Buzek pushes, EU pushes back
By : Jeffrey Sparshott
Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek flew to Stockholm last week to continue his government's push for a breakthrough in European Union (EU) accession negotiations, though the EU maintains that Poland still has a lot of work to do before it will be ready to join.
Nevertheless, Buzek said he was encouraged by the one-day meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, head of the EU's rotating presidency. The visit's agenda centered on setting a date for Poland's accession, allocation of EU transition funds and the environment.
"Poland, once again, expressed the need for speeding up the negotiations and the prime minister has once again said that we are willing to do what we can, but it is mostly in the hands of the Polish negotiators to deliver what they are supposed to deliver," said Staffan Bjorck, economic counselor at Sweden's embassy in Warsaw.
Poland has lofty expectations now that Sweden holds the presidency it has vowed to give priority to EU expansion, said Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, Poland's chief negotiator on EU membership.
"We want to tackle the difficult issues now," he said.
Poland and the EU have opened negotiations on 29 different topics that must be settled before accession. Negotiations on 13 of these chapters have been closed and one more is expected soon. The most difficult issues, however, remain.
Saryusz-Wolski said that Poland's goal is to join the union in 2003, although the EU's official timeline is vague. The two sides still have to come to terms on agriculture, land acquisition, free movement of labor, and environmental regulations and enforcement, among other matters, before Poland can join.
"You have to be realistic, we have closed the easiest chapters," said Bruno Dethomas, head of the delegation for the European Commission (EC), the EU's governing body, in Poland. "We are entering the most difficult part."
The EC is expecting a breakthrough in 2001, Dethomas said, "but this doesn't mean that there will be 15 or 20 chapters closed during the next year. It means there will be progress."
Malgorzata Altermann, press counselor for Poland's mission to the EU in Brussels, said that Poland's goal is to close 11 additional chapters by June, when Sweden's term as EU president ends. Significant progress should allow the union to set an exact date for Poland's accession, something Altermann said is important because it would spur negotiators to conclude talks and prod legislators to make tough decisions.
"There are very painful laws to be enacted in Poland," Alterman said. "It will require some hardship and they will not be popular, but if you have to do it, you have to do it."
Before accession can move ahead, enactment of legislation and proper administration of new laws to bring Poland in line with EU rules and regulations are crucial, Dethomas noted.
Saryusz-Wolski stressed the importance of access to EU funds to help in the legislative and administrative transition, although EC officials maintain that financial assistance has been forthcoming, and when Poland accedes to the EU it will enjoy full benefits. From 1990 to 1998, Poland received O1.7 billion for economic restructuring.
Of the issues still on the negotiating table, Buzek acknowledged Sweden's emphasis on environmental matters, but he said Poland could meet EU environmental standards more readily as a full member of the union, rather than trying to become fully compliant prior to accession.
