Our Guest Construction
Poland offers its advice and experience, bets on partnership Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Economy Marcin Korolec talks to Ewelina Janczylik on the eve of Poland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union.
“European Dilemmas - Partnership or Rivalry?” is the slogan of the forthcoming 21st Economic Forum in the Polish mountain resort of Krynica Zdrój. The forum is the most important meeting in Poland of politicians, business people, researchers and media people from European countries, especially Central and Eastern Europe. What do you expect of the debates? I think that partnership is a fundamental European value, both in the internal and external dimension. The rules of the single market mean that all the countries apply very similar or identical economic regulations. There are no differences in this respect between new and old European Union members or rich and poor members. One should remember that the partnership also applies to dialogue with external countries, which is a very important item of our common discussion. We need to create a new approach to the neighbourhood policy without dividing it into eastern or southern policy. The neighbourhood policy should be expanded by the export of our economic achievements, legal regime, food safety and standardisation rules, and other elements necessary in building a single market. In the difficult time of economic crisis in the world and in Europe, we will not be talking about any largescale EU enlargement. But Poland’s and other countries’ experience shows that economic integration has a very favourable impact on the development
14 :: polish market ::
7-8 /2011
of both a new member state and the remaining EU members. Our proposal for discussion within the European Union Council of Ministers and with the Eastern Partnership members will be how to expand the area where the EU internal market regulations are in force, especially regulations on the free movement of goods, services and capital.
Do you expect the Eastern Partnership programme to be a success? Will we be able to share our experience with our neighbours and win them over for some ideas? Poland has greatly benefited from economic integration. As a result, our Polish experience is very valuable. It is an excellent argument for our partners, not only Eastern Partnership members but also North African countries. Twenty five years ago Poland and Ukraine were at the same level of economic development. Now, Poland is several times more developed than Ukraine. And one should remember that our integration with the EU contributed the most to this development. It is a very good argument for our Ukrainian partners, showing them that difficult pro-integration decisions are worth taking and that challenges associated with the integration process are worth accepting. What impact can the difficult economic situation of Greece have on the EU economy? Could this crisis discourage our eastern partners? Does the European Union have any emergency plan? I think that the European Union has to cooperate with its neighbours, whether they are in the east or in the south. These countries should be helped – but of course only if they want to be helped. We have to propose them the integration process as an instrument supporting their economic growth. Otherwise, the neighbouring countries will not use the opportunity offered by economic and political integration. The European Union has to become again the centre of economic gravitation. It is a very bold approach but without it we will not succeed in building a positive economic vision.