Industrial policy Polish wasthe subject of a plenary session of the Social Dialogue Council on 24 March 2021 in the form of a video conference.

The meeting was led by Maciej Witucki – Vice-President of the Council, President of the Leviathan Confederation in place of Council President Jarosław Gowin – Vice-President of the Council of Ministers, Minister of Labour Development and Technology.

Deputy Minister Olga Semeniuk announced that the Ministry of Development, Labour and Technology is developing a „Plan for Work and Development” which will address the challenges of designing an ambitious, strategically oriented, flexible industrial policy that will operationalise the objectives set out in the draft Productivity Strategy. She said that in January this year the ministry invited industry representatives, industry and non-governmental organisations, scientific bodies, as well as other stakeholders to define barriers and propose solutions to help individual industries meet the challenges of today’s market.

An analysis based on business indications shows that the challenges for industrial development remain:

• a training system not adapted to the needs of particular industries,
• staff shortages
• difficulties in accessing preferential forms of funding, including R&D funding,
• problems related to environmental regulations, including waste management,
• lengthy and complex administrative procedures, including legislative inflation and a high level of legal complexity,
• labour law,
• business costs related to energy prices.

In this way, a White Paper on Industrial Development was created, the conclusions and recommendations of which will be used to draw up the provisions of the document Industrial policy Polish. The document will be: a programme aimed at industries;  response to the post-covid needs of the Polish economy; to ensure resilience to economic shocks and to support the competitiveness of PL companies and to m.in of private entrepreneurs to make bold investments. The Deputy Minister mentioned that as part of the activities, the ministry plans to build on five key development axes: Digitization, Security, Location of Industrial Production, Green Deal and Modern Society. The ministry expects to complete the industrial policy project in Q2 2021.

A discussion with the social partners took place later in the meeting. In their speeches, they m.in the lack of participation of representatives of the representative trade union headquarters in the preliminary consultations. The trade union side pointed out that the Communication on industrial policy Polish lacked information on social dialogue and its role and on the strengthening of public services. It was underlined that the introduction of new strategies or other programmes, including new industrial policies, should be ensured securely, through social dialogue, through the conclusion of social agreements or agreements, the jobs and safety of workers and the stability of the functioning of the entrepreneur.

Subsequently, the employers’ website pointed out that the draft document of the new industrial policy is very important for a group of small and medium-sized enterprises. It indicated that the new industrial policy should be consistent with the National Recovery Plan. Employers were in favour of ensuring the comprehensive implementation of the proposals and linking the new industrial policy to the new development programmes.

Source: http://www.dialog.gov.pl/aktualnosci/art,1221,posiedzenie-plenarne-rady-dialogu-spolecznego.html