It isn't always easy for public opinion to keep abreast of developments in the accession to the Union of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Are the Commission's latest reports positive or negative? The headlines of the international Press sometimes say one thing, sometimes another, without there being sufficient emphasis, to my mind, on the essential point, which is the fact that these new memberships have been definitively achieved. The Commission has every right to warn the ones that are lagging behind, criticise the gaps in the process underway, and encourage them to fill them in, but it should be clear that:

- accession by eight Central and Eastern European countries, plus Cyprus and Malta, will take place on 1 May 2004 whatever happens. The populations concerned have said yes, and the EU will welcome them with open arms;

- if they are not dealt with, the delays and gaps the Commission has pointed out could impact upon various modalities of accession, but by no means could it delay them;

- the aforementioned gaps, which call for "emergency measures", only concern around 5% of the dossiers examined, whereas all is in order for over 75%, and for 20%, it is a question of speeding up and reinforcing what has already been started. In absolute figures, the "serious concerns" refer to 39 dossiers out of the 1,400 examined (and Poland has said that some of its gaps have already been filled in the last few months);

- these gaps could lead the current Member States to apply safeguard clauses, thus slowing down free access by various products or services of the acceding countries to the greater single market; the total or partial postponement of the granting of premiums, subsidies or other Union funding to the new Member States,

- the consequences of delay would weigh on the acceding countries, without any negative effects for the Fifteen. Possible and provisional protection measures would meant that the correct functioning of the single market and common policies would not be compromised.

Two inescapable necessities. We may wonder whether the Commission has been a little too finicky in criticising the gaps; the Community acquis is made up of so many texts that even the current members have the odd delay… the new Member States should not be dealt with more strictly than the old ones. Analysis, however, shows that that kind of reproach would not be justified. Purely legal deficiencies exist, and they will lead to infringement proceedings if need be, as for the Fifteen. But the Commission cannot compromise on two requirements: a) respect for hygienic and veterinary standards. Dioxins, foot and mouth, BSE etc have left their mark, and no laxity can be tolerated. Only safe, healthy products can be sold on the enlarged single market; b) the guarantee that Union funding will be used correctly for the objectives it was intended for. Data on the seriousness and extent of corruption in the acceding countries are alarming enough to justify the EU's demands for clarity and transparency.

Precious contributions. European public opinion should also understand the advantages and benefits of enlargement. What the new Member States have to give is not merely political and cultural, but also economic and concrete; their growth rates, considerably higher than that of the current Union, could give a small but genuine boost to the European economy. Qualifications and training, goals the existing EU is pursuing with a lot of tenacity but without much in the way of results, are at a high level in many of the acceding countries I will never forget the answer I was given in Bratislava when I asked what trumps Slovakia held in the competition waiting for it within the EU: "first of all, our education system".

Presenting the Commission's report to Parliament, President Romano Prodi rightly flagged up the "extraordinary work" of the acceding countries, to which the reports bore witness. The delays and gaps are a fact the Commission is not trying to hide, but the positives are more important. Commissioner Günter Verheugen, to whom much of the success of enlargement is due, took the same occasion to emphasise the fact that these countries will bring "achievement, opportunity and plenty of enthusiasm" (the latter particularly precious in this day and age). Make no mistake about it: overall, enlargement is an opportunity for Europe.

The attitude in the IGC. One aspect, however, deserves separate analysis: the attitude of acceding countries to the Constitution for Europe, at the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), where these countries are already on an equal footing with the current Member States. (F.R.)