EU Enlargement Commissioner defends Poland's tough negotiating style

At a press conference yesterday in Brussels, EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Guenter Verheugen, called on the media to treat Poland fairly. He said that there should be no press discrimination against Poland simply because, as a large country, its negotiations with the EU were tougher and slower than was the case with other candidates. "I have no reasons to assume that Poland will not be present among the countries that will complete negotiations by the end of the year 2002," said Verheugen to representatives from the European media, in which Poland has recently been heavily criticized for the slow pace of its accession negotiations. Although Poland has so far closed only 16 chapters in its negotiations with the EU, compared to the 22 of Hungary and Cyprus, the commissioner insisted that the number of chapters closed was not the most important criterion for judging the progress made in the talks. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 7) M.T.