POLAND FAILS IN EFFORTS TO SPEED EU ENTRY TALKS

Views on BG | December 1, 2001, Saturday // 00:00

Reuters

Poland fell to the bottom of the list of countries hoping to join the European Union in 2004 Wednesday, despite efforts to speed up its stalled membership talks.

Warsaw's chief EU entry negotiator, Jan Truszczynski, said that at Wednesday's round of accession talks Warsaw would complete negotiations in just one of 29 required areas, or chapters, while other countries were making more progress.

Poland -- the largest of 12, mostly ex-communist countries negotiating EU entry -- would thus have wrapped up talks in 19 policy chapters, being overtaken by Latvia and Lithuania which increased the number of closed chapters to 21 from 18.
Other countries expected to join the EU by 2004 -- the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia -- have completed negotiations in more than 20 areas.

Bulgaria and Romania, the poorest EU candidates, are far behind, but their accession is not expected before 2007.

The tiny Mediterranean island of Malta was still below 20 chapters, at 19, but its accession is not seen as problematic thanks to its size and well developed market economy.

DEALS IN DECEMBER

Truszczynski said the new Polish government's plan to reinvigorate entry talks was likely to materialize in December with deals on free labor movement and land sales to foreigners.

``In those two areas we should reach a political deal...during a meeting of foreign ministers on December 11,'' Truszczynski told a news briefing.
Some of the other countries seeking to join the bloc fear Poland's slow progress could harm their membership bids, especially since Germany has said that the EU's eastern enlargement was unthinkable without Warsaw.

Truszczynski said Poland would complete negotiations in the company law area late Wednesday after securing a five-year grace period before its pharmaceutical firms will be required to register drugs under the EU's strict standards.

In exchange, Poland agreed to respect EU drugs patents issued after 2000, which may harm some local producers making cheaper equivalents of medicines developed by rich international corporations.

Truszczynski said chances were waning for a quick agreement between Poland and the EU on taxation after Warsaw recently demanded to be allowed to exempt books and magazines from value-added tax for five years after accession.

Taxation became a controversial area in talks with candidates this autumn after the EU approved plans to boost excise tax on cigarettes beyond levels affordable for many people in eastern and central Europe.

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