Brussels, 29/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Commissioner responsible for enlargement, Gunter Verheugen, reiterated the Commission's stance by which it would be premature to set target dates, at the European Council of Nice (7-9 December), for the conclusion of accession negotiations with the first wave of applicant countries. "I do not expect dates to be set in Nice", as these "will depend on progress made by applicants in preparing for accession" and progress in negotiations, Mr. Verheugen said in Vienna on Thursday where he had just met Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel. "The reform of EU institutions must be completed in Nice, so that the EU is ready for enlargement in 2003, ready as far as it is concerned to take in new members", said Verheugen. What happens next will depend on the applicant countries themselves. The French Presidency of the Council, like the majority of Member states, has also spoken out against the idea of offering target dates in Nice for concluding negotiations with the first group of candidates.
Austrian Chancellor Schuessel, for his part, spoke in favour of setting a timeframe in Nice. It is, he says, important that a "sign of a timetable" be provided in Nice, so as to maintain the "credibility" of the enlargement process.
Regarding the plans for starting up the nuclear power plant of Temelin in the Czech Republic (a plant located close to the Austrian border and over which Vienna has strong security doubts), Commissioner Verheugen said he hoped that the Czech Republic would adopt a "good neighbourliness attitude" towards Austria. "The Commission will do all it can to encourage the Czech Republic to adopt an attitude of good neighbourliness" and to ensure that it respects its commitment to inform Austria and the other countries of the EU on measures taken to ensure the plant's safety. Chancellor Schuessel criticized the fact that the Czech Republic should "not have informed us enough and prepared the firing of the plant without concerns for its neighbours". Austria would like "a complete environmental impact assessment of the plant", Schuessel stipulated.
Meanwhile, speaking at a ceremony in Berlin on Thursday on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of German reunification, Polish Foreign Minister Wladdyslaw Bartoszewski, reiterated Poland's goal of joining the EU in 2003. "It's an ambitious date, but not unrealistic", he said. Mr. Bartoszewski warned against the risk of getting lost in the technical problems of negotiations, thereby losing sight of the ultimate and supreme goal of this historic event, i.e. the reunification of Europe.
Next stages
Accession negotiations as such will continue next week (Friday 6 October), at deputy-level with Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia and Cyprus (i.e. the countries with which all negotiating chapters have already been opened). The next deputy-level meeting with the "Helsinki Group" (Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Malta) has been postponed from 5 to 24 October. A second round of negotiations at the same level (ambassadors for Member States, chief negotiators for the applicants) is scheduled for November with both groups, followed by a ministerial negotiating meeting early-December, a little before the Nice Summit.