In February a row broke out between Poland and Israel. A planned summit of Visegrad leaders on February 18th in Israel was cancelled, following comments by the Israeli Prime Minister. Benjamin Netanyahu had been quoted as saying that the Polish had collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War – and it rightly angered Polish leaders and, indeed, the Polish people
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Drown that witch already!
If it is 21st of March and you see packs of kids parading with an effigy of a woman, and then burning and drowning it afterwards, please hold your horses of outrage. They are not some radical activists of the mythical patriarchy, but rather children celebrating an ancient Slavic tradition.
The ‘drowning of Marzanna’ has been known and practiced in these lands for centuries. This pagan ritual consisted of preparing a straw figure of Marzanna, a goddess of winter and death, wrapped in white cloth, dressing it up in beads and ribbons, and flaunting it around the village. At dusk, it would be taken outside that village, set ablaze, and cast into a river in order to drown it.
The meaning of the ritual itself, one of death and rebirth, has been lost in time, but the tradition remained, even though the Catholich Church tried to eradicate it at one point in history. In the past, the drowning of Marzanna was performed on the fourth Sunday of Lent, but last century it was fixed on 21st day of March – the beginning of Spring. On that day, you can still spot elementary school pupils, apart from playing truant, drowning the poor wretch with the intention of making Winter finally go away and make room for Spring in all its glory.
The Phenomenon of Polish Pottery from Bolesławiec
Ceramics were one of the earliest forms of art in Central Europe, and – to a considerable extent – it started in the region of Lower Silesia, in Poland. The city where it began is called Bolesławiec, which to this day is known as the capital of Polish pottery (also called as the city of pottery). The first pottery makers were noted there in the 14th century.
On your next trip to Poland, Bolesławiec is a MUST visit, and you should at least try to discover some of its biggest treasures. The selection of hand-made products on display is enormous, and every local store has a generous supply of products to be bought. It is recommended to plan at least a few hours’ trip to discover the pottery, as only looking at it is addictive and it takes time to take it all in!
One of the greatest contemporary Poles – Pope John Paul II – was fond of the little ceramic pieces from Bolesławiec. It is therefore no wonder that our president, Andrzej Duda, together with his wife Agata Kornhauser-Duda decided to gift a beautiful set of the Bolesławiec pottery to Prince William and Princess Kate when they visited Poland a few years ago.
All authentic pottery products from Bolesławiec are embossed on the bottom with the “Hand made in Poland” designation, which underlines their originality and is a guarantee of superior craftsmanship.
Today, most pieces from Bolesławiec are presented in the region’s trademark cream color, with colorful motifs or flowers in all different shapes. The most popular designs though are blue dots, abstract flowers, spots, or “windmills”. What makes the stoneware pieces even more special is the fact that many individual artists do their own work on the pottery pieces to make them unique and sought after.
A Ceramics Museum was established in the city of Bolesławiec some time ago, and city’s largest annual festival – the Bolesławiec Pottery Festival – which takes place on the third weekend of August, is always associated with this theme as well. It gathers tourists from all around the world.
Poland’s largest container port sold to Singapore-led consortium
A consortium comprising Singapore’s PSA International, the Polish Development Fund (PFR) and the IFM Global Infrastructure Fund (GIF) managed by IFM Investors, has signed an agreement to acquire 100 percent of Gdańsk Deepwater Container Terminal (DCT Gdańsk), Poland’s largest container terminal.
The Gdańsk terminal is the fastest growing container port in Europe and is ranked amongst the 15 largest container ports by volume on the continent. The terminal was built in 2005 and, following a significant capital expenditure programme, its capacity doubled in 2016 with the completion of a second quay. Container volumes have grown steadily to reach 1.9 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in 2018. The port is also the only terminal in the Baltic Sea that can serve Ultra Large Container Vessels, the world’s largest container ships with a capacity of up to 23,000 TEUs.
“DCT Gdańsk is PSA’s first investment in Eastern Europe, and we look forward to working closely with our partners PFR and IFM to further develop its facilities and to strengthen its position as the preferred port of call for Poland and the Baltic Sea. Through leveraging our global network and our expertise in creating value for the port and shipping communities, PSA will partner with shipping lines, logistics operators and cargo owners to deliver more efficient, flexible and robust supply chain solutions for the region,” said Tan Chong Meng, CEO of PSA International.
