POLAND: EU INTEGRATION OFFICE LUMBERS ON

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 SUBJECT: POLAND: EU INTEGRATION OFFICE LUMBERS ON Classified By: Economic counselor Richard Rorvig, reasons 1.4(B) and (D) -------------- UKIE INTEGRATION INTO FOREIGN MINISTRY &GOING NOWHERE8 -------------- ¶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. -------------- INTERNAL WRANGLING COMPLICATES HANDOVER -------------- ¶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. -------------- OFFICE IN LIMBO -------------- ¶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. -------------- -------------- NO DECISION IS GOOD DECISION FOR FOREIGN MINISTRY -------------- -------------- ¶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. -------------- REORGANIZATION OR POLITICIZATION? -------------- ¶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