PSL claims EU enlargement proposals would leave Polish farmers worse off

Differences surfaced in Poland's left-wing government yesterday over European Union (EU) enlargement, potentially complicating accession talks and the campaign for an entry referendum next year. The leader of the coalition's rural junior partner attacked farm funding proposals announced last week by the European Commission (EC) as discriminatory, and questioned whether it made sense to join the EU as "second-class members". The criticism, by Polish Peasants' Party (PSL) leader Jaroslaw Kalinowski, was in contrast to the stance taken by Prime Minister Leszek Miller, leader of the larger Democratic Left Alliance (SLD). "Under the Commission proposal, it looks as though the strongest states will realize the idea of solidarity only among the existing 15 members. Candidates have no say," Kalinowski told private Radio Zet in an interview. "If we accept these conditions, a lot of our farmers would be worse off than they are now," he went on. Miller has attempted to offset criticism of Brussels' line on farming by pointing to the euro 20 billion in funds that will flow into Poland in the three years after entry in 2004. (Reuters)