Poland and ten EU candidate countries meet to create common front

At a meeting in Warsaw yesterday, ten countries in talks to join the European Union (EU) in 2004 pledged to form a common front as negotiations enter their difficult final phase later this year. Until now, the mainly Eastern European candidate countries have tended to compete rather than cooperate, enabling Brussels to win key concessions. "We decided that it would be sensible for us to check whether, despite the differences between our countries, there are some issues we can jointly support," Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz told reporters after hosting the talks. In a joint statement the foreign ministers called for the EU to extend full regional and farm aid to future members and said transition periods for phasing in the subsidies should not go beyond 2006. They also argued that their farmers should be able to compete on equal terms with current EU members - a burning issue for Poland. The statement challenged current proposals by the European Commission to phase-in direct payments to farmers over a decade. (Reuters)