With Hübner, it's all taking and no giving
It's a funny thing that while the leaders of the 15 current European Union countries keep insisting that enlargement is about everything but the money - peace, stability, and so on - the leaders of the applicant countries seem to have different priorities.
Eyebrows have been raised in Brussels by the patronising response from Polish EU minister Danuta Hübner to the increased negotiating offer from the EU side of more than €1 billion extra in aid, not least for farm subsidies.
"It's a step in the right direction, but it can't be taken as a final offer," sniffed Hübner. "The amounts of money are not yet satisfactory."
Such language is as much for domestic public consumption as anything else, but the feeling is growing that it's all take and no give, particularly as the applicants have received quite a substantial unexpected windfall already, thanks to the delay in the membership start date.
Pushing EU entry back from January 1 to May 1, 2004 means a saving of five months of contributions, which will now not need to be paid by the newcomers to the EU budget.
It could be argued that the taxpayers of the 15 current member states will equally not need to begin financing the accession countries until the delayed start date, too. It could be argued, but it has not yet been, that the European Commission and the member states agreed without dissent that the cash will start flowing to the 10 from the start of 2004 as planned, even though membership contributions will not come in for five more months.
Meanwhile, there is more on offer from the EU in the form of farm aid, more money to strengthen borders and improve nuclear safety and a quicker phasing in of direct payments - an extra €1.3 billion thrown into the pot.
Naturally, the applicants want more, and Ms. Hübner is holding out the Polish begging bowl with the kind of bravado that makes Oliver Twist look positively shy.
Telling the Danes, who are leading the final phase of negotiations on the EU's behalf, that their efforts are not satisfactory is not language calculated to please many who think there is a lot of take and not a lot of give in these last weeks before the enlargement deal is approved.
"Some of the negotiators on the applicant side seem to think the idea is to sit there while the money piles up and keep asking for more until it runs out," said one Brussels-based diplomat. "They are already guaranteed that they will receive back from the budget more than they pay in for the next few years at least. How much more do they want?"
Lots, of course. It's only to be expected.
But when Leszek Miller last week pleaded with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to be "generous," he did not explain exactly how "generous" his idea of generous is.
And virtually all the current member states are annoyed with the Danes for being too generous already with the increased offers being made to the newcomers.
EU officials privately insist that the sums involved are relatively small and that it is all worth it for the reunification of the European continent and the enhanced peace, stability and security which enlargement will bring.
But, right at this moment, and odd though it may seem, the sense in Brussels is that those altruistic goals are more treasured amongst the current 15 than amongst the applicant 10.
Geoff Meade is the European Union editor of the Press Association.
Eyebrows have been raised in Brussels by the patronising response from Polish EU minister Danuta Hübner to the increased negotiating offer from the EU side of more than €1 billion extra in aid, not least for farm subsidies.
"It's a step in the right direction, but it can't be taken as a final offer," sniffed Hübner. "The amounts of money are not yet satisfactory."
Such language is as much for domestic public consumption as anything else, but the feeling is growing that it's all take and no give, particularly as the applicants have received quite a substantial unexpected windfall already, thanks to the delay in the membership start date.
Pushing EU entry back from January 1 to May 1, 2004 means a saving of five months of contributions, which will now not need to be paid by the newcomers to the EU budget.
It could be argued that the taxpayers of the 15 current member states will equally not need to begin financing the accession countries until the delayed start date, too. It could be argued, but it has not yet been, that the European Commission and the member states agreed without dissent that the cash will start flowing to the 10 from the start of 2004 as planned, even though membership contributions will not come in for five more months.
Meanwhile, there is more on offer from the EU in the form of farm aid, more money to strengthen borders and improve nuclear safety and a quicker phasing in of direct payments - an extra €1.3 billion thrown into the pot.
Naturally, the applicants want more, and Ms. Hübner is holding out the Polish begging bowl with the kind of bravado that makes Oliver Twist look positively shy.
Telling the Danes, who are leading the final phase of negotiations on the EU's behalf, that their efforts are not satisfactory is not language calculated to please many who think there is a lot of take and not a lot of give in these last weeks before the enlargement deal is approved.
"Some of the negotiators on the applicant side seem to think the idea is to sit there while the money piles up and keep asking for more until it runs out," said one Brussels-based diplomat. "They are already guaranteed that they will receive back from the budget more than they pay in for the next few years at least. How much more do they want?"
Lots, of course. It's only to be expected.
But when Leszek Miller last week pleaded with British Prime Minister Tony Blair to be "generous," he did not explain exactly how "generous" his idea of generous is.
And virtually all the current member states are annoyed with the Danes for being too generous already with the increased offers being made to the newcomers.
EU officials privately insist that the sums involved are relatively small and that it is all worth it for the reunification of the European continent and the enhanced peace, stability and security which enlargement will bring.
But, right at this moment, and odd though it may seem, the sense in Brussels is that those altruistic goals are more treasured amongst the current 15 than amongst the applicant 10.
Geoff Meade is the European Union editor of the Press Association.
