Brussels, 28/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, Pedro Solbes, Commissioner for economic and financial affairs, ruled out all possibility of adjusting Maastricht criteria in order to possibly take into account the specific economic and monetary circumstances of the ten accession countries so that their entry into the euro zone might be facilitated. Speaking during a seminar organised by the Hungarian national bank in Budapest, Mr Solbes clearly stressed that the future new member States should not count on preferential treatment compared to the current Member States. During a speech, Mr Solbes said he often hears the argument that criteria relating to inflation (all Eastern and Central European candidates have relatively high inflation rates) or to the exchange rate should be adjusted to take into account the specific circumstances of the accession countries and the potential trade-offs between nominal and real convergence they are likely to face. Such flexibility will not be possible, the Commissioner insisted. He insisted at this point that the new Member States wishing to adopt single currency should fulfil the same conditions as those fixed by the Treaty for the countries that are currently part of the euro zone. The principle of equal treatment between former and future participants in the euro zone will be fully honoured. This also implies that, alongside other criteria (public debt, budgetary deficit, inflation, etc.), the new EU member countries should, before entering the euro zone, be part of the Exchange Rate Mechanism II (ERM II) during at least two years. Mr Solbes recalled in Budapest the obvious economic and monetary advantages entailed for the future members if they were to belong to the euro zone, but he also warned the accession countries that they should avoid a policy that would mean jumping stages and focusing, at this stage, all their economic and monetary policies on the sole objective of joining the euro zone as rapidly as possible. Candidates must not seek to fulfil the nominal convergence criteria prematurely, but rather focus their effort on the creation of sound economic structures, on the continued consolidation of public finance and on real convergence (not only nominal) with the rest of the enlarged Union. "The priority of accession countries in the period before accession should be to prepare their economies for integration into the EU. In this period, they should focus on furthering the process of structural and economic reform in order to enhance their status as functioning market economies and be able to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union", the Commissioner stressed.
Commission President Romano Prodi was also in Budapest this week, where he mainly took part in the launching of a vast public campaign in favour of accession by the country to the EU (the Hungarian referendum will be held on 12 April). Accession negotiations are complete, the work of diplomats is over, now it is up to the political actors to explain the advantages of enlargement to the citizens and to obtain their support for this major historic plan, Mr Prodi said in a speech. Hungary has much to offer the EU, Mr Prodi said, for example on the cultural and intellectual plane, in the field of research and education and artistic creativity and also with regards the economy. On this last point, Mr Prodi mainly cited a recent study published in the press whereby the knowledge-based economy of Hungary would be placed in a higher category than that of France or Germany. During his visit to Budapest, President Prodi met Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Medgyessy.
Results of a recent survey show that 59% of Hungarians would be in favour of their country joining the EU and 21% against, if a referendum were to be held now.