Delay to talks fails to worry EU applicants

Date: 04/11/1999

By Simon Taylor

DIPLOMATS from the leading candidates for EU membership have dismissed fears that the Union's decision to delay the next negotiating session could hamper long-term progress in the talks.

The decision to postpone the meeting originally planned for next Thursday (4 November) until 12 November has prompted speculation that the EU will not be able to maintain the pace of negotiations with the six front-runners in the enlargement process.

But the applicant countries insist such fears are groundless, with some even taking a positive view of the decision. "It is not a bad thing at all because the final result is what matters," said one Polish diplomat, who argued that more new areas for negotiation could be tackled if the Union was better prepared.

The Finnish presidency decided to postpone the negotiating session last week after it became clear that holding the meeting on 4 November would not produce any substantial results.

Diplomats say the European Commission presented draft Union positions on taxation and services too late for member states to adopt a common line in time.

Austria also dashed any hopes that transport issues would be tackled by refusing to sign up to the Commission's proposal to give road-haulage companies in new member states full access to the EU's transport market provided they met Union rules on environmental and road safety standards. Vienna wants special safeguards to protect the country against an inevitable rise in the volume of traffic travelling through its territory if the candidate countries get full access to the haulage market.

Austria is also continuing to block negotiations on energy rules, insisting that all the applicant countries must meet EU rules governing the safety of nuclear power plants before they join the Union.

Viennese officials reject suggestions that their government's hardline stance is a direct result of the success of extreme-right politician Jörg Haider - who made opposition to enlargement a key campaigning issue in last month's national elections. "These are very important issues for Austria because of its geographical position. We had already warned that they would present technical problems for Austria," said one.

But other EU diplomats claim Vienna's tough stand is linked to the elections, arguing that the resulting lack of a government in Austria was making it difficult to achieve progress on challenging issues.

The delay comes at a very sensitive time in the enlargement process. The six leading applicant countries are pushing hard for the negotiations to be speeded up so they can meet their target dates for EU entry. Delays in starting talks on some areas of Union legislation could derail their plans because the real bargaining phase will only begin once the candidates' negotiating positions in all policy areas are on the table.

Diplomats from the leading candidates for EU membership have dismissed fears that the Union's decision to delay the next negotiating session could hamper long-term progress in the talks.