Britain's ambassador to Poland, Charles Crawford, talks with Ewa Hancock.

It's been three years since you arrived here as ambassador. Have you befriended Poland and has Poland befriended you over this time?
Poland is a big country to befriend. You had better ask Poland whether it has befriended me.

The basic problem with diplomatic life in a busy EU capital like Warsaw is that one has far too little time to move around the country. But recently I had the great pleasure to spend a week riding from Cracow to Warsaw on a bicycle as part of a major fundraising effort by the UK charity Marie Curie Cancer Care. We took the long route, almost 500 km. This was a wonderful way to see the countryside and finally get a real sense of the Poland which lives well away from Warsaw and all its exciting politics. It brought home to me just what outstanding natural assets Poland has, plus how much still can be done to take full advantage of them.

Before leaving Cracow I attended the Last Night of the Proms concert there. This rousing concert somehow sums up the close and perhaps even affectionate relations between the UK and Poland these days. Last week I went to Wrocław for the opening of a new factory built by Cadbury Schweppes: 500 new jobs in Poland delivered by a top UK company, aimed at exporting new products from Poland. In the coming weeks I will be working on a new initiative to promote the works of Feliks Topolski, the legendary artist who chronicled so much of the last century from his base in London. The National Museum has shown me privately some of their collection of Topolski's stunning portraits and drawings. They need to be brought to the wider public.

So every day brings new examples-mainly positive, sometimes negative, occasionally even tragic-of how free, modern European exchanges between our countries are generating all sorts of new energy and challenges. I have taken a strong professional interest in what happens here. But also I have had many very special personal moments too, such as when my son Robert and his friends from the British School in Warsaw walked out on to the pitch in Katowice as mascots for the England team before their World Cup qualifier match with Poland. England won 2-1, with Tottenham's Defoe scoring the winner. Most satisfactory.

British diplomacy is a model for Polish diplomats, especially when it comes to promoting the economy. What have you managed to achieve in this area during your stay in Poland?
The Embassy Commercial Section in Warsaw is accepted in Whitehall to be one of the most productive in the UK's diplomatic network. They are especially good at helping UK and Polish firms get in touch and network creatively.

My own role is mainly to give personal advice to larger companies interested in doing business here, explaining the opportunities and describing possible problems/obstacles. The key is to be scrupulously honest, fair and objective. That is the long-term success of the UK "brand," a major reason why so much of the world's money passes through UK financial institutions every hour of every day. I do not measure my own impact, such as it is, in terms of massive new contracts or investments, since those are commercial decisions for UK and Polish businesses to take themselves. A decision not to invest or trade is as wise as a decision to do so if the business and other conditions for those firms at that time are not right.

We also have done a good job in describing to the Polish government the UK's strengths and weaknesses in applying IT to government activity to improve transparency and cut procurement costs-there is growing interest here in making government processes themselves more competitive.

What, in your opinion, are the most important problems challenging the EU today?
The inability of the EU even now to provide an open, dynamic, flexible labor market, a depressing legacy of post-World War II reactionary collectivist thinking. There is nothing "social" in handing out benefits to unemployed people and setting... limits on the working hours of people in jobs and "regulating" our creative industries. A true European social agenda means new jobs, new training and new opportunities.

Plus of course the complacency evident in many parts of Europe about the threat posed by violent extremists and fanatics to basic civilized European values. "Tolerating the intolerant" leads to political and moral disaster. There are basically two zones on the planet: those accepting the values and constraints of what I call intelligent networked pluralism, and those which do not or cannot. As we know from over a decade of misery the Balkans, it is not enough politely to plant the green seeds of European reasonableness if war criminals and organized criminals are walking behind you pouring plant-killer on your seeds. A policy of long-term moderation and patient growth may sometimes need a policy of short-term force to be credible. The EU apparently has a problem with this obvious point.

Are there any particular goals you would like to accomplish before you leave Poland?
To launch after several decades of delay the final building of a new British embassy in Warsaw. To improve my tennis a bit. And to find a new job once I do leave.