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22 Ania Krok-Paszkowska and Jan Zielonka whose marriage to the Lithuanian Prince Jagiełło opened the way to union between Poland and Lithuania. 59 The prime minister, Leszek Miller took up the pope’s theme “from the Union of Lublin to the European Union” and drew the analogy of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth: a great empire in which Poles remained Poles, Lithuanians remained Lithuanians and Ruthenes remained Ruthenes. 60 Poland’s Eastern dimension acquired practical meaning with the EU request to harden Poland’s Eastern border as required by the so-called Schengen acquis. Poland agreed to increase border controls and introduce visas for citizens of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, but at the same time called for a more open policy of the Union towards its new “near abroad”. 61 Poland has especially been concerned about the possible negative economic and political implications of an increasingly isolated Ukraine. President Kwaśniewski has emphasised the special place of Ukraine in Europe 62 and he assured Ukraine that Poland would support its efforts to join the EU if in the future it decided to apply for membership. 63 Poland’s special road to the EU has not only been confined to geo-politics. Economics also played an important role. 64 In this context the special position of Poland’s agricultural sector needs to be mentioned. Poland has 14.3 million ha. arable area and 26.9 per cent of Poland’s labour force is employed in agriculture. 65 Negotiations between the EU and Poland in this field have been conflict ridden and complex. On the one hand, Polish peasants feared that the EU accession would expose them to damaging and allegedly unfair competition from Western European farmers. On the other hand, the EU feared that Poland’s agriculture would represent an excessive burden on its budget. Moreover, the sector has had a strong grip on Polish politics, with the Polish Peasant Party (Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe) being part of various successive coalition governments. One of the main problems in negotiations was that of agriculture and the levels of direct payments to farmers, which were to be phased in over ten years starting at 25% of the full EU rate upon 59. JOHN PAUL II, Od Unii Lubelskiej do Unii Europejskiej, Address on May 19 th 2003 to the pilgrims who had come for the canonization of Ursula Ledochowska and Josef Sebastian Pelczar. In English at www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/2003/may/index.htm. 60. KANCELARIA PREZESA RADY MINISTRÓW, Od piątego do piątego – Zakończenie Kampanii Informacyjnej Rządu, 2003 at www.kprm.gov.pl/print.php?id=/402_9557.htm. 61. K. WOLCZUK and R. WOLCZUK, Poland and Ukraine. A strategic partnership in a changing Europe?, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, European Programme, London, 2002; R.WAPIŃSKI (ed.), op.cit. 62. KANCELARIA PREZYDENTA RP, Strategia dla Polski po wejściu do Unii Europejskiej na lata 2004-2015: Polska w Unii Europejskiej: konferencja u Prezydenta RP Aleksandra Kwaśniewskiego w dniach 25-26 czerwca 2002 r. [Strategy for Poland after the accession to the European Union in the years 2004-2015], Komitet Prognoz “Polska 2000 Plus” przy Prezydium Polskiej Akademii Nauk, “Elipsa”, Warszawa, 2002. 63. See series of speeches during the conference “Ukraine in Europe” at http://www.prezydent.pl/se/ index.php3?tem_ID=48. 64. L. BALCEROWICZ, Socialism, capitalism, transformation, Central European University Press, Budapest, 1995. 65. M. MARODY, et al., Meandry instytucjonalizacji: dostosowanie Polski do Unii Europejskiej. EU-Monitoring VI, Fundacja Ericha Brosta przy Fundacji im. Friedricha Eberta, Warszawa, 2002.
Poland’s Road to the European Union 23 accession in 2004. This was seen as being detrimental to Poland’s agricultural interests and difficult to sell at home in view of the forthcoming accession referendum. At the Copenhagen summit in 2002 Polish prime minister Miller made a last minute stand on direct payments to farmers, milk quotas and other issues. 66 As mentioned earlier, the EU made some concessions to Poland after chancellor Schroeder’s intervention. The final deal reached in Copenhagen pleased not only peasants but also larger sectors of Poland’s public opinion, helping the government to win the accession referendum a few months later. However, there was so much haggling and talk about money at the Copenhagen summit, that a number of prominent former dissidents and intellectuals were prompted to remind European leaders that “the original idea of solidarity in a united and democratic Europe should not be buried under the negotiations and group and local lobby interests”. 67 Conclusions: Poland as a New EU Member If Poland’s history shaped the character of its application to the EU, it is also true that the application process may well shape the nature of its future membership. Due to its size, 38.6 million inhabitants and larger than all the other nine acceding countries put together, Poland sees itself as a leading player in the current enlargement and it has ambitions to take up a strong position in the EU decision-making process. It would like to form part of a group of the largest (six) countries. In the run up to the 2003 IGC (Intergovernmental Conference) it sought the support of Spain to lobby for maintaining the Nice Treaty distribution of votes which grants the two countries 27 votes each in the council of ministers, thus putting them within the reach of the largest countries with 29 votes each. 68 Polish politicians have repeatedly stated that the new members must be treated equally in the enlarged EU. Poland would be likely to try to counter any attempt at forming a “core” EU of the original six members around a French-German axis. Although the creation of the Weimar Triangle in 1991 had appeared to point to intensive trilateral contacts, the division into the so-called old and new Europe has left Poland in the much looser coalition of London-Madrid-Rome. The distance between Paris and Warsaw is getting greater and even the much vaunted relationship with Germany appears to be weakening. Nevertheless, as the largest and geo-strategically most important of the new members, Poland is eager to be included in what it perceives as the “core” of the wider European structure. One of the underlying reasons for Poland’s attitude is the conviction that, had it not been 66. M. KACZOROWSKA, EU Negotiations: Milking an Issue, in: The Warsaw Voice, December 15 th 2002, p.5. 67. Letter, in: Gazeta Wyborcza, 12 December 2002. 68. W. CIMOSZEWICZ and ANA PALACIO, How to keep the balance in Europe’s new treaty, in: Financial Times, September 26 th 2003, p.23.
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Page 7 and 8: 5 Introduction Anne Deighton This v
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