885096470

ECONOMIC

JPRS-EER-91-053 25 April 1991

market. A new handbook on the Hungarian market is being prepared and will be published in RYNKI ZAGRANICZNE.

Tasks for New Defense Industry Council Noted

91EP0374C Warsaw RZECZPOSPOLITA (ECONOMY AND LA W supplement) in Polish 2-3 Mar 91 p II

[Article by Krzysztof Szczęśniak: “Defense Industry: Controlled Independence”]

[Text] Our defense industry, which consists of several dozen enterprises, is going through a difficult time. The reason is still the same: an embargo on materiel deliv-eries in conjunction with the war in the Middle East, obsolete technologies provided to us so far by the USSR, and demilitarization in generał. Clearly, the deterio-rating condition of the entire economy also adds to all of this.

However, it appears that despite everything, we should not allow our armaments industry to collapse. We should look for salvation to new systems of economic operations and financing which take the rigors of self-financing into account. To a large dcgree, this role devolves on the Defense Industry Council, established by a resolution of the Council of Ministers dated 3 December of last year. Representatives of very many ministries, most fre-quently at a level of undersecretaries of State, as well as those of banks, administrative bodies, and foreign trade organizations, belong to the council. Industry Minister Andrzej Zawiślak became chairman of the council.

The Defense Industry Council convened its first meeting on 1 March of this year. As an official communique States, guidelines for organization and financing in this peculiar industry were discussed. Several changes are in the offing, the most important of which involves dividing the enterprises which have so far had the status of so-called “S” enterprises into two groups. About 10 large enterprises, which will continue to be State arma-ment enterprises, will belong to the first group.

Among others, at issue are all the enterprises which, for example, produce munitions, but not only munitions. It should be conjectured that what they produce and test should be entirely secret. Therefore, these enterprise will be simply military enterprises, though with their own balance sheets, at which, obviously, civilians will work. However, these companies will be excluded from all privatization plans, even if most lucrative. They will not be able to join any joint venture companies.

The second group of enterprises is treated somewhat differently. There are about 20 companies on the other list which produce for the market, while at the same time maintain a certain segment of their production potential on continuous standby with a view to war and the necessity to defend our sovcrcignty. It is obvious that the

State Budget should finance costs of this naturę. How-ever, in many cases it is impossible to determine accu-rately to what degree a particular machinę is used for market production, and to what degree its production capacity is reserved specifically for such special circum-stances.

So far, various arrangements have been madę. On most occasions, enterprises of this type were granted various kinds of tax relief which were supposed to offset the costs incurred in maintaining our defense capability. How-ever, at present it is necessary to replace arbitrariness with some arrangement, and it is hard to say what arrangcment so far. One thing is rather elear, these enterprises may, and even should, enter into partnership arrangements with other Capital (of course, for their market segment only), maintaining the principle that a majority share should be held by the State Treasury after all.

There is a third group of enterprises which is not too big, but its situation is the best. These are companies whose “S“ designation has actually been revoked already due to decreased nced for special produets. This group includes, for example, the State Telecommunication Enterprise in Warsaw. Last year, it formed a joint venture company with Alcatel Standard Elektrika from Spain under the name of SETEL, and for this reason sought to officially change its status to datę.

We should say clearly that all of the above are merely proposals. To be surę, time is short. However, first the KERM [Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers] must take a stand on this issue, and only later the Council of Ministers should make a decision. Therefore, under favorable circumstances finał decisions may be a month or two away, or even further if the concept is revised during this period of time.

Voiccs are beginning to be heard that the issue should be altogether postponed until a detailed defense doctrine of our State is worked out, and alliances in Europę become elear. However, this should perhaps be treated morę as an attempt to avoid the discussion of difficult topics. Work on the doctrine will take years, whereas the work-forces of many companies want to know what they can count on in the immediate futurę.

Mazowsze Solidarity Comments on Excess Wagę Tax

91EP0374A Warsaw RZECZPOSPOLITA (ECONOMY AND LA W supplement) in Polish 4 Mar 91 p II

[Interview with Jadwiga Szydłowska and Julian Srebrny of the NSZZ [Independent Self-Governing T rade Union] Solidarity, Mazowsze Region, by Antoni Kowalik; place and datę not given: “Making the Excess Wagę Tax Civilized“]

[Text] [Kowalik] The Wagę Group of the Mazowsze Region has been following the consequences and results