Poland's state assets minister wants to increase government oversight of State Treasury companies
Poland's minister of state assets Jakub Jaworowski will propose amendments to laws that will increase the government's involvement over the operations of state-controlled companies, the minister told the European Financial Congress in Sopot.
"I will propose an amendment to the laws on the supervision of state-controlled companies. And I want this to be absolutely clear - I believe that as long as we as a society have agreed that there is to be a sector of companies controlled by the state, (...) then the government must have an influence on the activities of these companies," Jaworowski said.
He pointed out that the general perception is that politicians are responsible for the condition of the State Treasury companies anyway, they must, therefore, have a real influence on the entities' operations.
"It is about how we translate this influence into real action, into this very corporate governance. I believe that the system of appointing board members must end the hypocrisy, pretending that the [state assets] minister is not supposed to have influence. He has and must have," Jaworowski stressed.
Poland's state assets minister explained that the idea is to create a system in which supervisory boards are appointed on the basis of clear business criteria, that their composition is in line with the needs of market companies and that they are made up of professionals in their fields.
He added that it was necessary to ensure the participation in supervisory boards of state-owned companies of representatives independent of the currently ruling camp.
pr/ ao/