The Minister of Investment and Development Jerzy Kwieciński, Deputy Head of the National Treasury Administration Paweł Cybulski, Spokesman for Small and Medium Entrepreneurs (SME) Adam Abramowicz, and experts and representatives of business circles took part in the Telewizja Republika debate organized as part of the Entrepreneur Time campaign.
The ‘Year of the Constitution of Business – challenges for the government and entrepreneurs’ debate, carried out in the form of a round table, took place on June 13th and was broadcast on TV Republika and interia.pl.
Participants of the debate agreed that while the reform of economic law prepared by the current government and implemented by passing a set of 5 acts known as the Constitution for Business, was an important step towards regulating the principles of running a business and guaranteeing rights to entrepreneurs, further improvements were necessary.
When assessing the functioning of the Business Constitution, SME spokesman Adam Abramowicz pointed to the problematic approach of many lower-level officials in dealing with entrepreneurs, stating that a change in mentality was needed.
Asked whether the government has plans to verify people running a business, referred to as the “entrepreneur test”, Deputy Head of the National Treasury Administration Paweł Cybulski assured that any rumors on this subject were “absurd and detached from reality” and that the aim is to build the friendliest possible relations between entrepreneurs and tax administration.
The participants of the debate agreed that campaigns like “Entrepreneur’s Time” are a good way of exchanging opinions between business communities and representatives of government administration. The aim of the project, initiated by TV Republika, is to present the problems faced by entrepreneurs in their daily activities and to work out proposals to solve them. Particularly important are the voices of the smallest, small and medium-sized enterprises, which constitute as much as 99.8 percent of all companies in Poland, produce almost half of the GDP and employ almost 70 percent of the people working in the enterprise sector.
“We assume the large companies will manage just fine. It has always been easier for them to reach decision makers. That’s why we decided to give a voice to medium, small and the smallest companies. Their significance for the economy is great, but their voice often isn’t heard”, said the vice president of the TV Republika board, Tomasz Sakiewicz.
The “Year of the Business Constitution – challenges for the government and entrepreneurs” debate was a summary of the “Entrepreneurs Time” campaign. Apart from this, experts participated in three other debates held in the TV Republika studio, devoted to the most important dilemmas and challenges faced by the Polish economy. Discussions focused on the fiscal burdens of small and medium-sized enterprises, European integration in the context of decisions on joining the euro area and changes in the labor market.
A website was also launched as part of the campaign, through which entrepreneurs can pass on their opinions and describe problems that constitute which greatest barriers in their activities.
