EU suspends negotiations on land purchase and labor until after elections

European Commission (EC) officials have admitted that negotiations on two key issues concerning Poland's accession to the European Union (EU) have been suspended until after next month's elections. EC diplomats expect that the party likely to form the next government, the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), would accept certain concessions in the touchy issues of the purchase of Polish land by foreigners and the right of Poles to work in other EU countries. The EU diplomats claim that if the new government gives up the 18-year restriction imposed on land purchase in Poland and agrees to compromise, the EU would also be ready to make some concessions. The German daily Handelsblatt has quoted SLD leader Leszek Miller as saying that his government would be willing "to make concessions on the key negotiating issues, but it is also essential to analyze precisely the conditions in similar issues agreed on by the remaining candidates Hungary and the Czech Republic." (Rzeczpospolita, p. B1) A.Z.