Clear warnings from the EU, keep to the timetable or else wait until 2007

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, during the press conference marking the beginning of the presidency of Denmark in the European Union warned that the EU would not wait for the candidates who fail to close all negotiation chapters by December. This is a clear warning to Poland, who after the statement of Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, said that Poland would not be pressurized by time, and would not conclude talks if the conditions proposed by EU were not satisfactory. The president of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, supported Rasmussen saying that Poland might be a very important strategic candidate, but would be treated as any other candidate country, and not as a special case. If Poland does not keep to the timetable it will have to wait until 2007 to join the EU. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, A6) A.D.