Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau participated in the Conference of Foreign Ministers of the European Union (EU) countries entitled ‘A bigger, stronger Union – preparing the European Union for enlargement and future members for accession’.

In his speech at the Conference in Berlin, Minister Rau stressed that Poland is in favour of continuing the policy of EU enlargement based on established principles and substantive criteria, but without undertaking reforms of the Treaties. “Particularly essential for us is the process of harmonising the foreign policy of candidate countries with the Common Foreign and Security Policy, also on politically difficult issues such as sanctions”, he pointed out.

In a discussion on attempts to extend qualified majority decision-making, Minister Rau stressed Poland’s sceptical position on this issue. According to the head of Polish diplomacy, issues of strategic importance for the future of European integration should be discussed and decided in the new institutional cycle.

The Polish government believes that extending the use of qualified majority decision-making does not automatically have to translate into increased EU efficiency, and indeed carries the risk of deepening the existing crisis in the EU and differences between member states. Rau added that this solution also runs the risk of reinforcing the dominance of some Member States in shaping the Common Foreign and Security Policy and, consequently, undermining the political unity of the EU.

On the sidelines of the Conference, when asked by journalists how he assessed Polish-German relations, Minister Rau replied that they were ‘far from desirable’. He considered the reparations issue and the absolutely different vision of European integration from the German side to be the biggest problem.

Adrian Andrzejewski