In a thinly veiled threat, Fischler included this in a speech he made
in a recent official visit to Estonia:
"The EU enlargement countries should be pleased with the 25 per cent
agriculture subsidies, as the member states have not agreed even on
that yet, therefore this should be the first goal and only after that
can further subsidies be discussed ... It would not be very wise to
tell the EU member states that accession countries are not pleased,
that would not be positive for the whole process."
Small wonder he was whistled down by irate Polish parliamentarians in
an address to a joint session of the parliamentary committees for
agriculture and European integration in the Sejm. Poland's fractured
farm sector is notoriously inefficient. With one quarter of the labor
force it produces less than 4 percent of GDP. But the peasants are well
represented in the legislature and soaring unemployment - almost one
fifth of all adults - makes every workplace count.
In the meantime, the ten would-be new members of the EU have teamed up
to present their case in Brussels. Their ministers of finance, foreign
affairs and of agriculture, parliamentary deputies in their finance and
farm committees - all issued and issue common statements, position
papers, briefings and memoranda of understanding.
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