“[The agreement] does not satisfy us 100 percent but we have decided to sign the pact,” Mr Tusk announced after the meeting of EU leaders.
Poland went into the summit demanding that it be included in all euro-zone summits, something which France in particular was opposed to, according to most reports.
The compromise agreement now states that there will be two types of euro summits. The first will concern coordination of economic policy in the euro zone, for example regarding bailout funds. These will be attended only by the euro 17.
But for summits on other matters such as the implementation of the fiscal pact itself or competition issues, non-euro members will be invited.
Right choice
Poland is right to join the fiscal union on these terms, but not because it is a great idea or because it will “save” Europe.
Indeed, the pact does not include a single fiscal restriction that does not already exist in current EU treaties. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, faced with a public that often feels disdain at German taxpayer money being used to bail out Greece, just needed to be able to flash a fresh document at home, showing that other countries will now have to be more careful about their spending habits.
Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja even went as far as to tell reporters that the document is “at best unnecessary and at worst damaging.”
“We are working on it because Berlin needs it in its domestic politics,” he said.
But all that is irrelevant from the point of view of Poland's interests in the EU. What Poland needs is to be as large a part of the European decision-making process as it possibly can, but without forgetting its place. Those in Poland who rail against German domination and agreements being signed to please Berlin seem to forget who has been paying the bills recently.
He who pays the piper …
If Poland were contributing hundreds of billions of euro towards bailing out financially troubled European countries, then its needs and proposals would have serious traction as well. But right now, Poland is still a net receiver of EU funds and a lot of that money comes from the German taxpayer – making staying on the good side of Germany a key plank of Poland's foreign policy.
