Poland has been a member of the European Union since 1 May 2004, with the 2003 Accession Agreement signed on 16 April 2003 in Athens as the legal basis for Poland's accession to the EU. The actual process of integrating Poland into the EU began with the Polish application for membership in Athens on April 8, 1994, and then confirmation of applications by all member states in Essen from 9-10 December 1994. The integration of Poland into the EU is a dynamic and sustainable process.
Video Poland in the European Union
Initial relationship between Poland and the EU
Diplomatic relations between Poland and the European Economic Community began on September 16, 1988. A year later, on September 19, 1989, during the first visit of the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the EEC to Poland, the agreement signed on trade and commercial and economic cooperation in Warsaw.
Changes in Polish politics during and after 1989 enabled diplomatic talks on Poland's participation in the European Economic Community. Formal negotiations began on December 22, 1990, and ended on December 16, 1991, in the "European Treaty establishing the relationship between the Polish Republic and the European Community and their Member States". At the same time, in conjunction with the European Treaty, Poland entered into a trade agreement included in the Interim Agreement effective from 1 March 1992.
The Polish deal with the EEC came into force on 1 February 1994, three months after the Maastricht Treaty entered into force. The first step is the establishment of a Commission for the Unification of the Republic of Poland with the European Union, whose task is to oversee the implementation of new agreements. The ministerial talks in the Polish Parliament are conducted in this commission. The Parliamentary Unity Committee acts as a forum for relations between the Polish Parliament and the European Parliament.
Maps Poland in the European Union
Approaching accession
Even before the accession negotiations began in June 1993, during the European Council meeting in Copenhagen, the EU Member States formally confirmed that the Central and Eastern European countries, currently affiliated with the European Commission, would join the EU after meeting the economic and political criteria. On April 8, 1994, the Government of the Republic of Poland made a formal request, in Athens, for membership in the European Union. During the Council of Europe Summit held in Essen on 9-10 December 1994, Member States adopted a pre-accession strategy, defining the areas and forms of cooperation recognized by the EU as essential to accelerate integration. The process also confirms that the EU is willing to go through with expansion into the related countries. The formal confirmation of the strategy outlined in the White Book (on the alignment of countries with internal free market requirements) adopted at the European Council Summit in Cannes in June 1995. The White Paper, and the annual preparatory program adopted by the Polish government, determine the Polish framework and relations with the EU. On October 3, 1996, under a resolution adopted by the Council of Ministers on 26 January 1991, the Office of European Integration came into force in order to coordinate and assist all ministries and agencies directly involved in the process of Polish integration with the EU.. The main role of the Office for European Integration is to ensure the implementation of tasks related to coordination policies on matters relating to Polish integration to the EU. In addition, it is responsible for coordinating measures for Polish adaptation to meet European standards, as well as managing the foreign aid Poland receives from the EU.
In January 1997 Poland adopted the National Strategy for Integration (NSI) adopted by Parliament in May 1997. The NSI assigned specific tasks facing Poland on the road to full EU membership and the order of its implementation. The role of the NSI is, in particular, to accelerate and direct the work of government agencies and to help raise public awareness of possible consequences of Poland's membership in the EU. Adaptation operations for membership are in line with the Government of Indonesia's NPPC (Government of the National Development Preparatory Program for Membership in the EU) framework developed on 23 June 1998. NPPCs annually (up to and including 2001) are modified to suit with the Polish government's negotiating strategy. It defines ways to achieve the priorities contained in the Partnership for Membership document. The Partnership for Membership and the EU's National Membership Preparation Program is directly linked to the European Commission's decision to provide EU funding through Phare, SAPARD and ISPA, into three EU financial instruments to assist the candidate country in preparation for accession.
Negotiation
Based on the recommendations contained in the opinion of the European Commission of 16 July 1997, the Council of Europe meeting in Luxembourg on 12-13 December 1997 decided to start accession negotiations with five countries in Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Estonia) and Cyprus. For all candidate countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Council of Europe launched an enhanced pre-accession strategy, including the implementation of the European Agreement , Partnership for Membership and the new version of the PHARE program.
The EU expansion process was officially launched at a meeting of the General Affairs Council on 30 March 1998. At that time, Poland declared December 31, 2002 as the date of readiness for membership to the European Union. A study of the legal compatibility of current candidate countries with EU legislation began on 31 March 1998 in Brussels. After the end of the study, actual negotiations were made at the same time at the request of candidate countries, albeit individually with each candidate from 10 November 1998. From 16 April 1999, regular meetings of political directors and European correspondents of related countries and EU began to engage in political dialogue. For the purposes of the negotiations, the EU formed 37 task forces responsible for developing agreements in their respective territories. Chairman of the Polish Negotiation Team (PZN), respectively: Jacek Saryusz-Wolski (1997-2001) and Danuta HÃÆ'¼bner (2001-2004).
The main role of the negotiations is to develop a joint position between the Chairman of the PZN and the EU Commissioner for Expansion and submit it for approval to the European Commission, which prepares the draft of the revised general position of the entire EU to be accepted. by 15 member countries of the Council of Europe. The purpose of the negotiations is to prepare an accession agreement, adopted at the last meeting of the Intergovernmental Conference on Accession.
In October 1990 it was decided to connect the capital of countries associated with the Secretariat of the Council of the European Union with the aid of specially prepared communication networks. In 2000, Poland successfully completed the talks in 25 of the 30 areas of negotiations and for 9 of them can approve the transition period. The other 5 areas were negotiated between 2001-2002.
