Brussels, 18/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - Following last Friday's meeting with Commissioner Gunter Verheugen, the deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia, Pavol Hamzik, announced that he expects the next regular report by the Commission on Slovakia to "underline progress achieved, but also notes reservations with regards to the "administrative capacity" and the improvement of its capacity for implementation of the acquis. The Commission will publish, on 8 November, its "regular reports" on the progress achieved by each of the candidate countries in view of their accession to the EU.
The negotiations with Slovakia have until now been a "success story", underlined Commissioner Verheugen. The Commission welcomed the "accelerate procedure" followed with this country: the negotiations only started at the beginning of this year, but "have already enabled to open eight chapters and to close six, while eight other chapters will be opened, and we hope that some will be closed by the end of the year". Mr Verheugen also encouraged Slovakia to "continue with its courageous reform of the economy".