Seventy years strong, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) provides a resilient defense against international threats. But NATO is only as strong as its members are prosperous, and economic policies dictate the state of the union for individual countries. The recent ascension of Macedonia bodes well for NATO as the country has pursued strong, market-based reforms since the ugly collapse of Yugoslavia more than twenty years ago.
But long-standing members such as Poland have run into trouble as misguided government policies threaten to weaken the Eastern European nation. Cronyism and sector-specific onerous taxes threaten to impoverish Poland and make it difficult for vital minerals such as copper to get to market. For the sake of its future and for its allies, Poland must join Macedonia and push for market reforms.
Long-standing threats, such as Jihadi gains in North Africa and Russian encroachments on Eastern Europe, can be held in check by a strong NATO. But as many member-states have come to realize, defense investments can only be sustained on the back of a strong economy.
When countries face economic turmoil, they often face inward and cut back international obligations. Poland has avoided these difficulties thus far as the country has enjoyed a sustained clip of growth since the fall of the Soviet Union. Since 2016, the unemployment rate has plummeted, and foreign investors hail the country as a potential goldmine.
But there’s a problem . . . with the country’s mines. Because of a bizarre 2012 law that levies a more than 80 percent tax on mineral mining, extraction of copper and silver is largely closed off to foreign investment.
For the rest of this article: https://nationalinterest.org/feature/bizarre-law-prevents-poland-capitalizing-copper-mine-profits-93881