Sopot, 05/09/2011 (Agence Europe) - In Sopot on Saturday 3 September, Poland unveiled major items on the agenda of the forthcoming summit between the EU and the countries of the Eastern Partnership, in Warsaw on 29-30 September. “Poland would like to propose extending economic cooperation to bring Eastern partners into the European Economic Area, as is already the case with Norway and Switzerland”, a diplomatic sources revealed. Poland, then, would seem to want to go further than the free trade spoken of in the Prague Declaration.
Poland is also arguing for some possible form of European integration of these partner states. “We have to look to the EU Treaty which states that every country can join the EU. At the time of the Prague Declaration, prospects of accession were all that were mentioned.”
The final point of importance for the Poles is the visa regime. Here again, it wants to push on. “We want to propose a visa-free regime for those partners which are ready”. By “ready” Warsaw means “able to protect their borders, control their documents, their databases and their immigration”.
It has been confirmed that German Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend the Eastern Partnership summit in Warsaw. It is still uncertain whether or not French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be present. The French delegation could be headed by Prime Minister François Fillon. (V.W./transl.rt)