european union: growing pains
WORKERS, MAY 2003 ISSUE
The 15 foreign ministers of the EU have cleared the way to 10 new members, though the accession treaties have yet to be voted on in most candidate countries and then be ratified by existing members.
The EU in the meantime has suppressed critical reports on candidate countries. A confidential report by a Dutch judge claims that the Polish judiciary is not independent and that criminal cases are subject to political influence. His team concluded Poland was not fit to join the EU.
So anxious is Brussels to get Poland into the EU that it is playing down a recent declaration by the Polish parliament stating that its national laws on moral questions take precedence over European laws. This is intended to allay fears over the abortion issue. But the new draft constitution of the EU states that EU law trumps national law – a phrase the British government tried unsuccessfully to remove, realising just how unpopular this would be with British voters.