Brussels, 15/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, EU heads of state agreed to re-align the European Union's enlargement strategy to pay greater attention to the EU's institutional, political and budgetary capacity to absorb new Member States in order to better reconcile concerns to extend and deepen the European project.
Generally agreeing with the European Commission's proposals unveiled on 8 November 2006 in a special report on the EU's integration capacity and a strategic report (see full document in EUROPE/Documents 2452 of 23 November), the EU's leaders reached 'new consensus' at the summit, explained Finnish prime minister and President of the European Council, Matti Vanhanen, at a press conference. The basic idea is to ensure the EU can keep up and extend its own development and continue the enlargement process. The speed of enlargement must take account of the European Union's capacity to integrate new members, explains the Summit conclusions document. The EU 'is not closing our doors' to current and future candidate countries and the commitments already made, to Western Balkans states for example, have to be 'honoured', but at the same time, candidate countries had to realise that the speed of the accession process would de pend on their capacity to respect the very strict criteria set by the EU and the EU's absorption capacity, explained Vanhanen. The accession criteria would not be tightened up and would not be made stricter for future potential accession countries than they were in the past for the new Member States which joined the EU in May 2004 and those which will join in 2007, but the EU will be very strict about ensuring that the criteria are actually met by future candidate countries, he added.
The President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, welcomed the 'new consensus' among Member States based on the Commission's ideas. 'We need to combine' a strategic vision of enlargement with the European Union's capacity to absorb new members, he told reporters. This means that candidate countries would have to respect the accession criteria but also that the EU would have to protect its capacity to act and take decisions in an effective manner, explained Barroso. The President of the Commission said that a continually expanding EU had to become a stronger EU that was more capable of taking action and making decisions, rather than a less effective EU. He explained that the new consensus was based on 'three Cs', namely Consolidation, Conditions and Communication. Barroso said that communication and the personal responsibility of heads of state was vital to explain the enlargement policy to citizens. Rather than just being a political or diplomatic mov e, 'enlargement has to be a democratic decision, we need to have the citizens with us,' said Barroso. This means that all European leaders will have to explain to their citizens the benefits of enlargement - peace, political stability, economic prosperity and so on, he added. 'We need strong leadership able to communicate.'
Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister, did not hide the fact that the three Benelux countries had put forward a document which was more far-reaching and had greater content. He said deepening of the EU project should precede enlargement and the speed of enlargement should depend on the EU's capacity to absorb new Member Statesn. He said sarcastically that some Member States suspected the Benelux countries of making enlargement subordinate to the express condition of deepening, and that had indeed been the idea. Juncker said that apart from Croatia (which he described as well committed and better prepared than other countries), no further new Member States could be considered before EU institutions were deepened. He added that a new treaty would be needed to continue with the enlargement process. Most of the countries that argued in favour of 'deepening' did not wish to make too close a link with enlargement, said Juncker, because they thought that could be taken to be a 'further condition', but that had not been the Benelux states' intention.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU could not absorb all countries that want to join the EU and it was for the EU's Neighbourhood Policy to deal with those countries, and the EU's current institutions would not be able to ensure the proper functioning of the enlarged EU (hence the need for a constitutional treaty, she said, see related article). French President Jacques Chirac focussed on the EU's absorption capacity. The EU's common policies, he told reporters, must not suffer from the various rounds of enlargement. He said France felt that one particular priority had to be preserved, namely the Common Agricultural Policy, which France did not want to be common policy that fell victim to enlargement.
In the European Council's final conclusions, the EU heads of state started by welcoming Bulgaria and Romania to the club (they join the EU on 1 January 2007.
The conclusions then echo the conclusions adopted by the General Affairs Council on 11 December 2006 (see EUROPE 9325), describing enlargement as a 'success story' for the EU and Europe as a whole because it helps overcome the divisions in Europe and ensure peace and stability for everyone in Europe. The bigger common market and wider economic cooperation had led to greater prosperity and competitiveness, putting the enlarged EU in a better position to take up the challenges of globalisation. Enlargement had also given the EU greater weight in world affairs, making it a bigger power on the world stage. The conclusions document explains that the EU would honour the pledges it had made to countries which were part of the enlargement process. Countries on the road to accession had to be prepared to fully take on board the obligations arising from accession and actually be capable of doing so, and the EU must be able to function efficiently. The document notes that these two aspects are crucial is one wants to win the support of public opinion and public opinion would also have to be brought on board through greater openness and better communication. The document urges the Commission to make an impact assessment for the EU's main areas of activity at each of the main stages of the accession process for each country. As the EU grows bigger, successful EU integration will require effectively functioning EU institutions and EU policies being drawn up and funded in a sustainable manner, comment the EU's leaders. The European Council approved of the improvements put forward by the Commission for the management and quality of accession negotiations. In practice, this means that the most sensitive and tricky 'negotiating chapters' (like judicial reform and fighting corruption) will now have to be tackled from the start of accession negotiations. The speed of progress in the accession negotiations will depend on the outcome of reforms ca rried out by the candidate country in question and for this reason, the EU will no longer set target dates for accession, except possibly towards the end of the negotiating process.
The European Council also affirmed that the Western Balkans states are welcome in the European Union. How each country progressed would depend on its own efforts to meet the Copenhagen Criteria and the conditions set down in the Stabilisation and Association Process, add the EU politicians in the conclusions document, however. The European Council repeated the status of 'candidate country' for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), asking it to speed up its reform process in key areas in order to be able to make progress in the accesison process.
Negotiations with Serbia over the signing of a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) were suspended in the spring of this year due to the country's failure to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). On request from Italy, Austria, Slovenia and Hungary (which all called for rapid resumption of negotiations), Serbia was discussed in detail. The European Council did not agree with the request for rapid resumption of talks. Tuomioja told reporters that the EU's position had not changed and full and complete cooperation by Serbia with the ICTY was still required, but he wanted to send a positive and encouraging message to Serbia. The final conclusions document notes that 'Serbia remains welcome to join the EU'. The EU will continue to support Serbia's moves in the direction of the EU but urges the Serb authorities to accelerate their efforts to meet the necessary requirements, which include full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Given Serbia's considerable institutional capacity, the European Council believes Serbia will be able to quickly catch up with other countries in the region on the road towards the EU once the negotiations over the Stabilisation and Association Agreement resume, comments the conclusions document.
Turkey: Approval without debate of General Affairs Council decision to partially suspend accession talks
As planned by the Finnish Presidency, Turkey was not discussed at the Summit. The final conclusions simply repeats the agreement reached by EU foreign ministers on 11 December 2006 to partially suspend the accession talks. The European Council therefore formally approved the EU's decision to not open negotiations on eight 'chapters' (topics) and to not conclude any chapters until Turkey applies the protocol on the extension of customs union between EU and Turkey to all new EU Member States (including Cyprus, see EUROPE 9326). Questioned by reporters, both Matti Vanhanen and Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja refused to comment about the chances of negotiations being opened before the end of 2006 on chapters which have not been suspended. Tuomioja would only comment that work on the chapters not covered by the partial suspension would continue as planned. The next President of the European Council, Ange la Merkel, was not very forthcoming either about Turkey's accession talks in the first six months of 2007. She told reporters that it was possible that two further chapters would be opened. José Manuel Barroso told reporters that 'the EU leaves the door open for Turkey'. British prime minister Tony Blair agreed with this positive interpretation of the 11 December decision, telling reporters: 'We agreed not to close the door. It is important for Turkey, important for Europe and important for relations between the West and the Muslim world'. (hb)