When he addressed the BPCC for the last time as HM Ambassador to Poland in 2003, Sir Michael Pakenham talked at length about "the ‘C' word." At that time, corruption was one of the issues troubling our members more than any other.
Back in 1996, when Transparency International included Poland in its annual Corruption Perception Index for the first time, I was proud to note that not only was Poland the least corrupt of all post-communist countries, but it was also less corrupt than three EU-15 members - Italy, Portugal and Greece.
Yet after that date, things started going dreadfully wrong. Year by year, Poland started slumping lower and lower down the global ranking, regardless of whether the government was post-Communist or had Solidarity roots.
Things reached a nadir in the 2005 index (which reflected the previous 12 months). Under the watch of the SLD government of Leszek Miller, levels of corruption in Poland were perceived to have surpassed those found in Jamaica, Bulgaria, Belize or Burkina Faso. In 70th position in the world (out of 158 countries surveyed), corruption had become the defining issue of Poland's 2005 general elections.
The Kaczyński twins, who came to power as president and premier, did what they set out to do - they turned the situation around. Creating new institutions to combat corruption, and aided by a free press keen to winkle out new scandals, the Law and Justice-led coalition succeeded in breaking the trend and halting the nine-year slide into the mire of corruption.
This positive trend has continued. The current Civic Platform-led coalition government has maintained the momentum - despite the recent scandal concerning fruit machines (which occurred too late to influence this year's index, which was published recently).
Poland has, in the space of four years, leapt from 70th (out of 158 countries surveyed) to 49th (out of 180). The score, on a ten-point table is 5.0 (where New Zealand, the world's least corrupt country scores 9.4, and Somalia, the most corrupt, scores 1.1). Back in 2005, Poland's score was 3.4.
There's still a way to go, no room for complacency.
Correlating this ranking to global indices of poverty show a clear link - the more corrupt a country, the poorer it is. Comparing Poland with its neighbour Ukraine (146th in the world, 2.2 score), this link becomes clear. There is also a link between bureaucracy and corruption. The world's cleanest countries are (and not by coincidence) the ones topping the World Bank's Doing Business ranking.
New Zealand, Denmark and Singapore, the least corrupt three, are respectively second, sixth and first in the world when it comes to ease of doing business. Whereas Ukraine comes 142nd.
The fight against corruption must go hand in hand with increases in social trust. It's not enough to create a climate of fear, where bureaucrats become petrified into inaction, too scared to take decisions in case they are accused of corruption. This atmosphere is still seen as a major obstacle to the rolling out of public private partnerships in Poland. Local authorities are worried about the consequences of doing business with the private sector.
Education is the only answer.
Hats off, therefore, to CMS Cameron McKenna. The law firm has organised training sessions for Poland's anti-corruption and audit agencies, explaining to them the new law on PPP, and what's legal - and what to watch out for. The spreading of best practice is the only way to ensure that corruption is tackled while social trust continues to rise.
The "C" word is not one the current British ambassador to Poland, Ric Todd, has ever had to use while addressing the Chamber.
Michael Dembinski, BPCC head of policy
