So far, so good

The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD)-led government deserves a word of praise. Prime Minister Leszek Miller and his team have effectively moved Poland to the front of the negotiation pack for European Union membership, passing little darling Hungary and catching up with some other small countries. SLD has returned much of the Poland-EU dialogue to one of diplomatic negotiations, a sharp difference from the dialectic tone and tenor of the previous government. Solidarity Election Action (AWS) treated the talks like a labor battle, fighting for this and trying to win that. The rhetoric was counterproductive and left Poland lagging behind other nations. Poland was the big, fat problem child in a family of candidates. True, simply counting closed negotiation areas is not the only, or necessarily the best, measure of progress toward EU membership. Implementation of EU law (where Poland gets pretty good grades), honoring business agreements and full acceptance of a free-market economy (the government may be failing those two) also are crucial measures. But progress in talks is one of the most visible measures and a sign of commitment to EU membership. So Miller, European Integration Secretary Danuta Hübner and chief negotiator Jan Truszczyński, deserve recognition for quietly negotiating the difficult compromises necessary to join the Western bloc.

But last week's closure of two areas - the fisheries and transportation chapters - only means that Poland and the EU are free to focus on the really tough stuff, namely agriculture, regional aid and competition. This is where the bride and groom must work on a prenuptial agreement. And this is where it's time for the EU to show its commitment to enlargement by starting to treat candidates as political equals. Poland and its fellow candidates, for obvious reasons, were unable to sit at the negotiation table and sign the Treaties of Rome, which established the European Economic Community, in 1957. The EU shouldn't heap extra weight onto this heavy historical baggage with financial slights and hypocritical demands. Poland will clearly have to make some uncomfortable compromises. But so should the EU. First and foremost there is farming. Clearly this is the issue that, from the Polish side, could derail membership and deal support to populist, anti-EU politicians. The agriculture sector accounts for less than 3% of Poland's gross domestic product but more than 27% of total employment, by one estimate. The EU answer, demanding restructuring while shortchanging candidates, is inadequate. The problem lies in unequal treatment - making lightly subsidized Polish farmers compete against heavily subsidized Western agriculture. This so-called solution contradicts the EU concept of a single market. In other negotiation areas, the EU has set aside its principle objectives, such as the free movement of labor, as a matter of political expediency. This time it won't do. The EU needs to emphasize its founding principles - establishing European citizenship, ensuring freedom, security and justice, and promoting economic and social progress. While the EU is an imperfect organization, it has noble goals. Candidate countries should be full parties to those goals.