Other voices give other dates for Poland's European Union (EU) accession

The Polish government and its chief negotiator for European Union (EU) admission, Jan Ku3akowski, disputed a report by Financial Times Deutschland that Ku3akowski had said that the Polish government may consider moving the date of Poland's accession to the EU beyond the year 2003. According to Ku3akowski, all he said in the interview was that because negotiations are difficult, the EU may exert pressure to change the date of Poland's accession, but the Polish government will nevertheless not change its position. Jacek Syriusz-Wolski, chief of the European Integration Committee, emphasized that the government even seeks to accelerate the integration process. One example of Poland's quickening accession pace: integration of the Polish legal system with European regulations,originally planned for introduction over the course of 2001 and 2002, will be completely implemented next year.(Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 22)