The new rules for appointing supervisory boards of State Treasury companies proposed by the Ministry of State Assets are going in the right direction, admit the MPs interviewed by PAP. They praise, among others: raising requirements for board members and greater transparency of remuneration. However, the opposition doubts the full depoliticization of companies.
Half a year ago, at the end of July 2025, Wojciech Balczun took over as Minister of State Assets, replacing Jakub Jaworowski. In December last year, speaking about the priorities of the ministry under his leadership, he mentioned, among others: on supporting the domestic component and improving the competences of the authorities of companies controlled by the State Treasury. – We are also constantly working intensively to raise the standard of management of State Treasury companies and to raise the standard of competence of our supervisory bodies – supervisory boards. We see that it works, he said.
55-year-old Wojciech Balczun is, among others, during the previous government of the PO-PSL coalition, president of PKP Cargo (in 2008-2013), and in 2016-2017 president of the Ukrainian railway company Ukrzaliznytsia. In the spring of 2025, shortly before taking up the position of Minister of State Assets, he became the president of the Industrial Development Agency. He is also a rock musician, leader of the band Chemia.
Former deputy minister of state assets Jacek Bartmiński from Poland 2050, who had to leave his position in 2024 – according to media reports, among others. as a result of a political conflict with the then deputy minister Robert Kropiwnicki from KO regarding the influence on the staffing of companies – he admitted in an interview with PAP that under Balczun's leadership, the Ministry of Assets functions slightly better than under his predecessor, Jakub Jaworowski.
– I like the emphasis on the Polonization of cooperators who will, for example, participate in the construction of wind turbines. I also welcome the continuation of the repair of Poczta Polska. Compared to his predecessors, he is the most substantive minister, admits Bartmiński.
Unofficially, people associated with the Ministry of Assets say that under Wojciech Balczun, Jan Krzysztof Bielecki's influence in the ministry weakened slightly, although the current minister – like Jakub Jaworowski – is considered to be the former prime minister's man.
As you can hear unofficially, it was also possible to partially remove the political odium from the ministry's activities. This was to be expressed in the autumn dismissal of deputy minister Robert Kropiwnicki, who was replaced by lawyer Eliza Zeidler, who had previously cooperated with Paweł Kowal. At the same time, PSL, with which Deputy Minister Grzegorz Wrona is associated, and Nowa Lewica, with which Deputy Minister Konrad Gołota is associated, still have influence in the ministry.
Robert Kropiwnicki himself refused to evaluate Wojciech Balczun's activities.
Tomasz Nowak from KO, vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Energy, Climate and State Assets, positively assesses the activities of the current minister. – The minister's task is to conduct effective audits and optimize the work of companies. It seems to me that he is doing it effectively for now, although we will be able to evaluate the effects of his work in six months – Nowak told PAP. – He also has a task set by the Prime Minister, which is to depoliticize companies. I believe that this task will be accomplished, he added.
This is the purpose of the new Act on the principles of state property management, prepared by the Ministry of Assets. According to the project, as reported by Onet and Business Insider Polska, the requirements for people wanting to sit on supervisory boards of State Treasury companies are to be raised. Among others Any MBA diploma will no longer be sufficient – it will be a diploma awarded by renowned universities with special accreditations or authorizations to award habilitated doctor degrees. In addition, people with an MBA degree will have to demonstrate at least seven years, not five years, of professional practice and three years of experience in a managerial position.
The so-called competence matrix – during recruitment, candidates for councils will complete a “self-assessment declaration”, i.e. a survey in which they will indicate their competences. Ministries are supposed to specify what skills they expect from candidates for companies.
MEPs admit that these ideas go in the right direction. Former Minister of Science and former member of the Energy and State Assets Committee, Dariusz Wieczorek from the New Left, emphasizes that it is necessary to put an end to the practices revealed in the Collegium Humanum scandal, where purchased MBA diplomas gave the right to sit on the supervisory boards of State Treasury companies.
– I admit that when I was in the government, I saw what was happening, and we considered making the state examination a condition for sitting in a State Treasury company – Wieczorek tells PAP. – This proposal is still on the table. If the minister did not take advantage of this, but only wants to specify the requirements, this is certainly a step in the right direction – he adds.
