26/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - Between the signing of the Accession Treaty and the effective date of accession, the candidate countries will be monitored, and there will be reports made on their implementation of acquis communautaire, but "it is not a matter of fines", the Commission explained on Friday. On the basis of these reports, infringement proceedings will be launched against these countries if they do not respect the acquis, but only once the accession treaty has been ratified and once the country in question is formally a member of the EU. The Commission made this statement as a response to the article which appeared in The Financial Times alleging fines would be imposed on candidate countries before their effective membership to the EU.