Farmers loosing out due to the incompetent distribution of SAPARD funds

EU agriculture commissioner Franz Fischler will soon send letters to governments of Poland and other candidate countries asking them to substantially accelerate work on using SAPARD funds. His spokesperson Gregor Kreuzhuber admitted on Thursday that Brussels have so far transferred EUR 40 million to Poland, or EUR 5 per capita in rural areas. SAPARD was to be launched three years ago and aimed at preparing farmers for EU integration. However, due to inflated EU requirements and lack of co-ordination from the Polish side the program begun with 30 month delay. Accelerating works on using these funds is crucial, as the food market will cease to be protected from next year. "Poland is rather average among candidate countries. The longest delays can be found in Rumania and Hungary," stressed Kreuzhuber. Polish diplomats claim that the main reason the delay is the fact that the EU pays out the money only after the project is completed. (Rzeczpospolita, pp. A1, B2) M.M.