Deputy Defense Minister promotes military exchange program with Russia

European Union hesitant to extend agricultural subsidies to Polish farmers There is no agreement between Poland and the European Commission (EC) on the issue of direct farm payments. The EC says it is too early to make a decision on whether to grant Polish farmers immediate access to the EU's agriculture budget. The EC has demanded that all the countries involved in negotiations submit statistics for the period between 1995-1999. "At the initial stage of negotiations, the Commission's view is that the EU should limit itself to completing its knowledge by inviting the candidate countries to provide additional information," said one of the EC officials. This is to help the EC experts make decisions based on figures from recent years and on supply control instruments such as land "set aside" payments. Under the draft presented on Friday there would be no objections to the countries negotiating transitional arrangements in agricultural sectors. (Reuters) J.K. According to deputy Defense Minister Bogdan Klich, Polish soldiers should study in Russia since it is officers with fluent English and Russian who are needed the most by NATO. Klich expects Polish officers to appear at Moscow academies and also Russian officers to study in Poland. He added, "We do not perceive Russia as a military enemy. It is hard to agree with the fact that the political dialogue between the two ministries is frozen. We have sent some proposals aimed at rebuilding the cooperation of the two countries." (Zycie, page 3) K.S.