Poland's contributions to the European Union will be below promised aid

Poland will have to pay a full contribution, estimated at euro 2.5 billion, to the European Union (EU) budget from the first year of its membership. However Poland will receive a guarantee that the Union's aid will be above this sum by at least by euro 1 billion. The European Commission rejected a request to have a five year transition period in paying the full contr ibutions to the EU. A request was made to pay 10% of the amount due in the first year and increase this to 30%, 50%, 70% and 90% over the succeeding years. Poland based its claim on the notion that it would be learning how to use the Union's structural help funds, which would mean that promised aid would only arrive with some delay. The Commission acknowledged these a rguments and made legal provisions that in the first year after accession to the Union, Poland will not be a net payer to the Union's budget. Today Poland receives over euro 1 billion in aid from Brussels. The specific amount of Poland's contribution for 2004 will be calculated in 2003 when the Union will plan its annual budget. (Rzeczpospolita, p. B2) P.W.