WRITTEN QUESTION E-2493/02

by Mogens Camre (UEN) to the Commission

(9 September 2002)

Subject: Rising unemployment in Poland as a result of EU membership

Under the terms of the Commission's proposal on agricultural support for the applicant countries, farmers in those countries will initially obtain only 25 % of the support received by farmers in the present Member States.

According to the Danish newspaper Politiken of 13 August 2002, there will be massive unemployment in agriculture in Poland if the country joins the EU.

Almost 8 million Poles are employed in agriculture, i.e. almost 20 % of the population, as compared with some 4 % of the EU's population. Gregor Kreuzhaber, spokesman for the EU Commissioner for agriculture, has stated that the level in Poland must be reduced.

If the percentage in Poland is to be reduced to the EU level, the result will be that 6 million Polish farmers will lose their jobs (the equivalent of approximately 15 % of the total population of Poland).

Has the Commission carried out studies to ascertain the implications for Poland of such depopulation in the agricultural sector, including its impact on unemployment as a whole in that country, and whether there is any prospect that these millions of people will be able to find alternative work within Poland?

Will the Commission also say what impact such an explosion in unemployment in Poland will have on Polish migration to the present Member States of the Union?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(6 November 2002)

It is important to place the Polish agricultural sector in the broader context of economic developments in Poland. Current high levels of unemployment are in part due to the overall slowdown of economic growth, but also various structural factors, which need to be addressed by the national policy. These have a decisive impact on the labour market situation throughout Poland.

In February 2002, the Polish Government took an important step by adopting a plan entitled Entrepreneurship-Development-Employment which includes i.e. actions to increase the flexibility and efficiency of the labour market. Within the framework of the National Development Plan 2004-2006, to be submitted by Poland in December 2002, the Polish Government will present its overall strategy for higher sustainable growth and employment. On the basis of this, Poland will together with the Commission also identify how the Community Structural Funds can go hand in hand with the national policy framework and the reforms of the labour market, in order to address the problems of the labour market including in agriculture and rural areas.

According to the Labour Force Survey of Eurostat, the employment in Polish agriculture amounts to 19,2 % of total employment i.e. 2 887 000 persons and is, thus, indeed higher than the average Union employment in agriculture. There is, however, a high variation in agricultural employment across the Union and the Commission would expect Poland to remain above the Union average after accession. Moreover these figures include subsistent and semi-subsistent farmers.

To date no reliable data have been published on the number of people employed in family farms. For this reason the Commission has given considerable support to the agricultural census undertaken together with the population census between 21 May 2002 and 8 June 2002. The Commission is awaiting the preliminary results towards the end of 2002. This information will allow a more effective targeting of policies and resources.

The Commission does not expect a large increase of unemployment as a result of accession to the Union. Membership of the Union will alleviate the economic problems farmers in Poland are facing. Remaining outside the Union will not help resolve these issues. Such assertion is confirmed by studies undertaken and commissioned by the Commission, such as on Competitiveness and farm incomes in the Central and Eastern-Europe Countries (CEEC) agri-food sector.

Investment, restructuring, and making semi-subsistence farming commercially viable are the real keys to competitiveness in the agricultural sector of the new Member States. Removing disincentives to shift into non-agricultural employment and supporting alternative employment prospects by means of increasing/adapting qualifications within a significantly strengthened active labour market policy are examples of other actions envisaged. The key however, is the Polish Government's strategy to deal with the restructuring of the agriculture sector and promoting rural area development within a coherent overall strategy to tackle the economic and employment situation throughout the country.

Moreover, being inside the Union will provide Polish farmers and the rural population with the instruments targeted to meet their needs, including an appropriate level of safety net in the form of farm income support. This will ensure that the necessary restructuring process will take place in a socially acceptable way.

The restructuring process is likely to take place gradually and to a large extent to be cushioned by Structural Funds and Rural Development Programmes as co-financed by the Union. Therefore, the Commission does not expect significant migration flows due to higher unemployment after accession.