According to Deputy Finance Minister Ludwik Kotecki, the change would benefit future pensioners. Yet practically no one voiced support for the proposal last week. Experts warned against grave consequences, OFE representatives accused the government of cheating, the president of Poland's central bank expressed concern and an opinion survey indicated that the majority of Poles dislike the idea.

"Lowering the contribution to OFEs will lower pensions in the future," retorted Ewa Lewicka, president of the Pension Funds Chamber of Commerce. She told Gazeta Wyborcza that the government's plan was the "first step towards nationalizing the pension system."
"The government is going back on the agreement it made with citizens 10 years ago, when pension reform was launched," Ms Lewicka said.

Others have warned that lowering contributions could also have a negative influence on the stock exchange, as pension funds would have less money to invest. This would also affect the privatization of state-owned companies, such as energy giant PGE.

The government is keen to keep the national debt from exceeding 55 percent of GDP in 2010, which would force serious cuts in spending next year. After it was unable to meet its forecast for revenues from privatizations this year, the new proposal would offer it a way of plugging the budget deficit. Redirecting employees' contributions to ZUS would allow the government to lower its own payments to the state insurer by zł.13 billion.

Martyna Olik