Belarus Bogtrots, While Poland Is In Advance

• Uladzimir Shantseu
• 15.05.2018, 10:18

The country does not need Lukashenka.

For 4 days the group of public activists from Mahilyou participated in meetings devoted to European experience in regional integration held in some places of Świętokrzyskie Province and Łódź Province. Representatives of Moldova, Romania and Slovenia also took part in meetings.

Success is just striking. The village is actively developing in Poland. 28 years were not wasted. And the most astonishing fact that there are not orders, conferences and penalties.

The market itself makes up a balance of supply and demand. The state's interference is minimal. Peasants of Poland are free from accounting, they are not subject to statistical reports and the profit and loss statements. Polish farmers pay a single tax on land only. They also have support programs, both at the national and the EU level.

We have not seen a single person who practiced a stoop labour. Because people should work hard on a farm. Farms are specialized in highly mechanized production of certain products, and if something is missing them it is bought for money earned.

The condition of roads is a different story. We traveled a lot and did not see any dirt road. There is asphalt even in the fields. And the most incredible thing for Belarusians is that the state did not milk farmers to lay the road, but did it on its own! Hence they have a very high culture of agriculture and gardening. And even villages are of urban type. Peasants of Poland are substantial.

We visited only a couple of agricultural enterprises. We understand why food products are of high quality and in demand in Poland.

We were pleasantly surprised by regional leaders. They are ordinary people we liked to talk to. If you look at a group of people, you will never guess who the head of the region is.

It is noteworthy that experts of Poland noted that in the early 90s Belarus had had better starting opportunities than Poland, but our country failed to take advantage of it. A local Ivan Susanin appeared and took the opposite path. The result is 25 wasted years. And numerous ice palaces, as monuments, will remind us for a long time about the epoch of hard times....

Speakers at the meetings emphasized that Poland's success was primarily the success of local self-government reforms. Transfer of large powers to local governments, decentralization increased the efficiency of management. After all, locals are more familiar with problems in their regions, and it is faster and more effective to solve all issues at places.

Unfortunately, since 1994 our country has transferred to an ugly form of management, which is called vertical power. And this is the key principle our authorities rely on. But it has not contributed to well-being of people. And it is all because of Ivan Susanin.

We have also signed a cooperation agreement. We start integration from below, by the method of popular diplomacy.

The country does not need Lukashenka!

Uladzimir Shantseu, ucpb.org