German Chancellor tells Miller that EU agriculture policy must change

Yesterday Prime Minister Leszek Miller met German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder in Wroclaw. Later Miller told journalists they had agreed on three major issues in Poland's European Union accession negotiations, namely that indirect subsidies to farming may slow down the enlargement process, that the EU agriculture policy should give equal opportunities to Polish farmers, and that Poland cannot be a net contributor to the EU budget at the beginning of its membership. He emphasized that the controversy over indirect subsidies has divided the EU, while Schröder argued that it was difficult to explain to the German people why they would have to bear additional costs following the enlargement. He voiced an opinion that the agriculture policy needs to be reformed, yet refused to present any concrete proposals, only saying that these will be put forward by European Commission. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A3) K.S.