Shopping Sundays
The daily reminds that one of the pre-election demands of Poland 2050 was the liberalization of the Sunday trading ban, and in March “Ryszard Petru became the face of the parliamentary project to amend the regulations, providing for introduction of two trading Sundays a month“.
“PB” notes that more than half a year has passed and the project is still waiting for formal consideration in parliamentary committees. “On Tuesday, it was dealt with by the Sejm Economy Committee, headed by… Ryszard Petrubut it did not do it formally because it should consider the project together with the social policy and family committee,” we read in the newspaper, which notes that the latter committee, headed by Left MP Katarzyna Ueberhan, is “currently working on changes to the Sunday Trading Act “There are no plans.”
“I hope that I will be able to convince the social policy committee to work on this bill, and if not, I will look for another way,” said Ryszard Petru, quoted by “PB”.
Few supporters in the Sejm
The daily concludes that Tuesday’s discussion in the Sejm indicated that supporters of the solutions proposed by Poland 2050 there are few. Club representatives spoke against it Left and Razem Party, although some representatives of the Civic Coalition were “for” it. Alternative solutions were also proposed, e.g. shifting the responsibility for regulating Sunday trading to local governments.
The project received full support from representatives of the Association of Entrepreneurs and Employers. However, such declarations were not made by representatives of the Polish Organization of Trade and Distribution (POHiD), which brings together the largest chains with foreign capital on the market.
Consumers are confused when stores are open
Włodzimierz Wlaźlak, head of the Polish Lidl, said in an interview with “PB” that “an intermediate solution, i.e. two Sundays off a month, is the absolute worst-case scenario.” He explained that consumers will be completely confused about when stores are open and when they are not.
“Such chaos will mean measurable losses for us, especially the risk of wasting fresh products that will reach stores on Sundays,” he noted, emphasizing that “what we need as a business are not intermediate solutions, but stability and predictability of law” – said Wlaźlak.
The daily indicates that behind the scenes it is said that “the owners of shopping malls are primarily interested in Sunday trading.” (PAP)