This week the last holdout, Czech President Vaclav Klaus, signed the Lisbon Treaty into law. The Treaty is now expected to take legal effect on December 1, 2009, nearly eight years after EU leaders first sat down at the Laeken Summit in 2001 to discuss the need for a new treaty.
The Lisbon Treaty, also referred to as the Reform Treaty, will give the EU "legal personality" and streamline the rule-making process in Brussels.
Under the new voting structure the number of votes apportioned to each country will be based upon population. As a result Poland will see its voting power in the Council reduced. Other changes include the creation of a more permanent EU Presidency, with the term in office lasting 2 1/2 years, as opposed to the current 6 month rotating presidency. The Polish Parliament, together with the parliaments of each member country, however, will in fact gain influence over EU legislation under the Reform Treaty.
Previously the EU did not need to consult national parliaments. Now all of this has changed. The parliaments of member states will now be able to object to draft EU legislation before its enactment. Many other changes abound, including the creation of a European Public Prosecutor, initially empowered to prosecute financial crimes against EU interests, with the understanding that this agency's scope of powers would most likely be expanded to include criminal (penal) crimes as well. Previously the prosecution of such crimes was limited to member states.
In mid-November Sweden, the current holder of the revolving presidency, is expected to call a special summit of EU leaders to quickly take the necessary steps to implement the changes called for by the Reform Treaty.
-- Paul B. Fogo
As I read about Poland’s budgetary woes, I am dismayed to see that politicians are looking at the quick and dirty solution of raising taxes. Before going down that road, they should be thinking about ways to cut costs by increasing efficiency.
A good start would be to reduce the length of court cases in Poland. In the US, Bernard Madoff was sentenced only 7 months after information broke about his $50 billion Ponzi scheme. In Poland, it can take years for a simple employee claim or a contract dispute to be tried. Granted, in the recent TVP in-fighting, the courts showed that they can move fast, but it’s still the exception, and not the rule.
I’m not interested in taking cheap-shots at the Polish judiciary. But, I do have a suggestion: do everything in one hearing whenever possible. In the US, once a trial starts, it usually continues, day after day, until it is finished. Here in Poland, short hearings are spaced several months apart. If the Madoff case was heard in Poland, he might have had his first hearing by now.
The old efficiency rule for executives is to touch a paper only once—take care of it immediately. If only Polish courts decided to adopt this rule.
--Judith Gliniecki
The Polish government has floated the idea of
introducing private medical insurance in order to improve access to public
health care services. According to Ewa Kopacz, Poland's Minister of Health, the
introduction of private medical insurance could lead to an annual infusion of an
additional zł.6 billion to the public health care system.
The underlying goal behind the proposal is to
permit patients to purchase private medical insurance, which would facilitate faster
access to public health care services, specialists and treatments-the majority
of which are not currently covered by the public system or otherwise rationed
due to the lack of a sufficient number of specialistss. Private insurance would also provide patients
with access to health care services that are currently outside the “set of
guaranteed services” covered by the
State.
Opponents of
the idea argue that insurance companies would separate patients into two groups,
leading to increased insurance costs for the elderly or those with cronic health
conditions.
Private
health insurance providers, while supportive of the idea, are skeptical of the
Minister's call for setting the monthly insurance premium at no more than zł.50
per person. According to industry professionals, the actual cost to provide
private medical insurance falls between zł.150 and zł.200 per person.
In order to achieve the lower rate of zł.50 per
person, most experts agree that participation would need to be made mandatory
for all Poles in order make the idea feasible.
For the time being, however, the idea of private medical insurance
remains simply that- an idea. In the meantime Poles continue to spend on average
zł.737 per person for private health care, which amounts to nearly zł.28
billion annually.
Paul B. Fogo
As a
lawyer, I’ve been called a lot of names in my career. I even have a few standard lawyer jokes, at the ready, to respond to the smirked attempt at humor “do you know the one about
the lawyer and…” [pick your favorite vile creature]. I’ve learned to live with the ignominy.
But, today I
received the ultimate sucker punch. A
recent poll conducted for the National Council of Legal Advisers indicated that
the general public feels that lawyers are ultimately [gasp!] unnecessary. We’re not evil, corrupt, expensive
sharks. We’re not even the kill-joy,
paper-pushers who put the kibosh on every good business idea. No, rather, we’re dinosaurs.
Dear
readers, cheer me up. Surely there’s
someone out there who believes that lawyers are useful for something—even if
it’s just the butt of a joke.
--Judith Gliniecki
Pessimism
is fashionable these days. With
financial systems across the globe on the brink of collapse and the word
“recession” firmly part of the 2009 economic vocabulary, who can blame
anyone? Alas for me, though, I am an incurable
optimist. Maybe, I should just tattoo
“dum spiro, spero” (while I breathe, I
hope) across my forehead. Not only
would it alert everyone about my generally non-pessimistic take on things, but
the use of a Latin phrase might stand me in good with that part of the legal
community here that believes a hallmark of a good lawyer is a working knowledge
of Latin. Sadly, that’s about the entire
extent of my Latin.
As I am not
fond of needles, no such thing is likely to happen. However, more likely to happen is that even
the most pessimistic person will find a reason for a dose of good cheer this week.
Tuesday
marked the swearing-in of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. For the cynical, the good cheer might arise
from the simple fact that given the way things are right now, it can only get
better. Personally, I’m hoping that
President Obama and his advisors will be the right team at the right time. As this is a non-partisan column, however,
enough said.
Closer to
home, we’ll soon be able to get rid of all that extra verbiage in contracts
about paying “the Polish zloty equivalent of [pick your currency].” Yes, after Saturday, January 24, in Poland it will be possible just to set the
price in a contract in Euros, Dollars, Franks or whatever other currency you
want. You can even pay in foreign
currency. It’s probably not terribly
practical for buying milk and eggs at your local store, but can be crucial for
large contracts.
--Judith Y.
Gliniecki
