Poland's road to European accession

Twenty years after the events that marked the birth of the Solidarity union, as Poland became meanwhile a NATO member and is inching its way to joining the European Union, the union’s former leader and Nobel peace laureate Lech Walesa this August called in Gdansk for a new Marshall plan to rebuild countries in the East.

“Cities and plants were destroyed after the second world war, but at least an economic system was in place. Now, this economic system is destroyed and we haven’t been able to create a new one.

We need a new Marshall plan,” Walesa said as he celebrated the two decades of the trade union he used to lead.

A take like this from the first post-communist president of the country is shared by many people in former communist countries, disgruntled about scant aid from the West, especially financial aid, and about the lack of a consistent pan-European vision for this portion of the continent.

Nevertheless, EU and NATO accession are seen as paramount decisions for this country, which hopes to have it even after being left in the Soviet sphere of influence.

As the former Polish Foreign minister Bronislaw Geremek said, “because of our troubled past, we wand to belong to NATO and the EU. Poland cares for its sovereignty, but if it is to give away some of it to Europe, it is only to defend our national independence.”

Agriculture, a taboo of accession

For Poland, agriculture is still the most delicate chapter in negotiations. In fact, talks were temporarily suspended in April, at the request of Brussels officials.

The deadlock came about when the Warsaw authorities proposed to lift Polish customs duties and European subsidies on farming exports to Poland. But the initiative was not well received by European decision makers.

In fact, Poland is the only country among those struggling for accession that retains high customs duties on EU farming products, and any move to cut back on those duties has resulted in often violent backlash from domestic producers and other industries involved.

This is what happened in March 1999, when farmers gathered to deliver profoundly anti-European speeches that prophesied the “pillaging” of the agri-food industry by foreign companies, and made direct references to the tobacco and beer brewing industries.

The public opinion was similar about the economic policy of the Buzek government, accusing it of “selling the national heritage for nothing” in the last three years.

These policies on agriculture practised by the Warsaw government are not seen well in Brussels. In early June, the European commissioner for agriculture and fishing, Franz Fischler, announced he had demanded the Polish authorities to abandon “protection practices” in the farming industry when dealing with the EU.

“Poland will become a full-fledged member of the single market in a few years and it should not fall in the trap of protectionism,” he warned. Moreover, Fischler argued that “raising customs duties may seem attractive because it would rapidly improve the condition of Polish farmers, but it will not help improve the competitiveness of the Polish agriculture.”

There are other troubled industries, too. Recently, the deputy Agriculture minister, Robert Gmyrek, said only one in ten meat processing plants met European standards.

He estimated that 60% of the 4,000 factories hardly meet even Polish regulations. The 21 major factories authorised to export to the EU have 70% of the meat market.

The Union will provide 168 million euros a year to restructure the agricultural sector, but this aid should be completed with complementary measures.

The government so far has indicated that it is mulling the liberalisation of the agricultural market and other inefficient markets, but it gave no details and did not put out a schedule.

A society struggling with corruption

The most serious problem facing Poland, as many other states in the former Soviet bloc, is corruption. A report early this year by the World Bank rated the country as a “paradise of corruption” and found that “connections between the political class and the economic milieu characterise corruption at the highest level of power.”

Further, it was found that the amount of money needed to overthrow a draft law in Parliament is $3 million. Some politicians help businesses to acquire various licences, in exchange for money to finance political activities. At the present moment, no regulations exist on party financing.

Things are nowhere different in the privatisation of state companies, “one of the sectors most exposed to corruption.” The Polish legal system allows as much as buying a court verdict or gaining access to commercial registers in exchange for a payoff.

The economy approaches Europe

Overall, however, the Polish economy is on the right track, particularly when compared to other former communist countries. In the first six months of the year, exports grew 11.9% on the previous year, the equivalent of $14.7 billion, while imports grew 9.7%, or $23.5 billion.

In the first quarter, GDP grew 6%, annual inflation is estimated at 12% – and by 2003, the year when Poland expects to be ready to join the EU, inflation should fall to 4%. In the first quarter of the year, coal mines have cut back on losses, thanks to the restructuring programme that promises to attain financial balance in 2001.

Since April, the zloty’s exchange rate has been liberalised, a first step towards linking the economy to Europe’s market mechanisms.

All these steps come to complement the country’s desire to become an EU member in three years’ time. A desire that, some European officials say, is close to reality.

As Nicole Fontaine, president of the European Parliament, said, “hopefully the future European elections in 2004 will unfold with the participation of many candidate countries, including Poland.” “This would be a logical consequence of Poland joining the EU in 2003, which is possible.”

To this end, a broad parliament commission has been set up to speed up legislative streamlining with community standards. Around 100 laws are waiting to be adopted and 80 more are in for amendments.

Meanwhile, however, elections are only a month away. Current President Aleksandr Kwasniewski is leading the polls with 60%, compared to 8% for Marian Krazlewski, president of the “Solidarity Electoral Action” (one of the heirs to the famous trade union).

Former president Lech Walesa only has 4%, as the former icon of anti-communism struggle is plunging in the eyes of the public opinion, called by many observers a “misfit” who prefers demolishing to building.

But the elections will in no way imperil the country’s European and Euro-Atlantic accession. Issues will revolve around details and the best routes to meet European standards.