European Parliament
Adam Jerzy Bielan,
on behalf on the UEN Group
PL)
Mr President, I would like to speak on the subject of the merger of two banking groups:
UniCredito Italiano
and
HVB
. It is a subject that has caused a great deal of controversy in Poland.
In 1999
UniCredito
acquired a majority share in
Pekao S.A.
, one of the largest Polish banks. It was, as it turned out, a very profitable decision. Seven years on, the value of the shares has increased fourfold. When buying the Polish bank, the Italians had to agree, however, that they would not invest any capital in any company in competition with that bank in Poland. The acquisition of
HVB
and, by that token, also of another Polish bank,
BPH
, is therefore a clear breach of the privatisation agreement. The Polish authorities are therefore obliged to block this merger and to enforce the terms of the agreement.
It is worth pointing out that this dispute is by no means about the Polish Government seeking to prevent a foreign entity gaining control of a national company, as has been the case recently in France, Spain or Italy. Accusations of protectionism levelled at the Polish Government are therefore completely unfounded in this case. We should also remember that, while the European Commission has control over mergers at a Community level, obligations relating to agreements and the control over banks remain the competencies of national governments.
I therefore hope that the European Commission will take these arguments into consideration and that Poland will cease to be on the receiving end of a barrage of threats related to this subject.

