Opening closed chapters in EU negotiations could be at the expense of aid

European Union (EU) expansion commissioner Gunther Verheugen warned ac cession candidate countries on Friday against reopening completed nego tiation chapters. The warning came two days after the Polish government decided to reopen talks on tax policy in order to negotiate a transition period before Poland would introduce the maximum 22% VAT rate in the c onstruction sector. Meanwhile, some other candidate countries are cons idering returning to talks on land, where Poland has managed to obtain an exceptionally long 12-year transition period before land can be bought by foreigners. Sources in Brussels claim that Poland could obtain the tra nsition period in taxes that it is seeking, but this concession could prove to be costly to Poland when it comes to negotiations on regional and farming aid. (Gazeta Wyborcza, May 4-5, p. 25) T.J.