“We are pleased that we managed to successfully complete the acquisition of a special asset – the only deep-water container terminal in Poland and the entire Baltic Sea basin. I believe that the unique combination of local and international content, as well as PSA’s operational know-how will reinforce DCT Gdańsk for further growth. The new owners support DCT’s ambitious expansion plans, including construction of a new terminal in the coming years to utilise and leverage economic growth of Poland and the CEE,” added Paweł Borys, CEO of PFR.
“We are delighted to further consolidate our existing partnership with global leader in port operations, PSA, and join leading Polish fund PFR, whose insight into the Polish market has been invaluable to the consortium,” IFM Investors global head of infrastructure Kyle Mangini said. “The transaction also marks another investment for IFM in a core infrastructure asset in Poland, expanding upon our long-standing presence in the country.”
PSA is a leading global port group and partner to cargo stakeholders around the world. With flagship operations in Singapore and Antwerp, PSA’s portfolio comprises a network of more than 50 coastal, rail and inland terminals in 17 countries.
The Polish Development Fund (PFR) is a financial group that offers instruments supporting the development of companies, local governments and individuals, and invests in sustainable social development and national economic growth. IFM Investors is a global institutional funds manager with $US82 billion under management as of December 31, 2018.
The transaction is subject to approval from Poland’s competition authority.
Polish prime minister appeals for EU consensus on digital tax
The Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said yesterday that there should be no tax havens in Europe and that if there is no common European Union digital tax, individual member states will have to act alone. “The European Commission itself and the OECD consider some countries, like Cyprus and Malta – but lately even Belgium or Ireland, as countries which help multinational giants to avoid paying tax,” Morawiecki said.
According to Morawiecki, Poland was one of the countries raising the topic of a common digital tax at meetings of the European Council and that Poland was in regular contact with France and Germany about the issue. Morawiecki also said that, according to his sources, Austria was getting ready to introduce a digital tax despite the lack of EU consensus. “We want to do it together with all EU countries, but the Austrian example shows that, if there is no consensus, member countries will have to take this decision – I hope, not long from now – on their own, independently and with responsibility”.
Last year, the European Commission proposed an EU tax on the online revenues or large digital companies arguing that such companies sent profits through those member states with the lowest levels of corporate tax. An number of EU member states resisted this move as a result of which France and Germany proposed a watered-down version of the proposal at the end of last year.
At last Wednesday’s ECOFIN meeting, EU finance ministers rejected the Commission’s digital advertising tax proposal on the basis that there should be a global agreement on such a tax in order to protect the EU’s competitiveness. The arguments fir rejection focused mainly on the discussions at OECD level, highlighting the importance of having global, rather than simply EU agreement on such a tax.
The ECOFIN ministers did agree that discussion on the digital services tax would be discussed by the Council should the international initiatives to reach a global agreement fail. Malta’s finance minister, Edward Scicluna, said that “changes to production and consumption patterns due to digitisation may require a review of the current tax systems to avoid eroding the tax-base. But this change cannot be undertaken unilaterally,” he stressed.
At the meeting, the ministers approved a revised list of jurisdictions deemed to be non-cooperative on tax which list now includes those jurisdictions which are still deemed to be non-cooperative on tax matters, while other jurisdictions, that had acted on the initial concerns, were removed.
There is no doubt that as economies change and as electronic commerce increases, the tax system has to change to reflect these changes and to ensure that the tax burden in both fair and that tax revenue is not concentrated in jurisdictions different from those in which the underlying revenue it is in reality generated.
Bellwether
Winter fades into Spring. Clocks move forward an hour. Light returns to the world. Goodbye totalitarian winter. Hello friendly western wind blowing over Pomerania! Things are popping in the capital, which is a building site. I would wager there haven’t been so many upwardly mobile projects since the early 1950s when Stalin’s great erection, the Phallus of Culture, was being built. Eat your heart out Uncle Joe as Europe’s tallest building (310 metres) reaches for the sky. (The Empire State Building is 381 metres tall.) Some of us remember a time when you could sit in the sky bar at the American-built Marriott, sip a cocktail and lord it over the city. Now the Spire, Q22, Rondo 1, the Tarde Tower and the much-maligned Zloty 44 all look down on the Marriott.
