EU farming chief gets rough reception over subsidies and "poisoned food"

Europe's chief farming official, Franz Fischler, came to Warsaw yesterday to "stress the positives" of enlargement ahead of tough accession negotiations, but received an earful of whistles and tough talk in return. Eurosceptic deputies jeered Fischler during a meeting in parliament, only to be followed by angry calls from farmers' groups for Brussels to halt exports of "p oisoned food" and stop trying to "destroy Polish farming". Fischler's rough reception highlights the gap between the expectations of some politicians and farmers, who seek full subsidies from day one after accession, and Brussels' budget limitations which mean a phase-in period for aid. Farming Minister Jaroslaw Kalinowski said the EU's proposed accession terms were inadequate and would leave Poland unable to compete in the single market after enlargement. In response, Commissioner Fischler warned that Poland's farmers would be worse off outside the European Union than inside it, even with smaller subsidies than its western peers. "Joining the EU is of course not hell, as some prophets of doom and gloom claim, but it is also not heaven," Fischler said. "There is one simple truth Polish farmers should be aware of. It is better to be in the EU than to stay out." (REUTERS)