2019-01-31 09:47 update: 2019-02-03, 15:54
Photo PAP/Paweł Pawłowski
The Polish Sejm (lower house) in the early hours on Thursday passed a bill that will disclose and regulate the earnings of the National Bank of Poland's (NBP) managers. The European Central Bank (ECB) raised concerns over the law on Wednesday.
The bill was passed in a 352-18 vote, with 41 MPs abstaining. Now the bill will go to the Senate (upper house).
Under the bill, the NBP president's and vice-presidents' wages will be determined according to regulations concerning public managers. The maximum wage of an NBP employee, apart from the above-mentioned senior management group, may not exceed 60 percent of that received by the NBP president.
NBP's resolutions concerning the principles of remuneration will be made public along with the earnings received by the president, vice-presidents, board members and regional directors, as well as their deputies.
The law also obliges NBP to disclose the earnings of the above-mentioned group of managers from the years 1995-2018.
Apart from the ruling party's bill ultimately passed on Thursday morning, there were also two other draft laws prepared by opposition parties, but those were rejected. The European Central Bank on Wednesday expressed an opinion that if passed, all three will violate the central bank's financial independence if they negatively affect the execution of NBP's tasks.
"As all of the three draft laws apply to and directly affect the NBP’s decision-making bodies and its employees, they should be examined from the perspective of central bank independence requirements under Article 130 of the Treaty, in particular financial independence, as well as that of the personal independence of the members of the NBP’s decision-making bodies," the ECB wrote in an opinion dated January 30.
"In order to protect NBP’s autonomy in staff matters, the Polish legislator is under obligation to ensure that a decision on any legislative proposal is taken in close and effective cooperation with NBP, taking due account of its view, to ensure the ongoing ability of the NCB (national central bank - PAP) to independently carry out its tasks," the ECB added.
NBP officials and trade unions have been critical of the bill, stressing it could make it difficult for the bank to acquire and retain qualified staff. (PAP)
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