One of the biggest worries for this country about the EU is that once Poland joins the club it will not find itself out of pocket. The finance ministry is now working on a plan of how Polish contributions will be made.
For once the government is trying to close the farm gate before the horse runs off. Negotiations with the EU on financial questions have not yet begun, strange one may say as surely this is the most important point of all. However ours is not to wonder why. Current proposals coming out of Brussels have disappointed not only Poland but all the other candidate countries. Brussels does not want to give the new entrants discounted fees for a transitory period. Each country is now preparing its own analysis, possibly to see if the whole project is worth the bother.
Deputy finance minister Andrzej Raczko says that he is not happy with the offer from the European Commission. He says that the only thing good about it was the fact that it was only an opening proposal. As far as Poland is concerned, he says, the most important thing is to be in a net positive position in the first year and that the amount of cash in credit should be no less than that received from the EU before Poland becomes a member.
The Polish government is determined to take on Brussels and have its proposed budget contributions reduced. Poland wants a five year transit period in contributions which will gradually phase it into the same amount of costs as other members. In year one it wants to pay only ten percent. The Polish argument is that it does not want to pay full whack when the EU is not prepared to give full amounts as far as subsidies and other aid is concerned and is prepared to accept rebates but only from year two. Raczko says that he is open to other proposals. In any case those made so far are not acceptable. He also says that furthermore the Polish side has many doubts about the interpretation of those rules governing contributions and that is why the finance ministry is preparing its own.