Poland lagging behind with preparations

“Presidency in nappies,” quips Dziennik Gazeta Prawna lamenting delays in preparations ahead of Poland’s EU presidency which begins in 100 days (on July 1). The Foreign Ministry has not selected a company responsible for arranging conferences nor completed the recruitment of translators, liaisons officers, logistics and diplomatic protocol experts. What’s more, the plan for transporting 10,000 EU officials who will come to Poland, as well as the security system, are not yet ready. “When Belgium, France or Sweden were getting ready for their presidencies, all technical matters had been arranged six months before the ‘zero hour’, “ complains political scientist Grzegorz Kostrzewa-Zorbas quoted by the Warsaw daily. Even though the Foreign Ministry is confident everything will be ready for July 1, this may not be so easy after all. According to a recent report by the Supreme Audit Office (NIK), over the last year the Ministry has changed nearly 30% of the officials dealing with preparations for the presidency.