HE Dr Stanislaw Komorowski, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland
Talk in the House of Commons on Tuesday 18th May 2004
The Ambassador has an academic career background in sciences and latterly following a number of diplomatic appointments in Poland was ambassador to The Hague, Netherlands.
Accession to EU – Views on the Future of Membership
His Excellency presented his government’s views on the impact of enlargement on Poland and also on the EU.
Poland has a sense of being the ‘baby in the family’ although it has always felt in the family – though the family was divided and Poland was left on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain.
The Union, he said, was a kind of ‘runaway train’ with its institutions and policies changing continuously and even more significantly, likely to be changed in the near future. There are as many as ten new entrants, eight of which have been desperately struggling to bridge the economic gap between themselves and the EU fifteen states.
Size Factor
The size factor does matter when talking about enlargement, for – first of all – it concerns the scale of adjustments and reforms. The bigger the country the more homework that had to be done. That is something that Poland experienced during the accession negotiations and will continue to experience – and in this way Poland is a special case because of her size.
The hope was that Poland’s size would be reflected in a new institutional framework that would hopefully be achieved in June. There was support for the European Constitution and an agreement was to be reached soon.. There were, however, outstanding issues to be resolved and Poland was working hard to overcome them.
Political aspect of being member of EU
The institutional aspect of enlargement is linked directly to the political and as a member of the EU Poland would be directly involved in the decision-making process and treated as an important partner in ‘making voting coalitions and initiating activities of the Union. This would constitute a new dimension in the political culture of Poland. The supranational institution of EU will be a new area for Polish MEPs and they have yet to learn how to function in an international environment – presenting their government’s position and defending it.
EU legal measures will be binding for Poland and there will be good governance of the agencies dealing with structural assistance coming from the EU and training will be provided for civil servants involved with different EU working groups. There will also be assistance to farmers and local government on the know-how of participation and applications in projects within the EU financial subsidy area.
Economic Level
Economically, as part of the Single Market, Poland will enjoy the four freedoms of movement of capital, services, goods and people. This will offer opportunities for Polish citizens to live, work or establish businesses without any constraints across the EU. They will also enable wider access for Polish goods to the EU market. Poland will receive EU financial assistance with CAP and structural aid policy but will also have to contribute financially to the common European budget.
Foreign Policy
The EU membership will influence foreign policy and Poland will be the subject of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and Common European Security and Defence Policy. As a member of NATO Poland has already proved to be an active partner of the Union in these fields. Poland will be drawing the EU’s attention to its neighbouring countries which remain outside the EU: Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. This will help strengthen dialogue and well as economic relations with these countries.
Conclusion
Poland is very much looking forward to membership of the EU and feels very strongly that close co-operation and sharing of sovereignty is the only way to ensure security on the Continent. The ‘Fathers of Europe’ idea is vital to European cohesion and we should always remind the citizens of Europe – mainly those who did not experience being part of a totalitarian empire – how important security is. That is why Poland’s membership of the EU has a crucial meaning. Security considerations also encompass economic security, integration of the European economy, investments and exchange of good practices and above all unrestricted people-to-people contacts all over Europe. His Excellency felt that the movement of people played a much more important role in integrating the Continent than the top-down efforts, often disconnected from the citizens.
He thanked members of the audience for their attention.