'Catch up' call from Brussels

European Union officials will publish on Wednesday a report expected to blister the progress Poland has failed to make in complying with some strict EU standards in the run-up to accession. Failure to organize the cattle monitoring system required by Brussels lawmakers is singled out as a specific area of failure. The sector has been plagued by incompetent management at the state farm-restructuring agency, according to all observers. It is expected that foot dragging in reorganization of the steel sector will also draw sharp criticism.
The EU executive commission has selected this week to produce a report card on the preparedness of all 10 applicant countries which are due to join the Union sometime in 2004, ranging from tiny Malta to Poland, which will rank as sixth biggest member inside the EU.
"I don't expect anything to be too shocking," said Ewa Freyberg, the under secretary of state at the Economy Ministry. "We intend to close the rest of the chapters."
But according to EC spokesmen in Brussels, this is not what the game is about and Polish officials and politicians were missing the point.

"Closing chapters and considering the content of them closed is one thing," one commission spokesman on enlargement said. "Actually complying with regulations and established Union policies, as is required of all candidate states before accession, is another. That is where we are marking the cards, as it were."
Some reports suggest that the cattle monitoring and tagging scheme, which includes an integrated administration and control system, is in chaos as a result of poor administration procedures at ARiMR, the official agency for farm restructuring and modernization charged with the task.
Other issues likely to be targeted include widespread corruption in public affairs, a staggering legal system (see story on page 1 and Brussels Eye on page 4) and failure to modernize Poland's system of administration to match standards in existing EU states.
But the country gets plaudits too for rapid progress in switching to a market economy, freeing up competition and moving banking almost entirely into the private sector.
Officials at the office of the European Delegate (Ambassador) in Warsaw confirmed the report was anything but anodyne and firmly addressed the issues that required specific attention from the Polish Government.