Sarkozy gets down to business

During his one-day state visit to Warsaw last week, French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with President Lech Kaczyński and Prime Minister Donald Tusk where he made crucial announcements with regard to rebuilding and strengthening Polish-French relations.

Sarkozy arrived in Poland to sign a declaration on a Polish-French strategic partnership.

First, he announced that France would open its labor market to Poland and seven other countries from Central and Eastern Europe that joined the EU in 2004, defying the French public's worries that Polish "plumbers" will steal French jobs.

France, unlike Britain, Ireland and Sweden, opted for a transition period to temporarily exclude workers from the new EU member states from fear that the new labor might undercut wages for French workers.

"France has decided to lift all restrictions [on workers from the new member states] as of July 1," said Sarkozy. However, French restrictions will remain on workers from Romania and Bulgaria, which joined the EU in January 2007.

The announcement was welcomed in Brussels. Vladimír Spidla, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities said, "I warmly welcome the fact that the French government has reconsidered the restrictions on free movement of workers in force since May 2004."

Immigration agreement

In return, Poland will support France's goal to implement tough immigration policies in the EU, a priority for France. "Poland is a country of emigrants. But with growth it will become a country of immigrants," said Sarkozy.

Sarkozy was very complimentary of Poland and emphasized Poland's position in the EU and the crucial element it plays, adding that with this position come responsibilities.

"France is counting on you and Europe needs you," he said, referring to cooperation regarding agriculture, farming and EU farm subsidies, which lies in both countries interests. France is the EU's largest producer of agricultural goods, while Poland has the largest number of farmers in the bloc.

Foreign affairs

For its part, Poland pledged to support France's idea of a Mediterranean Union. In return, Poland will receive France's support for its proposed Eastern Partnership with former Soviet Union member countries. "In the present state of affairs [our] concern is not with accession but with a reinforced partnership [for Kiev]," said Sarkozy. "As head of the European Council I will want to propose a partnership for Ukraine." France takes over the EU presidency on July 1.

One of the last orders of business was Poland agreeing to terms to pay back the €347 million (zł.1.2 billion) it owes France in "Paris Club" debt dating back to the communist era. The Finance Ministry said that the debt, with interest, would be paid back on September 30.

This will leave Poland with €714 million (zł.2.4 billion) in outstanding debt to six other countries under the "Paris Club" deal.