Polish resistance to food liberalisation

Poland, the largest candidate for entry to the European Union, may miss out on liberalisation of farm trade between the bloc and applicant countries unless it changes its policy, an EU official said last week, reports Reuters.

The EU' s executive Commission proposed earlier last week to free more trade with Estonia in sensitive farm products, such as cereals, as part of a process to prepare the country for EU membership in the next few years.

"Similar proposals are likely to be made soon for Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and Hungary, possibly in April,"​ said Gregor Kreutzhuber, the Commission's farm spokesman.

He said Poland had so far refused to lift its trade barriers for sensitive foods, but talks on the issue are expected to be held in mid-April. The deal is to come into effect in mid-2002 and Poland is unlikely to meet the deadline unless it changes its mind soon, he added.

The Commission's proposal includes fixed duty-free quotas for cereals, dairy products and beef, within which all import and export refunds would be abolished on two-way trade. The plan needs to be approved by EU farm ministers.

Under the deal, EU export refunds on farm products except rice and sugar destined for candidates would be abolished. Less sensitive products such as pig meat, poultry meat, fats and oils and fruits and vegetables from candidate countries were liberalised last year. Poland has frozen talks on food trade liberalisation with the EU, saying they should be linked to negotiations on direct payments for farmers under the EU' s Common Agricultural Policy.

The Commission has proposed that direct payments to farmers in candidate countries, once they join the EU, be phased in over 10 years from the level of 25 per cent in the current EU states. Poland has threatened to keep food trade barriers even after it joins the EU unless it is provided with more direct payments.