The deputy head of the energy and assets committee, Rafał Komarewicz, who sponsored two projects to regulate the composition of company boards prepared by Poland 2050, also admits that the assumptions prepared by MAP make sense. – Maybe not as precise as ours when it comes to separating companies from parties, but going in the right direction – said Komarewicz. The Polish 2050 MP added that he would like to meet Minister Balczun on this matter and hoped that he would find time for him.
Both Poland 2050 projects are currently pending in parliamentary subcommittees. The first assumed that 30 percent members of supervisory boards of State Treasury companies would be nominated by the Good Governance Committee. Members of this committee would be appointed at the request of employers' organizations, universities and trade unions.
The project also provided that persons appointed to supervisory boards could not be members of political parties or – for five years before taking up their duties – serve as MPs, senators or MEPs. The act also introduced full transparency of remuneration of members of management and supervisory boards of state-owned companies. Ultimately, Poland 2050 withdrew from most of the original demands, leaving in the next draft only the provisions regarding the grace period for politicians and the transparency of salaries.
Komarewicz admitted that under Balczun there was a more business approach to company management. – When Minister Kropiwnicki was in the ministry, it was known that this one was a politician in some council, and the other one was a politician. Now the key is different and that's good, says the Polish 2050 MP.
The head of the energy and assets committee, Marek Suski from PiS, has a different view on the current minister's activities. – I haven't seen this project, but as I know life, announcements are announcements, and the reality will be different. Each new government argues that it will now only appoint specialists. Then it turns out that these are only specialists from the group that rules, comments Suski. – 100 specifics of KO also announced a move away from politically appointing company authorities. And then, if you look at State Treasury companies, there were situations such as in Radom, where the husband of the vice-president from PO, who had zero experience in this type of companies, was employed in an arms company – adds the PiS MP.
Daniel Wilk, husband of the vice-president of Radom from KO, Marta Michalska-Wilk, joined the management board of “Łucznik” Radom in 2024, but has no longer been a member of this body since December last year.
– I keep hearing about depoliticization, but it turns out that the nominees of one familiar rabbit are exchanged for the nominees of another. Balczun simply replaces Kropiwnicki's people with his own, emphasizes Suski.
This is how – in his opinion – the recent changes in the Supervisory Board of KGHM Polska Miedź should be interpreted, for example, where four members of the Supervisory Board of KGHM were replaced during the EGM at the request of the State Treasury. Zbigniew Ćwiąkalski (former Minister of Justice), Artur Ulrich, Łukasz Żelewski and Remigiusz Paszkiewicz became new members. The current chairman of the council, Aleksander Cieśliński, his deputy Tadeusz Kocowski, Zbysław Dobrowolski and Dominik Januszewski were dismissed. This also resulted in changes in the management board of KGHM – the new board dismissed president Andrzej Szydło and temporarily delegated its member Remigiusz Paszkiewicz to this position.
– The KO MPs themselves admit unofficially: “It would be difficult for Balczun to allow Kropiwnicki to rule in the ministry,” notes Suski, who believes that declarations about the depoliticization of companies “are just stories for the public.”
Rafał Komarewicz believes that half a year of Balczun's term in office is still too short to evaluate him as a minister. At the same time, he expresses hope that the head of MAP will persuade the Orlen management board to finally meet with the commission, because several meetings have already been canceled, and once the commission members even went to Płock, but at that time the Orlen management board came to Warsaw. – Orlen is playing a game of cat and mouse with us – says the Polish 2050 MP.
This is confirmed by Suski. – There are nine board members, but none of them have ever found time to come to the committee. They once delegated some directors, but without powers to represent the company, says the chairman of the committee. – When we went to Płock, they said they couldn't meet us because they had just gone to Warsaw. Nine members of the management board. It was a mockery, it was done on purpose to show the committee where it was, he adds.
When asked by PAP about this matter, Orlen's press service did not provide any comment.
Marek Suski also admits that there are companies with which it is good to cooperate. – We recently visited PSE – the management board approached the meeting very honestly and presented detailed plans – says the head of the energy and assets committee. (PAP)
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