelease of her sec-ond album “Halcy-on.” The 26-year-old first came toprominence in2010 when she wonthe BBC’s annual“Sound of...” poll,an achievementthat has previouslybeen matched bysuch artists asAdele, Keane and50 Cent. The sameyear she releasedher debut studioalbum “Lights,” which soldmore than 1.6 million copiesworldwide, and included thehit singles “Under the Sheets”and “Starry Eyed.”

Teaming good looks withgenuine talent and song-writ-ing ability, Ms Gouldinglooks like she has what ittakes to become a mainstay

in the charts. “Halcyon” iscarrying on where her firstalbum left off, reaching num-ber two in the UK top 40 andnumber nine in the Billboard200.

While professionally ev-erything seems to be goingright for Ms Goulding, it hasnot all been smooth sailing,

as she recently split fromlove interest and renownedproducer/electronic musi-cian Skrillex. The pair hadlooked to become modernmusic’s power couple untiltheir split. But for MsGoulding the future stilllooks very bright.

DDaavviidd IInngghhaamm

APRIL 8-14, 2013LLIIFFEESSTTYYLLEE22 www.wbj.pl

Concert

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The cars you see today are mightydifferent from the ones Techeye grewup with. Back when we were little,the average car was as long as a U-boat and as wide as a Sherman tank.If you ran over a pedestrian at 60mph, you could count to sevenbefore feeling a slight bump in therear shocks.

In those days, cars were made ofsteel and wrought iron, upholsteredwith asbestos and powered by unre-fined dinosaur juice. They brokedown every 20 miles and were deadlyheavy to push. Not that the menfolkever pushed, being designated driv-ers and all, so every woman in townhad the leg muscles of an East Ger-man gymnast. And you never really“repaired” a car so much as beat itinto submission and cursed it backinto motion.

Some things have changed for thebetter since then, some for theworse. Car repair, for example, nolonger resembles an act of domesticviolence. At the same time, DIYmaintenance is more difficult, whatwith all the fancy algorithms, the on-board computers and the specializedtools. It’s taken some of the greasy,profanity-laced romance out of carownership.

Would-be grease monkeys dohave some options though, like theAutomatic Link, a forthcoming gadg-et from Automatic Labs (Automat-ic.com). The physical component ofthe Automatic Link, a microcon-troller, plugs into a car’s OBD-IIport; it then communicates with acompanion smartphone app, via

Bluetooth. (OBD-II ports are present in

most cars sold in the US since 1996.Europe, unique snowflake that it is,uses the EOBD standard instead.)

Among other things, the Auto-matic Link lets you diagnose thecause of an emergency light, remindsyou where your car is parked andhelps reduce petrol-wasting drivingbehavior. It even makes an automat-ic emergency call in the event of acrash, which habitual hit-and-rundrivers ought to keep in mind.

The Automatic Link is currentlyavailable for pre-order for $69.95; it’sexpected to ship this summer, withapps for both iOS and Android. Thedevice is US-only for launch, but sup-port for other countries is planned.

For those looking for somethingavailable in the here and now, there’sTorque Pro, a z∏.15 vehicle perform-ance / diagnostics tool for Android.As with the Automatic Link, youneed a bit of hardware to communi-cate with the car; unlike that product,you can get one that fits an EOBDslot. The ELM327 programmedmicrocontroller is one popular andreasonably priced option.

Anyway, Torque Pro does manyof the same things as the Automatic

Link, though the app seems to have awider variety of features. Theseinclude CO2 emissions readouts,sending GPS-tagged tweets, horse-power and torque monitoring, andperformance logs.

Last up this week is the ParrotAsteroid Smart, which sounds like thetitle of a terrible prog-rock album butis in fact a “very complete connectedmultimedia car head unit” that’s alsoan “apps + navigation + musichands-free system.” It won’t helpmaintain your car, but is definitely animprovement over the old days, whenin-car entertainment consisted ofcounting telephone poles and naviga-

tion was usually accomplished despitethe “assistance” of a map-illiteratenavigator.

