Yesterday, Prime Minister Tusk announced at the press conference after the government meeting: “The application for the State Tribunal for Adam Glapiński is already ready. It will be submitted in the coming days.” The Prime Minister has not explained what kind of substantive arguments would be included in the justification of this motion, but information is circulating in the parliamentary chambers that the main one will be the “politicization of the central bank”.
If these kinds of superficial and difficult to quantify arguments were in fact the basis for an attack on an independent central bank and the destabilization of the main institution that conducts monetary policy in the country, it would be an unprecedented event in any democratic country also. the world.
Outdated and fabricated accusations
So far, politicians from the current ruling coalition have accused President Adam Glapiński of ineffectively fighting inflation, but after the latest announcement by the Central Bureau of Statistics that inflation for February was 2.8%, close to the inflation target of the Monetary Policy Council is (2.5%). % +/- 1 percentage point), so this objection is probably no longer valid. Moreover, it would also disrupt the stability of the Polish zloty, indirectly finance the state budget through the purchase of government bonds, and intervene in the foreign exchange market that would weaken the zloty. Indeed, the Constitution of the Republic of Poland provides that the President of the NBP must be brought before the State Tribunal, but in a situation where he has violated the Constitution and other laws in connection with the position he holds or within the scope of his powers office . The only thing is that the State Tribunal is responsible for individual decisions, and the accusations of politicians regarding interest rates or the so-called quantitative easing are collective decisions, the first by the Monetary Policy Council, composed of ten people together with the President of the NBP, in which each member has one vote, the latter by the nine-member board of directors of the NBP, in which each member also has one vote.
This means that politicians of the ruling coalition (although it is not entirely clear whether all parties forming Tusk’s government support this motion) are launching a public machine of accusations against the NBP president, which could cause enormous financial damage to Poland, without even having to intervene. to examine whether it is possible to formally initiate the procedure before the State Tribunal, if it concerns collective decisions and not individual decisions. Moreover, there are statements by constitutionalists that even bringing the President of the NBP before the Constitutional Court cannot result in his suspension from the exercise of this function, since neither the Constitution of the Polish People’s Republic nor the NBP Act and the law at the Constitutional Court provide for this, and recently the Constitutional Court also made a similar decision.
Attack on the NBP president’s independence – noticed by the ECB
Let us also recall that in early December last year, President Glapiński received a letter from the President of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, stating that “any measure that could affect your ability to perform your duties as President of the NBP may, if unlawful, violate your independence.” “. And she added that “Article 14(1) In order to guarantee the independence of the governors of the national central banks, Article 2 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the ECB guarantees their protection precisely in such cases .
Following Prime Minister Tusk’s announcement about the attack on the National Bank of Poland, it must be strongly emphasized that politicians’ attacks on the independent central bank are unique in a democratic country and affect its international prestige. They can also have serious negative financial consequences, including speculative play on the devaluation of the Polish zloty and the increase in the cost of servicing Polish debts – Marta Kightley, vice president of the NBP, recently said this in an interview. Let us also recall that the NBP is part of the European Central Bank system, which means that its independence is guaranteed by the European Central Bank and other EU institutions, including the CJEU, which recently blocked the decision to president of the Latvian central bank. bench of his position.
Amazement at Tusk’s irresponsibility
It can only be surprising that in such a serious international situation, when a regular war abroad has been going on for more than two years, the Prime Minister decides to attack such an important institution of the Polish state. Moreover, it so happens that due to the very high budget deficit, which this year exceeds PLN 184 billion, we have the highest gross financing needs in history, namely almost PLN 450 billion and net over PLN 252 billion. in terms of the perception of independence, the central bank can create problems that we have never encountered before. In this situation, Tusk’s announcement about an attack on the independent central bank is an extremely irresponsible decision.
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– Attack on the National Bank of Poland! Tusk: The application to the State Tribunal for Adam Glapiński is ready. It will be submitted in the coming days
– ONLY HERE. Attack on the President of the National Bank of Poland. Marta Kightley: This is in no way consistent with the standards of developed countries
— Vice Chairman of the NBP: Threats against Prof. Glapiński is concerned about foreign investors
Source: wPolityce