Prayer answered
Less than he wanted, but he flew home with the keys to the money box.
On Friday the 13th, the anniversary of Martial Law - and now in all certainty, Europe Day for perpetuity - the country kept an appointment with destiny after German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder brokered a deal as the clock ticked towards the deadline in the Copenhagen summit. A threat by Polish negotiators to walk out led to the German offer to convert a promised billion euros of accession aid into an immediate cash flow facility to bail out the beleaguered national budget.
Both sides could claim a victory, since the Schröder deal does not mean any new money from the EU budget - although an extra €300 million has to be found for the other nine candidates to share among them.
The country's financial sector quickly endorsed the deal.
"The Copenhagen deal is sealed," said Marcin Mróz, chief economist at Societé Generale. "But the next milestone will be the referendum. There is still a lot of work to be done."
At Raiffeisen Bank Polska, economist Przemysław Remin declared it a "good job" by the government. But he too raised the prospect of the referendum turning into a fizzle because of low turn out. "It is important to show people this success."
The anti-EU League of Polish families wrote off the deal as a "cheap accession," which meant the country would not be treated as an equal partner. "They treat us as outsiders. We are simply a market for them to dump their cheap products," said Marek Kotlinowski.
The Law and Justice party sounded a sour note. Sejm deputy Kazimierz Ujazdowski said his appraisal was not positive. "The government is trying to fix the damage it did in the autumn of 2001 when it made excessive concessions to the EU."
On Friday the 13th, the anniversary of Martial Law - and now in all certainty, Europe Day for perpetuity - the country kept an appointment with destiny after German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder brokered a deal as the clock ticked towards the deadline in the Copenhagen summit. A threat by Polish negotiators to walk out led to the German offer to convert a promised billion euros of accession aid into an immediate cash flow facility to bail out the beleaguered national budget.
Both sides could claim a victory, since the Schröder deal does not mean any new money from the EU budget - although an extra €300 million has to be found for the other nine candidates to share among them.
The country's financial sector quickly endorsed the deal.
"The Copenhagen deal is sealed," said Marcin Mróz, chief economist at Societé Generale. "But the next milestone will be the referendum. There is still a lot of work to be done."
At Raiffeisen Bank Polska, economist Przemysław Remin declared it a "good job" by the government. But he too raised the prospect of the referendum turning into a fizzle because of low turn out. "It is important to show people this success."
The anti-EU League of Polish families wrote off the deal as a "cheap accession," which meant the country would not be treated as an equal partner. "They treat us as outsiders. We are simply a market for them to dump their cheap products," said Marek Kotlinowski.
The Law and Justice party sounded a sour note. Sejm deputy Kazimierz Ujazdowski said his appraisal was not positive. "The government is trying to fix the damage it did in the autumn of 2001 when it made excessive concessions to the EU."
