Poland may not make EU deadline for farm subsidies management system

European financial aid programs coordinator Pawel Samecki of the European Integration Committee Office (UKIE) suggested yesterday in Brussels that Poland may not be ready to launch the IACS system on time, which would result in Polish farmers not receiving production subsidies. Samecki determined Poland could lose from euro 0.5 billion to euro 1.5 billion a year. IACS - the Integrated Agricultural Controlling System - enables management over the amount of agricultural production and Union subsidies. An EU condition for providing subsidies is the launch of the system in 2003, one year before Union enlargement. The EU has already suspended euro 18 million in aid from the PHARE program due to questions regarding the financing of IACS. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 20), M.T.