C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WARSAW 000579
SIPDIS
STATE FOR EUR/NCE/MSESSUMS
STATE PASS USTR FOR DONNELLY/ERRION
COMMERCE FOR 4232/ITA/MAC/SUR/OECA/MROGERS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2016
TAGS: ECON, PREL, PL, Economy
SUBJECT: POLAND: EU INTEGRATION OFFICE LUMBERS ON
Classified By: Economic counselor Richard Rorvig,
reasons 1.4(B) and (D)
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UKIE INTEGRATION INTO FOREIGN MINISTRY &GOING NOWHERE8
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1. (C) According to Director for Analyses and Strategies,
Piotr Serafin (protect) at the Office of the Committee for
European Integration (UKIE), integration of the Office,s
functions into the Foreign Ministry is &going nowhere.8
With this third and latest attempt at disbanding UKIE in
almost as many years, the bureaucratic organ that was charged
with guiding Poland,s accession into the EU shows remarkable
resiliency. Serafin was candid about the internal political
reasons for the latest delay moving UKIE,s functions to the
Foreign Ministry.
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INTERNAL WRANGLING COMPLICATES HANDOVER
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2. (C) Serafin told Econoff that the latest draft prepared by
the Foreign Ministry has been stalled by &ambitious8
members of the Prime Minister,s office. The current
deadline of June 1, 2006, for UKIE,s transfer to the Foreign
Ministry is &science fiction,8 and he said September would
likely be the earliest date possible for a merger. Serafin
said UKIE,s ability to report directly to the Prime Minister
-- and thereby short circuiting the normal Chancellery
bureaucracy -- was the key to its usefulness during the
accession process. It was this ability, he said, that the
current Foreign Ministry draft also enshrined and therefore
antagonized members of the Prime Minister,s office. Serafin
said that Foreign Minister Meller was ¬ interested8 in
having the Foreign Ministry take over UKIE. This was all the
same to the Prime Minister,s Chancellery office, which views
Meller as an &outsider8 anyway. Thus, the Foreign Ministry
draft did not receive much political support. Serafin sees
the current debate over the legislation less about
reorganization and more about political and policy control.
3. (C) The main sticking point, according to Serafin, is the
role of the Chancellery office. In the current draft, the
Foreign Ministry, which would now include UKIE,s functions,
would serve as Secretariat coordinating the various
Ministries,s input for the Prime Minister. Serafin said
that Zbigniew Derczuk in the Chancellery sees this role
provided by his office, and by him, personally.
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OFFICE IN LIMBO
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4. (C) Since 2000, there have bee three attempts to
incorporate UKIE into other Ministerial bodies. When asked
if this was simply another in a series of futile
consolidation exercises, Serafin said that the latest attempt
is by far the &most serious.8 In the meantime, he said,
UKIE is functioning more or less as it has been.
Nonetheless, it has been difficult for some staff to remain
focused on the work, as uncertainty about merging UKIE means
jobs may be on the line. He noted that the administrative
functions within UKIE would &almost certainly8 disappear,
as the Foreign Ministry has its own administrative staff
doing the same job. Less clear, he said, was how particular
offices would be merged. Serafin said that his office, for
example, would be merged into the Foreign Ministry,s Office
of European Affairs. Others, such as the Legal and
Information Departments, he said, may be more wholly &cut
and pasted8 onto the Foreign Ministry organizational chart.
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NO DECISION IS GOOD DECISION FOR FOREIGN MINISTRY
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5. (C) Serafin said that the current indecisive state of
affairs was &just fine8 with most career members of the
Foreign Ministry. He said that bringing &new and younger
blood8 from UKIE into the Foreign Ministry as diplomatic
personnel, which is what Serafin believes would happen, would
mean more competition for choice posts abroad. Key, however,
in any reorganization, would be communication with the Prime
Minister. Currently, Chancellery State Secretary for Foreign
Affairs Ryszard Schnepf holds the important position
responsible for more direct interaction with the Prime
Minister. However, Serafin said Schnepf would be leaving
soon to become ambassador to Spain. He said if a
&reasonable person8 takes over this job, then it could make
a difference in UKIE,s continued policy relevance. &But I
am pessimistic,8 Serafin added.
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REORGANIZATION OR POLITICIZATION?
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6. (C) Serafin, who has been with UKIE almost from the
beginning, smiled wryly during most of the conversation.
Although he said he did not want to &sound cynical,8 his
disappointment with the ) in his opinion ) heavy handed
turf grab by majority party bureaucrats in the Prime
Minister,s Chancellery was palpable. Serafin noted several
times during our conversation the difficulties of working
with some of the new government officials, who, he said,
clearly had &their own ideas8 about how things should be
run and done. In his view, the extent that these new
political players will rely on the &experts8 in the
complicated world of EU decision making will be less than
previous governments he has worked with. If at all.
HILLAS