The rocky road to accession
By : Jeffrey Sparshott
Poland will enter another round of European Union (EU) (http://www.europa.eu.int/index_en.htm) accession negotiations this week as the laggard among its peers, though officials in Warsaw insist they will battle for the best possible deal on the country's behalf rather than concede on important issues.
In a speech last week to the Sejm, Poland's chief negotiator, Jan Kulakowski (http://www.ukie.gov.pl/cona/index.html), blamed slow progress on the EU, saying that the institution did not trust candidate countries, had failed to establish crucial negotiating positions and avoided talks on key issues. He defended Poland's record, saying that progress could not come at the cost of national interests.
"The quality of Poland's membership in the EU requires fighting for our demands even if a smaller number of closed chapters is the price for our resolve," he said.
The tough stance means that Poland has closed fewer negotiation areas, or chapters, than any of the countries that started talks in 1998. As of last week, Poland closed 16 of the 30 negotiating chapters, while Cyprus closed 21, Slovenia 20, Hungary and Estonia 19, and the Czech Republic 17. Malta and Slovakia sat down at the negotiating table last year and have already caught up with Poland.
Chronically slow progress could jeopardize the EU's schedule for an enlargement that includes Poland, observers warn.
Kulakowski said that energy, environment and possibly taxation talks could be closed this month or in July. The next accession talks are set for June 11-12 in Luxembourg. During the last rounds of negotiations, the leading candidate countries came to terms on one of the most difficult issues land acquisition by foreigners while Poland remained steadfast in seeking further concessions from the EU. In other areas, candidate countries share Poland's frustrations. Last week in Vienna, for example, Slovenia's foreign minister admonished the EU for slow progress in negotiations on admitting new countries and urged existing members to keep their promises, according to Reuters.
Candidate countries are also pushing for the EU to make a firm commitment and name a specific date for accession during a June 15-16 summit in Goteborg, Sweden, though EU officials appear unlikely to start marking calendars.
"The presidency also hopes to be able to present a more exact timetable for enlargement than exists at present," the Swedish presidency's office said in a press release. "However, this does not mean that there will be exact dates for each individual candidate country."
Sweden holds the EU's rotating presidency until the end of the month. Enlargement was one of three priorities for Sweden; Belgium holds the position for the following six months and includes enlargement among a longer list of priority issues.
Even while criticizing the EU's position on several fronts, Polish officials acknowledge that they will have to make difficult decisions in the coming weeks and months.
"The progress of negotiations depends more and more on the capability of the Polish government to make politically difficult decisions," said Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski in a speech before the Sejm.
The Solidarity Election Action (AWS) government now in power is expected to head to the sidelines following September's parliamentary elections. The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), favored in polls to win the elections, was heavily critical of AWS' "failure" in negotiations last week.
"The future government will face a difficult task to complete negotiations on good terms for Poland," said SLD leader Leszek Miller during a parliamentary debate. Miller did not indicate how SLD's negotiating position would change. But other officials in the left-of-center party are hinting that a softer stance on some issues might be possible.
The AWS-led cabinet is clinging to negotiating positions far out of line with EU law. Kulakowski said that Poland could quickly close the gap and some analysts agree, though they note that Polish concessions will be necessary.
"The EU and Poland are struggling more for solutions more than the EU and the other countries simply because Poland tries to get more out of negotiations," said Moritz Schularick, an economist with Deutsche Bank and an author of the bank's enlargement monitor. "This is partly because they can get more, and partly because they think they can get more."
He said that Kulakowski's assertion that the EU is slow in naming terms for accession is partly true, but he noted that Poland has made accession into a political fight rather than embracing it as an opportunity to integrate with the rest of Europe. The word negotiation is somewhat of a misnomer, he noted, because Poland has asked to join an existing organization and will have to adopt all European law the timetable and finances are the main issues open to discussion.
Poland's strength in negotiations rests in part with its size and importance, especially to Germany, he said.
"It is almost unthinkable there will be a first round without Poland," he said. "There is no German government that would vote in favor of enlargement without Poland. But there is a risk that the whole enlargement process might be delayed."
