Strasbourg, 05/07/2001 (Agence Europe) - Speaking on Tuesday before the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, in the framework of the preparation of reports on the progress achieved by the candidate countries, the Commissioner for Enlargement, Gunter Verheugen, reaffirmed that the end date of 2002 to complete the negotiations, confirmed during the Gothenburg Summit, is realistic if the candidate countries respect three conditions: 1) fill the deficits in terms of reforms of the administrative and judicial systems; 2) not to have a major economic or social crisis, nor political instability; 3) reach compromises over the sensitive issues still pending. Citing the case of a few countries, he notably gave the following indications:
Slovakia: on the subject of political stability, we are concerned after the results of the opinion polls, which show that the SDZ and Meciar once more play a role at the top, he said.
Poland: we must not consider the list of closed negotiation chapters as a football league table, said the Commissioner with irony. For example, he continued, with regards to company law, Poland does not even have the same political positions as us over pharmaceutical patents, but with regards to the implementation of the Community acquis, it is as advanced as the others. Moreover, he added, on the level of political criteria, Poland leads the pack.
Romania: it has greatly disappointed us in the past. The new team of leaders seem further engaged in the reform process, but only actions interest me, added Mr Verheugen, when insisting on the fate of children in homes (on which the EP rapporteur Nicholson places emphasis).
Cyprus: I am certain of being able to complete the work next year, asserted the Commissioner when hoping that the accession process and the solution to the political problem of the island, move forward together.
As for the delays in the implementation of the aids in the framework of the SAPARD programme (see EUROPE of 4 July, p.5), the Commissioner underlined that only 4 countries out of the 10 concerned have accredited the agency responsible for the programme follow-up. I hope that there will be a freeing up of this blockage by the end of the year and that as a result the means allocated for each country will not be lost, he said before confirming that it is out of the question to leaving the budgetary limits set in the 2000/2006 financial perspectives, including to finance the aids to border countries called for by Austria and Germany, countries which, he recalled, have wanted a strict financial framework in the context of the Agenda 2000.