Brussels, 17/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - During the European Council of Laeken, the Heads of State and Government of the EU identified for the very first time in an official text the candidate countries which, in their opinion, should be able to complete accession negotiations in 2002 in order to join the EU in 2004 in time to take part in the next European elections. "If the current rate of negotiations and reforms in candidate countries is maintained, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic and Slovenia could be ready", state the conclusions to the summit. The Fifteen thus go beyond the declaration approved last week by the General Affairs Council which, at the request of France in particular - had carefully avoided uncoupling the ten most advanced countries from the two countries that are lagging behind, Bulgaria and Romania. Although, however, the Laeken conclusions clearly strengthen the prospect of a "big bang" with ten simultaneous accessions in 2004, they also give a powerful signal to Bulgaria and Romania, whose efforts are "appreciated" and which are "encouraged to stay on track". The EU also stresses its intention to next year prepare a timetable and road map adjusted for these two countries, in order to support them in their effort to catch up.
Although the explicit mention of ten candidates gives a clear message of considerable political support for these countries (stronger than expected after the General Affairs Council last week), the Heads of State and Government also caused new and considerable uncertainty when they removed from the conclusions the reference to "sufficient" financial means stipulated by the Berlin Summit to allow the ten countries to become EU members. At the request of Germany and France this affirmation by the European Commission was removed from the final text. The affirmation (repeated on many occasions by Commissioner Verheugen) states that the "European Council of Berlin has established the financial framework allowing for enlargement to up to ten new Member States from 2004". In its place, the final conclusions simply indicate that the "Berlin Council established the financial framework allowing enlargement".
In their conclusions, the Fifteen also placed emphasis on the administrative and institutional ability of candidates to correctly implement the acquis communautaire. The EU is willing to help the candidates in this task given that they all still have great delays to catch up in this area. In its recent enlargement strategy (presented in November last), the Commission announced its intention to launch a new action plan early 2002 with the intention of helping candidates acquire the necessary institutional structures and administrative capacities. Also, in Laeken, the Heads of State and Government agreed that the Commission will present a report on the implementation of the action plan to the European Council of Seville in June 2002.
The Fifteen also restated their attachment to the "road map" for the continuation of negotiations, even though it is highly likely it will not be possible for the EU to finalise a common negotiating position for transport before the end of this year. "The road map established by the European Council of Nice remains in full application", we read in the conclusions. The Commission is invited to propose, early 2002, common negotiating positions of the Fifteen on agriculture, regional policy and budgetary chapters "on the basis of the current acquis and the principles decided in Berlin" in the context of Agenda 2000.
The European Council of Laeken also decided that the drafting of accession treaties should be initiated during the first half of 2002.
Reaction of candidate countries
After their lunch on Saturday in Laeken with the participants at the Summit, the Heads of Government of the candidate countries spoke to the press. Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller welcomed the fact that his country had been explicitly mentioned as one of the ten candidates able to join in 2004. He said he was also pleased with the "considerable encouragement" received and, in particular, by Guy Verhofstadt. Now with "almost 20 chapters closed" in negotiations (Warsaw has so far closed 19), Poland is "back on track", said Mr Verhofstadt. "We are again on the right track and we shall remain there", insisted Mr Miller. Poland will seek to accelerate negotiations over coming weeks and months, he said. The Polish Prime Minister also took stock of progress made in his contacts with the governments of Member States with a view to reaching bilateral agreements with them on the opening of labour markets to Polish workers after enlargement. A "vast majority of Member States" (the Prime Minister cited Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Greece and Spain) said that they do not contemplate restricting the free movement of workers to more than 2 years.
Bulgaria is aware of the fact that it has to make a tremendous effort, acknowledged Prime Minister Saxecoburggotzki. Last week, the Bulgarian Foreign Minister had said in Brussels (after a membership negotiation meeting) that his country wished to join the EU in 2004 (instead of 2006) with the same wave of memberships. In Laeken, the Prime Minister did not wish to confirm this change of aim. On the contrary, Mr Saxecoburggotzki stressed on several occasions that he was "realistic" and that his country should focus on its "duties". "But", he said, "you must not under-estimate Bulgaria".
Romania has the firm ambition of opening negotiations on all remaining chapters during the Spanish Presidency and to conclude membership talks by end June 2003, said Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase. To this end, negotiations will be accelerated over coming months, if possible with additional assistance from the Commission and Member States "which must not discriminate against us" compared to other candidates, stressed Mr Nastase. In his view, however, accession will only be possible when the Romanian economy is ready to face competition on the internal market, as premature entry would be fatal and could entail the destruction, no less, of Romanian enterprise. In relation to progress achieved in economic reforms and general circumstances, the date envisaged for accession could be brought forward from 2006 to 2005, said President Ion Iliescu, while Romania to date has always set itself the aim of entering in 2007.
Viktor Orban, the Hungarian Prime Minister, regretted that it had not been possible to settle, in the Laeken conclusions, the problem of the number of seats to be held by Hungary at the European Parliament after its accession to the EU. In Nice, Hungary had been attributed 20 seats, instead of the 22 that it should have received on the basis of its population size. Mr Orban nonetheless said he was confident that this issue would soon be settled.
Latvia's Prime Minister, Andris Berzins, welcomed the fact that the enlargement process had once more been described as "irreversible". The principle of differentiation was confirmed, "which means that those that are ready to conclude negotiations at the end of 2002, including Latvia, may join in 2004". The Latvian Prime Minister also expressed the hope that the candidates would play a "full" part at the Convention, even without a right to vote.
The question of the list of names does not seem to be important for the Czech Republic since "we are in second position" for the degree of progress in negotiations, stressed Prime Minister Milos Zeman. Foreign Minister Jan Kavan regretted that the EU still did not have a common position on the transport chapter (according to the road map, the common position must be available before the end of the year but it is currently blocked by Austria due to the ecopoints issue: see our Sunday Special Edition on the Summit of Laeken). Answering questions on European reforms, the Czech Prime Minister took a stance in favour of "open and transparent federalisation for a European Constitution, with the Charter of Fundamental Rights as an introduction". "This would be a logical stage in European integration", he declared.
During his press conference, Turkish Prime Minister Bülent Ecevit said he was very pleased with the conclusions of the summit which stress Turkey's progress and for the first time envisage the opening of negotiations (the conclusions state that the "prospect of opening accession negotiations with Turkey has also come closer"). While recognising that additional reforms are needed at economic level and in order to meet the Copenhagen criteria, he said: "We have the will to do so" within both government and parliament, as can be seen by the recent constitutional reform.
The president of the Republic of Cyprus, Glafcos Clerides recalled during a press conference that he had reached an agreement with the Turkish-Cypriot leader, Rauf Denktash, in order to open direct dialogue. He pointed out that a further meeting could be held between Christmas and the New Year on the arrangements for this dialogue (he spoke of three meetings a week), which should begin on 16 January in the presence of the UN representative, Mr de Soto. Stressing that Mr Denktash had spoken of the aim of reaching a solution to the Cypriot problem in June, he said that this buffer date had not been well received by the Greek Cypriots but that "where there's a will, there's a way".