EU to rap Poland over entry preparations

The European Commission will tell Poland next month that it is one of the worst prepared of the 10 countries due to join the European Union next year, diplomats and officials said yesterday.

The keenly awaited annual progress report of the EU's executive body will slam Poland for delays in meeting EU food hygiene rules and in setting up a database needed to pay out billions of euros in farm subsidies.

The report will raise concern over Poland's fiscal policies and urge austerity measures to keep public debt in check. It will deplore Poland's unemployment rate of about 18 percent.

The Commission publishes reports on November 5 on the newcomers and three candidates for later entry - Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

"The list of things still to do before accession next year will be the longest in the case of Poland," said one Western diplomat, who asked not to be named.

Poland accounts for around half of the newcomers' 75 million population and economic output.

"A big country is a big problem, a small country is a small problem. That's how the EU sees us," said one Polish official, brushing aside local reports that Poland will be branded bottom of the class.

Commission spokesman Jean-Christophe Filori said no shortcoming to be highlighted by the reports was so serious that it could not be fixed by the accession date.

"The key question in these reports will be: can what remains to be done be achieved in time, and the answer will be yes," Filori told a news briefing in Brussels.

The report will reiterate previous criticism that Poland's administration and courts are often too weak to enforce laws and prevent corruption.

The government will also be urged to tighten security on Poland's eastern border to keep out smugglers, organised crime gangs and human traffickers.

But the most serious criticism will concern delays in creating the IACS farm inventory, which could hold up billions of euros in EU farm subsidies. Poland risks a temporary ban on meat exports to the EU unless it improves hygiene standards or closes some production plants.

On the economic front, the Commission will praise Poland's economic recovery - growth is to rise to 3.5 per cent this year from 1.4 per cent in 2002.