EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/36

(2004/C 78 E/0036)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1550/03

by Erik Meijer (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

(7 May 2003)

Subject: Uncontrolled flows of funds on the transfer of media ownership in Poland and possible preferential treatment for Poland as a new EU Member State

1. Has the Polish government requested financial contributions from a newspaper in return for a change in the law which would make it easier for that newspaper to take over television companies?

2. Have the financial contributions referred to in question 1 gone to in the Polish Exchequer to be used for expenditure decided upon by the government and parliament and traceable in the government budget and final accounts for the relevant financial year, or did the funds end up in the hands of private individuals and/or organisations, details of which are not available to the public?

3. If this action was in breach of Polish law, will the matter be brought before the courts, or are the police under political pressure to restrict their investigations and inquiries, after which the case will be dropped because of lack of evidence?

4. Does the emphasis placed by Commissioner Verheugen in the Netherlands TV programme ‘It's a Knockout’ (KRO-Reporter) on 10 April 2003 on Poland's large population compared with the nine others States that will join the EU at the same time in 2004 mean that special priority is being given to Polish membership? Is there a possibility that this priority may result in non-compliance with the EU ‘acquis’ being treated more flexibly in the case of Poland than in the case of other States?

5. Will Poland be judged by the same standards as those by which the other new Member States that have complied with their obligations more fully will continue to be judged?

6. On what basis does Commissioner Verheugen conclude that by the time of its accession on 1 May 2004 Poland will have completely satisfied the requirements of existing EU legislation? What guarantees are there that this will happen on time? What is the Commission doing to prevent a return to the present level of corruption after 1 May 2004?

Answer given by Mr Verheugen on behalf of the Commission

(19 June 2003)

The Commission is closely monitoring the implementation of the commitments Poland has made in the accession negotiations. This is the case with regard to the amendment to the audio-visual law the Honourable Member refers to in his first question, as well as with regard to all other areas that have been subject to the negotiations with Poland.

The Commission is, however, not in a position to judge upon the ‘Rywin-gate’ corruption affair to which the first three questions refer. This affair is currently under close investigation by the Polish judicial authorities. The Public Prosecutor has concluded its work and is expected to submit the outcome to the relevant court within the next couple of days. In the meantime, the special inquiry committee of the Polish Parliament, will pursue its investigation of the affair. Whilst the Commission may regret that bribery attempts at such a scale could have taken place, it also notes the openness and determination by which it is being dealt with by the Polish authorities at this moment.

With regard to questions 4 and 5, the Commission wishes to underline that the accession negotiations as well as the monitoring of commitments with the ten Candidate Countries have been, and are being, carried out on a purely objective basis, with no more favourable treatment for any of the Candidate Countries. The same standards have applied during the negotiations and will continue to be applied in the monitoring process.

As regards the last question, the Commission concluded in its Regular Report on Poland's Progress towards accession of October 2002 (1) that Poland would be fulfilling all of the three accession criteria (political, economic and ‘acquis’ related) as from 2004 onwards. The Member States concluded that enlargement would take place on 1 May 2004 and the Commission, as explained above, is closely monitoring further progress made by all of the Candidate Countries. A Comprehensive Monitoring Report, laying down the results of this monitoring process, is scheduled to be presented to the Parliament and to the Council and made public by the beginning of November 2003. On the basis of this Report, the Commission may consider safeguard clauses in certain specific areas if such are necessary.

(1) http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/report2002/pl_en.pdf.