Kalinowski sets three-year limit for transition to full EU farm subsidies

Poland acknowledged yesterday that it would not gain full access to the European Union's (EU) farm subsidies when it joins the bloc, probably in 2004. "We are aware that we will not receive 100% of direct payments at the beginning," Agriculture Minister Jaroslaw Kalinowski told a new conference in Brussels. "It is not the case that Poland is striving to join the EU only to get money out of it. Benefits must be mutual," he added after a meeting with EU farm commissioner Franz Fischler. Under a recent proposal from the executive European Commission (EC), Polish and other East European farmers would receive in 2004 only 25% of the direct payments received by current EU members. The level would rise gradually to 100% over 10 years. Kalinowski said Warsaw would try to reduce the transition period to just three years. "In 2006 all EU members, current and new, should have equal rights," he said. He warned that Poland might keep customs duties on some food imports from current EU countries even after enlargement if Warsaw had to wait longer than three years for full CAP benefits. "We would have to seek some compensation... It is an issue of opening up our market," he said. (Reuters)