EU farm aid line will ‘erode Slovak support’

Date: 20/06/02

By Craig Winneker

SIGNS that the EU could delay enlargement if tough negotiations are not completed on agriculture subsidies will erode public support for joining the Union, Slovakia's foreign minister is warning.

'We hope that the timetable that was adopted by the European Council in Laeken will be adopted,' Eduard Kukan said in an interview. 'We are doing our homework. We are fulfilling all the necessary criteria, but now that enlargement is getting closer there seem to be second thoughts.'

Slovakia has closed 26 of 31 negotiating chapters and is among the front-running countries in the race to complete enlargement talks by the end of 2002. But the most difficult chapters - on agriculture and competition policy - remain open and there is no sign they will be finalised soon.

'Realistically we cannot expect that the [EU] common position on agriculture is going to be out until sometime in the autumn,' Kukan said, adding this will not leave much time for applicant states to address concerns about a ten-year phase-in of direct aid to their farmers. Delays in the process, he argued, could cause 'political damage among the public and erode support' for Union membership.

EU enlargment chief Günter Verheugen insists the accession process is on track. But the head of the European Commission's delegation in Slovakia, Eric van der Linden, said: 'There will not be a solution before October [on the agriculture question]. We have to wait for the German elections.'

Signs that the EU could delay enlargement if negotiations are not completed on agriculture subsidies will erode public support for joining the European Union, according to Slovakia's foreign minister Eduard Kukan.