Liquidation of state-owned farms -- reasons, goals, methods (opinion in a discussion on the issue)

摘要

Systemic reforms have been implemented in Poland for more than a decade now. The main goal of these reforms is the transformation of ownership relations designed to expand and strengthen the role of private property. Ownership transformations in thePolish agriculture have been very specific, which is attributable to the fact that prior to the introduction of reforms the dominating role in the sector's structure was played by private farms, with state-owned farms (PGRs) playing a considerable roleand co-operatives playing a minimal role only. Such structure did not call for acceleration in the privatisation process hi agriculture. Neither the situation on the market of agricultural products (higher supply than demand), on the market of arable land (limited demand) and on the capital market (shortage of capital in private farms and problems with obtaining it) called for accelerated privatisation. Despite these circumstances PGRs were put to fast privatisation. Restructuring of PGRs was excluded from the realm of the market economy rules and, especially, from the realm of the rules of free competition. By means of adopting a single legal-administrative act the decision was made on the liquidation of state-owned farms and the transfer of their assets to the private sector, with the purpose of enlarging and strengthening family farms. A discussion has been under way for some time now whether this move was reasonable. The architects and advocates of the liquidation of state-owned farms imposed fromthe top quote many economic and organisational-legal reasons to prove that the introduced solutions were indispensable. The author of the article puts these arguments to a critical analysis. This analysis indicates that the reasons for the fast liquidation of PGRs were doctrinal rather than economic.