Polish food producers are anxious to meet all EU deadlines and regulations

The Polish Food Producers Federation (PFPZ) says Poland must remove all trade obstacles and implement a new restructuring program for agriculture and speed up law harmonization. Only then will Polish agriculture be operating under the new European Union (EU) regulations. "We support the government in meeting the European deadline, but first Poland has to make the necessary reforms to conform to EU regulations, especially in the areas of hygiene, animal breed registration and food branding," said PFPZ's head Grzegorz Trochimczuk. PFPZ says the greatest obstacle in negotiations is the duty imposed on yoghurt, pork, wheat, butter, sugar and flour. Low sanitary standards and low-quality products are delaying membership in the EU. Both the government and PFPZ want EU membership and strongly favor export subsidies. However, PFPZ opposes the idea of a transition period because it wants full rights as soon as possible. "Concessions and transition periods are signs of hesitancy and weaken Poland's position in negotiations," said Trochimczuk. PFPZ represents 60% of the Polish agricultural sector. (Rzeczpospolita, page B2) J.K.