Conditions and consequences of EU enlargement: a Polish perspective

Conclusion: By 30 April 2002 Poland has temporarily closed negotiations with the European Union in 23 negotiation chapters. At present negotiations are conducted in the following 7 chapters: Competition policy, Fisheries, Transport policy, Justice and home affairs, Regional policy and co-ordination of structural instruments, Agriculture, Financial and budgetary provisions. The difficulties that arise in the negotiation process result from the fact that the integration with the EU is constantly developing, and the Community law is changing. Every year there are new common arrangements, which amend and supplement present principles and rules. Of course, this creates additional challenges and difficulties for the negotiating teams. The longer the negotiations the more probable the change of the common rules and the necessity to adapt them to a moving target. In addition, negotiations are complicated by several other issues, which were irrelevant during previous enlargements of the European Union. The basic one issue that accession negotiations coincided with deep changes in the Union itself, relating to the implementation of the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union. The Member States of the EU lost their monetary sovereignty and the possibility to use exchange rates. These competencies have been vested in the supranational financial authority - European Central Bank. It is understood that a simultaneous implementation of two very ambitious tasks, that is creation of the economic and Monetary Union and the process of another enlargement, do not facilitate accession negotiations for Poland and other candidate countries. Another issue impeding membership negotiations is the scale of obligations to be accepted by the candidates. This results from the advancement of the European integration process. The Treaty of Maastricht, and to a lesser extent the Treaty of Amsterdam, raised the accession standards in comparison with those binding during previous enlargements. On 1 January 2002 Spain took presidency in the Union Council of Ministers. Enlargement of the European Union is one of its priorities. The Polish government, which intends to accelerate the pace of negotiations and declares its readiness to search for a compromise, attaches great hopes to the Spanish presidency. In this period of time the government wishes to begin negotiations on the most difficult chapters which touch Poland’s most important interests, such as Regional policy and co-ordination of structural instruments, Financial and budgetary provisions or Agriculture. Progress made in the first half of 2002 will determine completion of the negotiations during the Danish presidency, and thus accomplishment of our main goal, which is membership in the European Union by 1 January 2004.