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(Bloomberg) -- Just as Elon Musk launched his push to boost US government efficiency, Poland’s prime minister turned to a local billionaire who revolutionized European logistics to lead his country’s deregulation drive.
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The idea that critics initially dismissed as a gimmick to score points before a presidential election in May has turned into serious business under Rafal Brzoska, the founder of parcel locker company InPost SA.
“Grassroots deregulation has generated tremendous energy,” Brzoska told Bloomberg News. “If politicians listen to experts and citizens, this Polish model — which comes with ideas from outside the system, doesn’t require special committees and can be implemented quickly — may turn out to be very interesting for others as well.”
With a team of executives, academics and former public-sector officials, Brzoska has proposed 230 legislative changes. He also created a website, whose Polish name translates into ‘We’re Checking,” where people add their ideas and vote on rule changes they want most.
Brzoska, 48, built his fortune by exploiting a weakness in e-commerce, where customers often wait for hours until their deliveries arrive. InPost, a $7.5 billion company which expanded from Poland to the UK, France and elsewhere in Europe, has instead set up a network of 24/7 automated parcel machines. They allow clients to pick up orders and send parcels at their convenience.
Courts and Taxes
The deregulation team is divided into 30 thematic divisions. Its proposals are vetted by the government, which sends the plans it likes to parliament for approval or issues decrees to change minor rules.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said this week that the first “massive” batch of legislation would be unveiled on Thursday, but radio RMF FM reported that the announcement was delayed.
Early on, Brzoska decided his panel won’t pursue changes that hurt workers, highlighting a difference with Musk’s mass firings across the US administration and sharp cutbacks in US humanitarian aid to the world, in the name of budget cuts and transparency.
Wojciech Kostrzewa, a former bank and media executive on Brzoska’s team, said key initiatives include improving the justice system’s efficiency, simplifying taxes and making the country’s transformation away from coal more palatable for business.