A most emotional issue
An agreement on selling Polish land to EU citizens provokes controversy
WHAT is it about Poles and their land? The Polish prime minister, Leszek Miller, thought the deal his leftish government finally struck this month with the European Union on land sales to foreigners was the best his country could hope for. Yet many—perhaps most—Poles were outraged. Mr Miller had sold them out, they said; foreigners (meaning Germans) would descend “like crows” and pick the country apart. So what was Mr Miller's crime? He had managed to negotiate a 12-year transition for the sale of Polish land to EU nationals, five years longer than the government of any other applicant country has achieved. So why the big fuss?
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “A most emotional issue”
From the March 23rd 2002 edition
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