Imminent agreement with EU needed to keep Poland's accession on course

Imminent agreement with EU needed to keep Poland's accession on course Poland may face major difficulties entering the European Union (EU) in the first group unless it signs an agreement concerning the duty and rebates on agriculture products. According to Brussels, the negotiations scheduled for next Tuesday will be, "the eleventh hour talks." Poland is the last among the first round candidates not to have signed the document and if the talks are fruitless its position will be weakened. "I am not the one to define our position in the talks. It is the Agricultural Ministry. Still, at this moment the whole case is so important that it now needs the attention of the whole government," said Poland's negotiator for EU integration Jan Kulakowski. Daily Zycie has learned the negotiations are now in jeopardy as the Agriculture Ministry is reluctant to accept the EU document for fear of the farmers lobby. (Zycie, page 1)