Things change. And yet … the old Russia vs. USA Poland rivalry is still as piping hot as a cup of McDonald’s coffee. I was reminded of this when some wag murmured to me something about why should Poland pay for an American army base when it can have a Russian one for free? Why indeed! It’s a history thing, people. To re-coin a phrase: The proof is in the pudding. And if you don’t mind wading thigh deep through history’s rich tapioca, then Poland’s Past – certainly over the last 200 years or so – is chock full of Russian-brand beneficence. Make sure to review the ingredients carefully.
You need look no further than the nearest reasonably informative history of Poland to see that the Russians have an exemplary record of contributing complimentary hands-on military assistance to first, the Kingdom, and then the Republic of Poland. Partitions, occupations, annexations. All gratis, don’t you know? They never charged a penny. Not so the Yanks.
So, what has Uncle Sam done for Poland lately? You may well ask. Sure, the United States has proved willing in recent years to throw some men and material Poland’s way. While nothing on the scale of the proposed Camp Trump, whose proposed force would be much more than a mere token gesture of American regard for its ancient and more contemporary Revolutionary cousins. See Pulaski and Kosciuszko, John Paul and Solidarity.
Poland’s President promised two billion dollars to the US for building a fort – a bulwark against those pesky Russians. Still, there is American reluctance to take up Poland’s gracious offer (hosting the Americans is much cheaper than building up Poland’s forces to stand alone against Putin, The Mafia Chieftain as my colleague, the filmmaker, Konchalovski named him.). And yet, NATO allies balk, not wanting to taunt the Ruskies, whose oil is an emollient in more ways than one.
The picture blurs, yet the Russians are fully focused. They have always followed up their generous contributions with great attentiveness. See Poland in the last 240 years or so. Russians don’t give help lightly. They bring everything to the party, and they won’t leave until they are dragged out kicking and screaming. With the Yanks, you never know if they are even going to show up. See WWI and WWII. What kind of guest would you prefer? Is it a Hobson’s choice? For left-wingers perhaps…
Unlike Uncle Sam, Uncle Joe’s inheritors do not play hard to get. They disdain jazzy improvisation. Their precision ballet demands command performances. With the Yanks you never know where you stand. Here today, gone tomorrow, slightly fickle, testing the wind with moistened middle finger. But, the Russians always know what they want. It’s a kind of adoration. Like a stalker for the object of their affection. You can always trust the dependable Russians to jump in with both feet and make themselves at home. That’s the joke. With that in mind, who needs Uncle Sam coming around looking for handouts?
Poland and US Move Forward with “Fort Trump” Military Base
United States Defence Undersecretary for Policy John Rood met with Polish officials in Warsaw on Wednesday. The meeting forms part of ongoing negotiations and discussions about the construction of a permanent US military facility in Poland that could be known as “Fort Trump”.
The proposals have been around for many years, but in 2018 the Pentagon seriously examined the feasibility of establishing a permanent US forces base in Poland. Speaking to a House Panel on Wednesday, the acting assistant defence secretary for international security affairs Kathryn Wheelbarger said:
“We have come forward with what we think is a very serious robust offer and we’re just working out some of the technicalities this very week…We hope to have a solid foundation to work from, coming out of this meeting”.
Wheelbarger also explained that, should Poland agree to the terms set out this week, the US State Department would act as the lead negotiator for the technical agreement on the new base. She suggested it could be a matter of six months to a year before that is finalised.
During a presidency that has so far had a tense relationship with NATO (to say the least), the move could be a good sign for Trump’s international allies – but we shouldn’t underestimate Trump’s opponents. This might well be a welcome move to Republicans and Democrats alike who don’t share large parts of Trump’s agenda, but the mere fact that it’s Trump moving forward with the proposal could see new objections and stumbling blocks. Not least the fact that it might be named “Fort Trump”.
The discussions come at a time when the United States is reconsidering its trade and security relationships with countries across Europe and Asia. President Trump this week offered a “large scale trade deal” with the United Kingdom, as Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal failed in parliament for the second time.
My Administration looks forward to negotiating a large scale Trade Deal with the United Kingdom. The potential is unlimited!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 14, 2019
It also comes at a time of great growth for the Polish economy and, what I predicted in this week’s Jack Buckby Report, the verge of a stronger relationship between the UK and Poland post-Brexit.
New cooperation with the UK and the US, and the very real possibility of Fort Trump, are great signs for Poland.
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