Brussels, 29/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - Considerable breakthroughs - in substance, as well as in terms of closing of chapters - were made on Thursday during accession negotiations with the first group of six candidate countries. "We are on the right path to succeed in the ambitious programme we set ourselves for this priority of the Swedish Presidency", Swedish Ambassador Gunnar Lund was pleased to announce at the end of negotiations, while recalling that difficult issues, including the free movement of workers, still had to be dealt with. These breakthroughs should "provide substance to the guidelines for the concluding phase of negotiations", which will be on the agenda of the Gothenburg Summit. However, we still do not know what the form these guidelines will take, the ambassador added. Asked about the fact that the same number of chapters had not been closed for all the countries (Poland has only opened 15), Mr. Lund replied that it was in fact a question of a "warning, but not only for Poland, it is a warning meaning that there needs to be acceleration; in this competition we are seeing great progress for countries like Slovenia, whereas others seem to move forward at a less impressive rate". Mr. Lund placed special emphasis on the importance of breakthroughs in two areas, the single market - which is the "very core" of membership - and the environment - the provisional closing of the chapter with Slovenia is a "great step forward, a breakthrough".
Hungary closed three chapters: company law, free movement of goods, free provision of services (18 chapters closed in total). Endre Juhasz, Hungarian chief negotiator, said he was pleased. Thanks to the impetus given by the Nice Summit, "a new stage has been reached, where the two sides show an increasingly strong will to find compromises. Mr Juhasz hoped for further progress under the Swedish Presidency, notably over the environment, the free movement of people and company law. Everything is taking place in accordance with the timetable contained in the EU roadmap, and even the Hungarian target date remains feasible, said Mr Juhasz, even if he admits that accession is more probable in 2004. Over the free movement of persons, he reiterated its demand for a tailor made solution for Hungary.
Poland completed the negotiations on the "free movement of goods" and "customs union", increasing to 15 the total number of closed chapters. Jan Kulakowski, the chief Polish negotiator, said he was pleased, underlining that "it is half the chapters, but not the difficult half" that are resolved, he hopes to close the other chapters under the Swedish Presidency, and indicates that Warsaw decided, on Thursday, to review its positions in the sensitive areas of the environment and taxation.
On Friday, negotiations will continue with the six other remaining candidate countries: Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Cyprus: Determination to be in first stage of accession is confirmed
The spokesman of the Cypriot government, Michalis Papetrou, said that Cyprus hopes to have closed 22 to 23 negotiation chapters by the end of the Swedish Presidency, including: transport, as well as maritime transport (Mr Papapetrou said that it is a "question of days. The agreement only has to be made official"); - services; - the environment; - and agriculture. "We hope to close all the chapters by the end of the Belgian Presidency", said the spokesman for the Cypriot government, confirming Cyprus' determination to belong to the first wave of EU accessions, and also to join the euro zone and the Schengen Area. He explained to journalists that his country, which will be a net contributor, would not understand that, despite the effort made (he said that the cost of integrating acquis communautaire would be equal to the annual budget of the Cypriot state) it could not enter the Union for simply political reasons even though the criteria were fulfilled.