European Union ministers have been asked to officially sanction previously agreed trade concessions for Polish food exporters, until the eastern European country becomes a Member State next year.


The aim of the liberalisation is to ease Polish entry into the EU, sugaring public opinion, which has not always been wholly in favour of Poland’s membership. This, however, is now inevitable, given the success of the ‘yes’ option in the recent Polish referendum on joining the EU.


Nonetheless, the European Commission has proposed that concessions – widening low or zero-rated import quotas for Polish food products or removing quantitative restrictions altogether – are written into the existing association agreement between the EU and Poland.