Luxembourg, 15/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Economic Area (EEA) held its 19th meeting in Luxembourg, chaired by Tassos Giannitsis and which was attended by Commissioner for Enlargement Günter Verheugen, as well as government members of the AELE countries. Despite productive discussions, the Council did not finalise the accession for the ten future EU Member States to the EEA, to the regret of Mr Verheugen. The Commissioner recognised that "we still need time" and also believed that the negotiations begun in January would probably be finished "after Easter". The objective is to obtain a simultaneous accession of the future ten EU Member States to the EEA. The Council of the EEA also discussed the situation in Iraq, the Middle East and the Balkans, as well as the work carried out at the Convention.