Minister calls for Poland and UK to work on EU growth strategy

Minister Mikołaj Dowgielewicz.

"Poland and the UK agree on what is needed to make this upcoming summit mobilise the EU to work to make what we called during our presidency [of the EU, in the second half of 2102] a ‘growth agenda,’” Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, minister for European affairs and economic policy, said.

Dowgielewicz said he had had consultations in London with UK government officials this week ahead of the planned January 30 informal meeting of heads of state and governments of the EU to discuss tighter fiscal union, among other things.

Poland, like the UK, is not a member of the eurozone.

The situation in Greece has reignited debate with the 27-strong bloc about the type of Europe that should evolve, with advocates of a more federalist EU increasingly making their voices heard.

Both the Polish and UK governments share some ambivalences about the more centralizing strands within the EU that some say could see Berlin and Paris dominate a more centralised union.

This debate is coming to a head in the shape of discussions about a fiscal pact that could tie eurozone member states to a centrally agreed set of fiscal targets.

Poland has said it will not go support the fiscal pact unless it has gurantees that its voice will be heard when decisions are made by eurozone countries that affect non-eurozone EU members.(jh)