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

Re:

Judi - your comments are right on the mark. We had our garden shed broken into and believe it or not they caught the thieves. The court process took 2 years, they were convicted than a year later it was found that one of the 'lawnik's'(sp) had lied on their application and after a 3 year period the case was heard again as they threw out all cases where that lawnik was involved. A nightmare to say the least. Next time I see you I'll give you more detail. Bob