Poland looks for breakthrough in EU talks
Poland and the European Union (EU) are hoping for a major negotiation breakthrough as they meet this week, the last formal set of talks in 2001, though closure of several negotiation areas is unlikely.
Without advances on several fronts, Poland will finish the year at the back of the pack of candidate countries.
European Commission (EC) President Romano Prodi last week prodded Prime Minister Leszek Miller toward more flexible positions as the two sides work out Poland's accession to the political and economic bloc.
Miller stressed that Poland is determined to join the EU in 2004 during the meeting in Brussels - emphasizing a prime goal of his young administration. But he did not commit to a specific timetable for crucial individual negotiation areas such as free movement of labor and land sales, saying only that they would be closed as soon as possible.
Despite apparent slow progress, observers said that Miller's government still has time to send Poland back to true front-runner status.
"It is too early to judge," said Olaf Osica, a research fellow at the Center for International Relations in Warsaw. "This government was created a few weeks ago. In the spring, this will be the time when we can simply say whether this government has a clear vision of the negotiation process, if there is a chance to end negotiations during 2002 and what the public's reaction will be."
The EU and Poland expect talks to conclude next year so that candidates can join in 2004. Public opinion will be crucial as Poland plans a referendum in 2003 on joining what is now a 15-nation bloc.
The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD)-led government has been criticized for making concessions to the EU without adequately explaining them to Polish legislators and citizens, but also has taken heat for continuing to fall behind in talks.
"If there is something that would hamper the progress of the government, it is the way new negotiation positions are presented to the public and the rest of the government," Osica said.
Poland is set to discuss justice and home affairs, as well as competition policy Dec. 11, but it will not close either negotiation area, said Ewa Haczyk, spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry's European Integration Committee. Justice and home affairs deals with border and internal security, an especially sensitive topic for the EU since Sept. 11. Only Hungary has finished the topic.
Free movement of labor and land purchases might be discussed, but as of last week Poland had not yet formally sent its official revised positions to the EU, Haczyk said. Formal negotiations would await a statement from Miller's Cabinet.
In other matters, Poland and the EU won't talk because they are dealing with changing negotiation positions. In taxation, for example, Poland wants a six-year transition period on cigarette excise taxes while the EU recently offered a two-year span. Poland also wants to withdraw a 3% value-added tax (VAT) for books and specialist press. Both sides must prepare their positions before these questions are discussed, Haczyk said.
Jeff Sparshott
