EU claims to have found satisfactory solution to key issue of land purchases

The European Union (EU) is reportedly ready to grant Poland a ten or twelve-year transition period before EU citizens are allowed to freely buy Polish land, even though other accession countries will have a protective period of no more than seven years. EU expansion commissioner Gunter Verheugen would not say precisely what the EU would offer Poland, but he is confident that the solution would satisfy both parties, even though Poland has been asking for a transition period of 18 years. The issue of land purchases is one of the two major stumbling blocks in Poland's talks with the EU, along with that of Poles' right to work in EU countries upon accession. The European Commission's (EC) message is that until these two key areas are agreed upon, there is no chance of major progress in the negotiations, in which Poland has fallen behind other candidate countries. ( Gazeta Wyborcza, July 14-15, p.6) T.J.