ECONOMIC IMPACT OF EU ENLARGEMENT TO BE DISCUSSED IN WARSAW SUMMIT
Organized by the Davos, Switzerland based World Economic Forum; the European Economic Summit is expected to gather 20 presidents and prime ministers, along with 600 other ministers, central bankers, representatives from the EU and other international organizations, and 50 companies including Boeing, Hewlett Packard and IBM.
"The meeting will give the opportunity for the representatives of hundreds of millions of Europeans to meet with leaders from business and from civil society to try and map out the direction of this amazing voyage that Europe has embarked on," World Economic Forum Chief Executive Officer Jose Maria Figueres said in a statement.
The European Economic Summit has been held every year in Salzburg, Austria, since 1996.
It traditionally acts as a magnet for eastern European countries seeking to join the wealthy West, after the collapse of the communist bloc at the end of the 1980s set them on the difficult path to economic transformation.
This year, as an exception, the meeting is being held in Poland, the biggest of the 10 mainly former communist bloc countries set to join the EU on May 1, along with Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia.
While most of the leaders of the incoming countries will be in attendance, they will be outnumbered by leaders from countries which are not joining the EU for now, with for some, like Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Ukraine, Serbia and Montenegro, membership being a distant prospect.
Polish police are also braced for thousands of anti-globalization protestors, who are expected to demonstrate and hold parallel meetings on the sidelines of the summit meeting.
Warsaw police chief Ryszard Siewierski told a recent news conference between 3,000 and 15,000 demonstrators were expected, and that 13,500 police officers, 550 firemen, nine hospitals, 15 medical teams, 40 ambulances, a medical helicopter, as well as prosecutors, interpreters, negotiators and psychologists would be on hand.
The Summit has posed a particular challenge for Warsaw, as it has never been the venue of a large anti-globalization demonstration.
The summit will involve working sessions ranging from the euro and competitiveness to the financial services market, transatlantic relations, relations with Russia and the Caucasus and one cutely-named "jog, eat and be happy" session.
"The program will be built on issues that affect business and policy making, such as the immediate impact of enlargement on current EU states and new member countries as well as the impact the new EU will have on world affairs," the World Economic Forum said in a statement.
"Over the past 10 years accession countries to the EU have made ambitious economic reforms. Their biggest challenge will be to sustain this reform effort and narrow the income gap with respect to current members," it said.
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