Mr Peter J POND said Some of our WAHO Members are already aware of what has happened in Poland in the past week. For those of you who are not, a quick summary is that due to the rapid and sweeping changes brought in by the recently elected Polish government, several hundred directors or managers of state enterprises at all levels and professions have already been replaced in their posts. This is in accordance with a new law which allows that more than 1,600 civil service directors, who are apolitical, can be sacked and replaced without the need for a competitive board.
It had been hoped this would not affect the Arabian State Studs, which have always been protected by Poland’s previous governments, whatever their politics, as they were considered as National Treasures because of their importance to the nation as a whole.
Unfortunately, on Friday 19th February 2016 this hope was destroyed. In the late afternoon, Dr. Marek Trela (Director of Janów Podlaski Stud and WAHO Vice President), Mr. Jerzy Białobok (Director of Michałów Stud) and Mrs. Anna Stojanowska (Inspector of Horse Breeding at the Agricultural State Property Agency) were simultaneously dismissed from their posts with no warning and no reasons given to them by the authorities. Since then, the Agricultural State Property Agency (ANR) has appointed a new individual at both Janów Podlaski and Michałów to take over the management, but from available information neither appears to have the level of experience necessary for such an important task.
This action, which has quickly reverberated around the world, is of immense concern to WAHO, as we believe that the safe future of these iconic State Studs with their long history and continuity of breeding has been put at risk. We therefore felt it imperative to act by expressing this concern to the authorities in Poland. The letter reproduced below was sent respectively to the President of Poland Mr. Andrzej Duda, to the Prime Minister Mrs. Beata Szydło, to the Minister of Agriculture Mr. Krzysztof Jurgiel, to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Witold Waszczykowski and to the President of the Agricultural State Property Agency Mr. Waldemar Humięcki.