Brussels, 28/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Council in Gothenburg has laid out a time limit for the enlargement process (conclusion of negotiations for the countries will be ready at the end of 2002, participation of new Member States will begin in june 2004). Speaking at a press conference on Thursday on the enlargement process, Gunter Verheugen, European Commissioner for Enlargement, stated that the perspectives for concluding negotiations within the given deadline had improved. Mr Verhuegen claimed that the "time limit" envisaged by the European Commission "has turned out to be realistic" and that the Swedish Presidency had managed the negotiations agenda in an "excellent manner" as well as showing determination when leading the negotiations. Currently, negotiations were being pursued at a positive rhythm, given that candidate countries wanted to make use of the time limit available. Bulgaria and Romania were a "little behind" but the Commissioner was keen "not to discourage any of the candidates" and to try and aim to wind up negotiations by the end of 2002. He repeated that no candidate country could guarantee that it was able to conclude negotiations in the time alotted at Gothenburg but no candidate had been excluded from the time limit set out.
Mr Verheugen warned that they would only succeed in this project if they obtained the political support of the general public. He added that if the European Union were to succeed in wining this support, it would need to generate this support from the people of the candidate countries by showing "flexibility" as well as demonstrating that it was aware of its "worrries", the "social costs" incurred and the financial costs involved in adjusting to the Acquis laid down by the European Union. Mr Verheugen indicated that this flexibility was "unconditional", whilst admitting that the environmental costs involved in meeting the demands of the Acquis were "enormous". Mr Verheugen indicated that because of these reasons, short-term transition periods would be much easier to manage than the consequences of long-term situation from which the people had just emerged. Mr Verheugen mentioned that the fields which were going to experience significant social costs as a result of enlargement were, energy, transport, taxation, fishing (the adoption of minimum VAT rates by new Member States) would provoke noticabe price rises.
Mr Verheugen indicated that he was taking the worries of current member States "seriously" and did not condider them as resulting from purely selfish national concerns. A response to these fears did exist, he declared, such as the recent example of the solutions found to the sensitive issue of the free circulation of persons. The message to send to current members of the Community was to stress the fact that the market was going to become far greater, which would involve not just huge potential growth for future Members but also for themselves as well. The European Commissioner for Enlargement also claimed that the reworking of the rules in the fight against crime by new Memberswould contribute greatly to the security of the whole continent. In answer to a question on political support being indispensable, Mr Verheugen claimed that it already existed, "in any case" on the part of the politicians. He did, however, remain "worried" by society's reaction as a whole. He believed that they would be able to take into account the "justified fears" of the different European people when presenting the results, whilst recognising that the Irish "no vote" to the Treaty of Nice was proof that they had to "fight" harder than before to convince the people and explanations had to improve.
In his short balance sheet for the previous six months, Mr Verhugen was keen to point out that they had been able to avoid drawing an immediate link between the different dossiers (reference to the solution found to the linking of problems that France and Spain wanted to establish between freedom of circulation of persons and structural funds and the Common Agricultural Policy. Mr Verheugen claimed that under the Swedish Presidency a "huge breakthrough" had been achieved, particularly that of having provisionally closed 66 chapters and some candidate countries having provisionally closed 2/3 of the chapters; 5 countries were able to bring negotiations to an end on the free circulation of persons (Hungary, Slovakia, Latvia, Cyprus and Malta), 8 on the freedom of circulation of capital (Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Lithuania and Estonia); 3 other candidate countries have opened all the chapters (Slovakia, Lithuania and Latvia).
Mr Verheugen expects Poland to catch up in a couple of weeks and the PAC results to be
obtained under the Spanish Presidency
Mr Verheugen cited competition policy as one of the fields in which "considerable efforts" will be required in the future (particularly State Aids) and Justice and Home Affairs, as well as the Schengen Agreement Acquis.
We must not forget, stated the Commissioner, that with this enlargement the external borders of the EU will change, and the eastern border of Poland will also be the eastern border of France.
Questioned over the negotiations with Poland, on which the Swedish Permanent Representative Gunnar Lund had admitted that they were delays compared to the other countries, Mr Verheugen underlined (which was also done, moreover, also by Ambassador Lund) that this delay is only in terms of closed chapters. He also added: it is necessary to take into consideration the state of readiness of the dossiers that are not yet closed. I expect to see the results of the catch-up in a few weeks, and certainly after the Polish elections (planned for September). According to him, there is, as a result, no reason for Poland not to be among the countries able and wanting to conclude the negotiations in the time envisaged in Gothenburg.
To a journalist who felt that the negotiations with the candidate countries concerning CAP could not be concluded before the French and Germany elections next year (which would only leave around three months to close the negotiations before the end of 2002), Mr Verheugen replied: the EU electoral deadlines do not influence our negotiations, and the European Commission will present a draft common position on CAP within the time needed to hope for an agreement under the Spanish Presidency, during the first half of 2002.
Finally, Mr Verheugen answered questions on: - the abolition of the visa for Romania: the results of our monitoring are "surprisingly positive", he said (in relation to these results, notably covering minorities, this obligation could be lifted at the end of this month of June); - the law on minorities in Hungary: the Commission has not yet completed its legal and political analysis of this law, but had certainly not found, at first glance, violations of the Europe Agreement, indicated Mr Verheugen, while adding that the Commission encouraged Hungary to develop bilateral contacts with the countries concerned (Slovakia and Romania).