Brussels, 11/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - Conclusion of accession negotiations with the ten candidate countries should be the highlight of the European Council of Copenhagen that will open Thursday evening, and the Danish Presidency is confident that that goal could be attained by Friday evening, "on condition that everyone understands the historic nature of the event and shows good will and flexibility", Danish Presidency diplomats stressed Wednesday morning. But Wednesday, the Presidency also reiterated its warning, stressing that candidate countries that have already provided their agreement in principle to accepting the current offer will not have to wait for those who, in Copenhagen, should continue to reject the offer. "In compliance with the principle of differentiation between candidates (a principle that has been applied throughout accession negotiations), we shall conclude in Copenhagen with those that are ready to conclude", the Presidency explains. "We are determined to complete the process with a maximum of countries, preferably with all ten. But should some not be ready, the others will not have to wait".
Wednesday morning, there was still no certainty as to the way the candidate countries (whose Heads of State or Government will be in Copenhagen) will actually be involved in finalising negotiations. Officially, the Summit's agenda provides for the leaders of the candidates joining their European Council colleagues only Friday afternoon at 17.00 hrs. but presidency diplomats do not rule out that there could be a series of bilateral meetings before this joint meeting, in view of discussing the last problems in suspense. The joint meeting should then end with a kind of ceremony in which the Fifteen and candidates will officially take note of the end of accession negotiations. Before the meeting with the candidate countries (bilaterally or in joint meetings), however, the Fifteen will have to agree on the EU's final offer. Tuesday's General Affairs Council demonstrated that there was agreement on the technical aspects and purely bilateral elements of the contents of the different "packages" proposed by the Danish Presidency, except for the budgetary and financial chapters (see yesterday's EUROPE, pp.5/6). The key question of financing enlargement will be discussed at the European Council as early as Thursday evening over a working dinner of the Heads of State and Government in which the Danish Presidency will ask the Fifteen to formally approve the ten "packages" it has negotiated with the candidates. These "packages" would thus become the EU's final offers to the ten candidates. In that context, several delegations could also raise issues that are not directly linked to the accession negotiations, like trans-Alpine road traffic (Eco-points) and the nuclear power plant of Temelin for Austria, implementation of the Cap in Portugal or even milk quotas in Italy and Spain. The Presidency's goal is, however, to leave Thursday evening's dinner with a complete final EU offer that will be presented to the candidates on Friday. The question of Turkey will also be dealt with at Thursday evening's dinner. At the same time, Foreign Ministers will also have a working dinner, Thursday evening, at which it will be question of the Middle East and the EU's future policy towards third countries following enlargement (see below).
Friday morning, after the traditional meeting with the President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, the European Council will examine the draft conclusions (including the finalisation of the passage devoted to the prospects for membership for Bulgaria and Romania in 2007), before a working lunch essentially devoted to the organisation of the future presidencies of the EU (see below). In the afternoon, work will continue on the Summit's conclusions, and other subjects should be raised (as, for example, the oil slick caused by the sinking of the "Prestige"), before the 17.00 hrs. meeting with the candidate countries.
Here are the main topics on the agenda:
Accession negotiations with Turkey: the Heads of State and Government should opt for a solution not far from the Franco-German proposal providing for an in-depth examination of the situation in Turkey in December 2004, and, if all goes well, begin negotiations in July 2005 (see EUROPE of 11 December, p.6).
Bulgaria and Romania: the European Council should adopt an updated roadmap for Bulgaria and Romania in which it would back the goal of these two countries joining the EU in 2007 and agree to paying out additional pre-accession aid.
Middle East: firm conclusions are expected, some of which could demand adoption during the next Quartet meeting on 20 December, a road map on the peace process (see EUROPE yesterday p 7).
Reform of the Presidency of the Council: the European Council will take note of the Danish Presidency's report presenting three different approaches on how the Presidency of the Council could work after enlargement: 1) maintaining basic structure of rotational Presidency, whilst seeking to strengthen co-operation between the acting Presidency and the future Presidency; 2) an "institutional" Presidency (in the hands of the Council Secretariat General) in the co-ordination chain of the Council, combined with a system of either a rotating Presidency in the majority of Council groupings or Presidents elected from their counterparts (during a two or three year period) for most groupings or for specialised Council groups and their preparatory bodies: 3) the abandoning of the six monthly rotation in favour of a "Presidential team" shared between the Presidency of all Council functions during a given period (the team will consist of three or four mandated members over a period of a year and a half or two years. It compositions will be decided beforehand and balanced accordingly.
Greece will also be presenting a report on European Security and Defence policy (ESDP) that covers civil and military capability in the EU, the EU police mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the possible handing over by the EU of the Amber Fox mission to NATO in Macedonia and the war on terrorism.
An annual assessment report on the Northern Dimension action plan and a Council report on the implementation of the common EU strategy with the Ukraine will be sent to the European Council.
General conclusions that do not contain new initiatives, according to a Presidency source will be adopted on the lessons to learn on the sinking of the Prestige oil tanker. The Danish Presidency hopes that the Summit will avoid mention of the savings tax (see p 7).