Farmer trade union leaders: no Polish EU accession without direct subsidies

The leaders of the largest farmers' trade unions concluded their two-day visit to Brussels by saying that Poland's accession to the European Union before the year 2006 is unrealistic. The reason: the EU budget for the years 2000-2006 does not assign funds for fully including Polish agriculture in EU's direct subsidy system. According to Polish trade unions this is a prerequisite for equal competition between Polish and EU farmers. "It has to be said clearly: the EU cannot afford to expand East for the time being," said Wladyslaw Serafin, president of the National Union of Farmers and Farming Organizations (ZRKiOK). Trade union leaders also said that until EU farmers get direct subsidies while Polish farmers do not, it is impossible to introduce "double-zero" liberalization of trade in agricultural goods. (Gazeta Wyborcza, page 26, Rzeczpospolita, page B2) T.J.