“This is an exceptional day for Poles, Czechs, Germans, all Europeans”, the prime minister said. He remarked that new roads and bridges must be built to fully exploit the opportunities offered by the open borders in the region. “Thanks to this, we shall all be able to move freely in the common Europe, in our common home”, the head of Polish government said. Donald Tusk thanked the Portuguese Prime Minister José Socrates, President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and President of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering for their foresight without which the enlargement of the Schengen zone would have been impossible. The ceremony was also attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek. The Polish and German leaders symbolically raised the barrier on the Polish-German Porajów-Zittau border crossing. Then on the nearby Polish-Czech Porajów-Hradek crossing, the Czech and Polish Prime Ministers jointly sawed the border barrier.
Together with Poland the Schengen zone was joined by the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary. The accession means the abolition of controls on land borders inside the zone as of 21 December 2007.

Poland signs Reform Treaty
On signing the EU Reform Treaty in Lisbon on December 13, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that it was a very important day for Poland. Referring to the 26th anniversary of the imposition of martial law in Poland by the former communist regime, Donald Tusk remarked that for his generation the date had a symbolic significance. “For my generation it is an important closure”, he said. According to the head of Polish government, the Treaty simplifies the procedures of governing the European Union. “There is a chance that Europe will become even more strongly integrated and will be able to carry out more coherent policy”, said the prime minister. The Treaty is to become effective as of 1 January 2009, following its ratification by all EU member states. Donald Tusk announced that Poland would be among the first states to ratify the Treaty. The reform calls for the strengthening of the role of the European Parliament and national parliaments of the member states. As of 2014 the number of European Commission members will be reduced. A high EU representative for foreign affairs and security policy will be appointed. The Charter of Fundamental Rights was adopted together with the Treaty. Poland accepted it together with the so-called British Protocol, which limits the scope of its application.

Hoping for more growth
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy Waldemar Pawlak has told Polish Radio that his ministry is working on new ideas concerning the implementation of another stage of the Lisbon Strategy. This EU programme is intended to raise the competitiveness of the European economy. Waldemar Pawlak said that the Polish economy stands a good chance of growing if competitiveness and export capabilities improve.

Central and East European
co-operation
The European Council has adopted a proposal submitted by Poland and Lithuania concerning forms of cooperation between the EU and the countries of Eastern Europe: Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Belarus. “We managed to convince our partners to make our cooperation assume the form of multilateral relations”, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said.
The Polish Prime Minister also spoke about plans to forge closer cooperation between the Visegrad and Baltic Group countries (the
former comprising Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic). The states representing both groups want to cooperate on the
European forum and their representatives intend to meet regularly before each European summit to work out common standpoints and strategy. They are also willing to take up actions in order to elaborate an energy strategy. A Visegrad-Baltic summit is planned in Poland in 2008.