Pitchfork and politics clash in Poland

By Jonty Bloom BBC, Poland

On Henryk Raj's farm outside Krakow they are emptying the contents of the sauerkraut pit.

A 20-foot (six-metre) concrete-lined hole in the floor of the barn, it holds tonnes of cabbage for up to six months.

Poland wants to shake off its horse-and-cart image

It is being emptied in the traditional manner - by a farm labourer wielding a pitchfork.

But Poland is trying to throw off its image as a poor rural backwater, and Mr Raj is keen to show off his new tractor - half of it paid for by the European Union.

The aid for Mr Raj is just a small part of the funds that are already flowing into Poland from Brussels ahead of its membership of the EU.

We need twice as many funds to help us catch up with the rest of Europe - not half as much Farmer Henryk Raj

But Mr Raj wants more. Under the terms of Poland's membership, he won't immediately get the full benefits of the Common Agricultural Policy and he doesn't think that is fair.

"The paradox," he says, "is that if we are being treated as a horse-and-cart backward agricultural country, as we are often shown in the West, then we need twice as many funds to help us catch up with the rest of Europe - not half as much."

That isn't the only problem. The low costs and wages that characterise Polish agriculture at the moment are unlikely to survive membership of the EU for long.

New health, hygiene and employment polices will push up costs across Poland's' network of old, small, family-owned farms.

Only the biggest and best will prosper. Many smallholdings will become little more than holiday homes - at best.

Of course it isn't just the agricultural sector that is suffering.

The government has been rocked by protesting miners who are fighting plans to close pits and cut production.

But Warsaw has to do something because even its latest budget plans have unsustainable levels of borrowing and spending.

'Too many sweets'

Poland is supposed to be tightening its belt and preparing for the discipline of EU membership.

Poland's decision to join the EU will bring social change

Instead the government is trying to prop up its poll ratings by being too generous.

Pensions, wages and spending are all too high says Andrea Wrobleswski, economics editor of Polityka magazine.

"Although we have lower GNP per capita than the Czechs, Slovaks and Hungarians, our pay is higher, we consume more than we should and the government is too weak to say, as good parents would: 'No baby, no more sweets as they are not good for you'."

Of course there have been success stories. The Swiss-Swedish engineering giant ABB has several factories in Poland and employs 1,700 people there.

It moved in to the country after the fall of communism as many Western firms did, attracted by the combination of low wages and a highly skilled workforce.

Card up sleeve

But some fear that even that magic can't last.

Not only are some foreign companies now by-passing Eastern Europe altogether and seeking even cheaper workers in the Far East, but it is feared that many domestic Polish companies will be swept away once Poland joins the EU.

Which means the talks on the future structure of the EU hold a special significance for Poland.

If the economic benefits of membership appear remote the political ones must be made obvious for everyone to see.

Creating a European constitution that cuts Poland's voting rights and therefore its power is hardly likely to do that.

But Poland does have one card up its sleeve - if it doesn't like the end result it could always hold another referendum on joining the EU.