The Parrot Asteroid Smart has a6.2-inch color multi-touch screen andcan be hooked up to a rear camera, ifyou have one. There are just 12 appson the Parrot Asteroid Market rightnow, but they’re all free and includepopular music-streaming service Spo-tify. If the device tickles your fancy,you can pick one up for $600.

Incidentally, that’s exactly howmuch Techeye paid for our first car.It was a monstrous, unreliablemachine, so we called it “Helga.”Just like Mom. ●

APRIL 8-14, 2013 LLAASSTT WWOORRDD www.wbj.pl 23

TTeecchh ttoo kkeeeepp mmooddeerrnn ccaarrss iinn tthhee ffaasstt llaanneeTech Eye

Ever arrived somewhere despite your navigator’s best efforts? Let us know: techeye.wbj@gmail.com

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Centre forContemporary Art atUjazdowski Castle ul. Jazdów 2www.csw.art.pl

Czarna Gallery ul. Marsza∏kowska 4www.czarnagaleria.art.pl

Fibak Galleryul. KrakowskiePrzedmieÊcie 5www.galeriafibak.pl

Galeria 022, DAP, Lufcik ul. Mazowiecka 11awww.owzpap.pl

Galeria 65 ul. Bema 65www.galeria65.com

Galeria Appendix 2ul. Bia∏ostocka 9www.appendix2.com

Galeria Asymetria ul. Nowogrodzka 18awww.asymetria.eu

Galeria Foksal ul. Foksal 1-4www.galeriafoksal.pl

Galeria Milano Rondo Waszyngtona 2Awww.milano.arts.pl

Galeria Schody ul. Nowy Âwiat 39www.galeriaschody.pl

Galeria XX1 Al. Jana Paw∏a II 36www.galeriaxx1.pl

Galeria Zoya ul. Kopernika 32 m.8www.zoya.art.pl

Green Gallery ul. Krzywe Ko∏o 2/4www.greengallery.pl

KatarzynaNapiórkowska Art Galleryul. Âwi´tokrzyska 32, ul. KrakowskiePrzedmieÊcie 42/44and Old Town Square19/21www.napiorkowska.pl

Królikarnia NationalGalleryul. Pu∏awska 113awww.krolikarnia.mnw.art.pl

Le Guern Galleryul. Widok 8 www.leguern.pl

Museum ofIndependenceAleja SolidarnoÊci 62www.muzeumniepodleglosci.art.pl

National Museum inWarsaw Al. Jerozolimskie 3www.mnw.art.pl

Polish National Operaat Teatr WielkiPl. Teatralny 1www.teatrwielki.pl

Pracownia Galeriaul. Emilii Plater 14www.pracowniagaleria.pl

Rempex Art and Auction Houseul. Karowa 31www.rempex.com.pl

Royal CastlePl. Zamkowy 4www.zamek-krolewski.com.pl

Simonis Galleryul. Burakowska 9www.simonisgallery.com

State ArchaeologicalMuseum in Warsawul. D∏uga 52www.pma.pl

State EthnographicMuseumul. Kredytowa 1www.ethnomuseum.pl

Historical Museum of Warsaw Old Town Square 28-42www.mhw.pl

History Meeting House of Warsaw ul. Karowa 20www.dsh.waw.pl

Warsaw Philharmonic ul. Jasna 5www.filharmonia.pl

Warsaw RisingMuseum ul. Grzybowska 79www.1944.pl

Wilanów PalaceMuseum and WilanówPoster Museumul. St Kostki Potockiego10/16www.wilanow-palac.plwww.postermuseum.pl

Zachęta National ArtGalleryPl. Ma∏achowskiego 3www.zacheta.art.pl

Museums, galleries and venues in Warsaw

To advertise in WBJ’s classifieds section, contact

Agnieszka Brejwo, at(+48) 222-577-526 or abrejwo@wbj.pl

The Automatic Link

The Parrot Asteroid Smart