EU eyes new era in ties with Poland after vote

BRUSSELS - The European Union looked for a new era of strong cooperation with Poland on Monday after a pro-EU centre-right grouping beat the ruling party of the Euro-sceptic Kaczynski twins in a parliamentary election.

Diplomats and officials said they expected a government led by the election-winning Civic Platform (PO) to close the chapter of mistrust between Brussels and Warsaw and put the country firmly on the path to adopt the euro currency.

"Poland can now take up its proper position within the EU where it will find goodwill on all sides," said Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist group in the European Parliament.

"Poland's future lies in working closely with their European friends rather than adopting anti-European positions at virtually every opportunity," he said, presenting the view expressed privately by many in Brussels.

Partial results from Sunday's election in Poland showed the Platform won a 41.6 percent of the vote, compared with 32 percent for the Law and Justice party of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his brother, President Lech Kaczynski.

"I am confident that there will be a fruitful cooperation with the next Polish government," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Diplomats said they expected Poland, which joined the EU in 2004, to stop blocking the bloc's policy initiatives, as has frequently been the case under the outgoing government, which said it needed to protect the country's national interests.

"The new government will hopefully reform public finances so as to use strong economic growth to lower the budget deficit and put Poland firmly on the path to join the euro," said a Commission official, who asked not to be named.

EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia has criticised Poland for not doing enough to bring its deficit below the 3 percent of gross domestic product ceiling, which is also a criterion to join the euro zone.

The Platform plans to bring Poland into the single currency area in 2012-13.

EU diplomats also hope Poland's foreign diplomacy will improve after Kaczynskis purged almost everyone in the Polish administration who had any experience of European affairs -- career civil servants and ambassadors.

Since Kaczynskis' won power in 2005, Poland has tried to block major sugar and VAT reforms, defied the EU's cod fishing ban, derailed plans to celebrate a day against the death penalty and negotiated exemptions from the bloc's new reform treaty.