A sharp dispute over the merger of PZU with Pekao. Błaszczak: This is an enfranchisement of the current government

The bill enabling the merger of PZU SA with Pekao SA is an attempt by the current authorities and people associated with Prime Minister Donald Tusk to gain ownership of state property – said the head of the PiS club, Mariusz Błaszczak, on Thursday.

Last week, the Ministry of Finance stated in a letter to the secretary of the Standing Committee of the Council of Ministers that the ministry requests the resumption of work on the draft act enabling the merger of PZU SA with Pekao SA, submits an amendment aimed at taking into account the comments submitted by the Government Legislation Center in inter-ministerial arrangements and asks for consideration at the next meeting of the standing committee, which met on Thursday.

During Thursday's press conference, the head of the PiS club, Mariusz Błaszczak, said that the project is “an attempt by the current government, people associated with Donald Tusk and the December 13 coalition, to seize state property.” In his opinion, the project will waste the achievements of the PiS government, which means – as he added – “the return of Pekao SA to Polish hands, to the state treasury.”

According to the head of the PiS club, the dispersion of ownership of companies will result in the “ownership” of their assets by those who control them. He emphasized that the PiS parliamentary club would be against the project. He added that PiS will also “organize public opinion to oppose these actions.”

In the opinion of another PiS MP, Jan Kanthak, as a result of considering the project, the state treasury would lose control over the “champions of the Polish economy”. – This would mean that in the event of an attempt to change the management board, if there was, for example, a political change, the state treasury would not be able to make such changes – added the MP. He appealed to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority for a reaction because – as he argued – “the situation increases the risk in the banking sector.”

Owl: Nand the state property was enfranchised by Law and Justice

The deputy chairman of the parliamentary public finance committee, Marek Sowa (KO), asked by PAP to comment on the statements of PiS politicians, said that “Law and Justice and – in this sense – also Mr. Błaszczak” expropriated state property. According to him, nothing will change in terms of state control over companies; he argued that it was about “increasing investment potential.”

Another vice-chairman of this commission, Rafał Kasprzyk (Poland 2050), said that Błaszczak “should not measure the actions of the others by himself and his group.” – I refer this to the merger of Orlen with Lotos and the transfer of Polish assets to, among others, MOL, a company linked to Putin, he said.

At the turn of July and August, the Ministry of Finance prepared a draft act aimed at enabling the planned merger of part of PZU SA with Pekao SA. At the end of September, it was reported that the Minister of Finance and Economy was asking to suspend work on the draft bill. Minister Andrzej Domański explained that the idea was to supplement the project with technical issues.

The Ministry of Finance's self-amendment, which was submitted last week, states that information about the division of a domestic insurance company and the policyholders' right to terminate the insurance contract will be announced in a nationwide daily or on its website by both the acquiring domestic insurance company and the domestic insurance company established as a result of the division.

The justification was also supplemented with an explanation that if the division of a domestic insurance company (reinsurance company) takes place without transferring the insurance portfolio (reinsurance portfolio) to a joint-stock company whose shareholder is a domestic insurance company (reinsurance company), the authorization to conduct insurance activities (reinsurance activities) will not be transferred to this company. (PAP)

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