Polish negotiations with the EU ended during the EU summit in Copenhagen, on 13 December 2002.
Accession
The Accession Agreement is subject to approval and adoption by an absolute majority vote in the European Parliament on 9 April 2003 and unanimously by the Council of the European Union on 14 April 2003. The next stage is the ratification of treaties by all member states. in accordance with their constitutional requirements (except Ireland, where it was ratified after a national referendum while other Member States adopted it in parliamentary vote). The treaty came into force after the EU ratification procedure. In Poland, the final adoption process took place in the form of a national referendum on 7-8 June 2003.
Poland answered the following question:
"Do you give permission for the Polish Republic to enter the European Union?"
The result of the National Election Commission states that 58.85% of eligible voters appear to vote (ie 17 586 215 of 29 868 474 people), 77.45% of them (ie 13 516 612) responded yes for questions. 22.55% of them (ie 3 936 012) answered no . The results also show that 126 194 votes are considered invalid.
The Treaty of Accession 2003 signed on 16 April 2003 in Athens is the legal basis for the 10 Central and South European countries (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary) entering the European Union.
On 1 May 2004 Poland became a full member of the European Union, along with 9 other European countries.
Access
According to information provided by the Ministry of Finance (on February 8, 2006), Poland should be ready to join the eurozone in 2009, however, this was postponed until at least 2018. The Finance Minister announced a regulation that, on April 15, 2004, consumers or service recipients pay for their goods or services using the euro.
On 13 December 2007, the Reform Agreement was signed by representatives of 27 EU Members at the Jeronimos Convent in Lisbon. On behalf of Poland, the Agreement was signed by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski. At the head of the Polish delegation was President Lech Kaczynski, who was accompanied by ministers Chancellor of the President: Robert Draba and Michal Kaminski.
Poland's access to the Schengen Agreement took place on 21 December 2007 (for land and sea crossings) and 29 March 2008 (for airports, along with new flight schedules). On July 30, 2007, Poland passed a technical test for access to the Schengen system. As proposed by Portugal, the symbolic opening of the border occurred on December 21, 2007 at Worek Turoszowski on the borders of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany.
On May 1, 2009, five years after Poland accessed the European Union, the period of protection against the purchase of houses and apartments in Poland by foreigners (EU citizens) has ended.
According to a survey conducted by the Center for Public Opinion Research in March 2014, Poland's presence in the EU is supported by 89% of Poles, while 7% opposes Polish membership in the European Union.
The most recent statistics (as of July 2016) show that in 2014 Poland received EUR17.436 billion from the EU while only contributing EUR3.526 billion. Poland also receives nearly EUR2 billion more in EU funding than other member countries by 2013 (France being the second highest). The EU has provided funds for infrastructure and transportation; agriculture and rural development; health and research; growth and employment; environment and energy and other projects within the European Social Fund. Examples include funding over 60% of the investment required to build part of the A1 toll road between Toru? and? ÃÆ'³d? (EUR1.3 billion), better public transport in Kielce (EUR54 million) and the Human Brain Project at Warsaw University of Technology (EUR54 million).
Polish and European Policy
Poland has made a significant contribution to European Policy. The EU was interested in Eastern Europe and, arguably, helped with the development of regional democracy by engaging in diplomatic discussions during the fall of communism and the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. The EU has begun to focus on countries like Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia.
Prior to Polish integration into the EU, Polish politicians sought to strengthen economic and political cooperation with neighboring countries. These efforts are being made to assist the EU in its further expansion into the European continent.
Polish and EU common security and security
Poland remains skeptical of the EU's foreign and public security policy and opposes to give further strength to EU foreign and security policy. EU countries like France and Germany, want a better relationship with Russia, however, Poland has tense relations and history with Russia and does not want to change their foreign policy. In addition, Poland is afraid that the greater EU outreach in foreign policy and security will violate Poland's national interests and sovereignty.
Poland prefers to discuss and maintain links with NATO and the United States, being skeptical about the possible EU security and defense policies adopted. Poland participates in Crisis Management Operations of the European Union. Polish troops participated in EU missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia and DRC, among others.
Polish and EU expansion
Poland supports the development and further expansion of the EU, and draws attention to the need to eliminate delays in commencement of accession negotiations. Poland supports the aspirations of Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey to join the EU. Poland welcomes the decision to grant candidate EU Albanian status. Polish politicians state that the acceptance of all Balkan and Turkish states to the EU will prove that the EU's internal transformation has been completed, and this will also help bring greater stability to the whole region. Poland participates in informal groups (called "Tallinn Group") that support the expansion of the European Union.
Polish and EU internal policies
On 13 January 2016 the European Commission, launched an assessment of formal rules based on rules established in 2014 and under Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty on amendments to the Constitutional Court and public media laws in Poland. The assessment could, theoretically, cause Poland to be deprived of its right to vote in the European Union. Some Polish and British media have criticized the EU's involvement in the crisis of the Constitutional Court of Poland 2015, as it is outside the scope of the EU Framework to Strengthen the Rule of Law.
In September 2017 the European Commission launched its second phase of violation of the state of the rule of law in Poland.
See also
- The history of the European Union
- Polish Integration Stage into EU (in Polish)
External links
- Official Journal of the European Union
- The Office Archives Committee's Web page for European Integration (in Polish)
- EU official website
- Oficjalna strona po? wi? cona cz? onkostwu Polski w Unii Europejskiej (in Polish)
- Polacy w Europarlamencie (in Polish)
References
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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