The European Union said today it was hoping to accelerate entry talks with Poland despite a tough line taken on the sensitive issue of worker migration by Warsaw's new left-wing government.
The Belgian Prime Minister, Mr Guy Verhofstadt said Polish premier Mr Leszek Miller had promised to make new proposals soon aimed at breaking a deadlock in talks on delaying the free movement of labour and capital.
"If we can do that, we can say that Poland is back on track," Mr Verhofstadt said.
Mr Verhofstadt said the changes to the world wrought by the September 11th suicide attacks on the United States made it all the more vital for EU enlargement to succeed.
Mr Miller confirmed Poland still aimed to finish entry talks next year so it can join the Union in 2004.
But, in earlier comments, he dented hopes Poland would swiftly accept an EU ban on workers from new member states, clouding the mood ahead of his first foreign trip on Wednesday to neighbouring Germany to meet Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Germany, together with Austria, has backed a proposed ban of up to seven years on workers seeking employment in parts of the bloc that do not want them.
Poland claims the scheme is discriminatory and will exacerbate national unemployment, which is now at 16 per cent and rising.
If the European Union is a free market it should also be a free market for workers, Mr Miller said.