Split over accession candidates

Date: 02/10/1997

By Mark Turner

EU FOREIGN ministers will agree next week that five of the ten eastern European applicants are technically ready for Union membership in the medium term, but divisions remain over the suitability of four others.

According to a confidential report prepared by national enlargement experts over the last month, all EU governments endorse the European Commission's conclusion that Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia and the Czech Republic could be ready to join the Union by 2003.

They also support the view that Slovakia does not meet the necessary political criteria for membership.

But serious doubts are expressed by some over the Commission's avis (opinion) on Romania, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Latvia.

The split underlines the political row which has erupted over which candidates should be invited to start enlargement negotiations early next year.

Denmark and Sweden, in particular, are pressing other EU governments to recognise the latest economic advances in the two southernmost Baltic republics, while Greece stresses the importance of shoring up recent regional consolidation in the Balkans.

“The opinions only give a picture of the region at the end of 1996,” explained a northern European diplomat. “We have to recognise quite strong developments in the Baltics, and also - for example - unfortunate changes in the Czech Republic.”

Enlargement experts have broadly accepted the Commission's sector-by-sector analysis of the applicant countries, recognising in particular the huge administrative challenge they will face in applying EU laws.

“This is becoming the big issue,” said the diplomat. “As public service salaries decline, quality and morale is plummeting. As a result, the door is being opened to corruption. Although not expressly mentioned in the report to ministers, this is likely to become a major worry. The cost of getting rid of irregularities once they are in the system is extremely high - we have to step on them now.”

Eastern European justice systems are also singled out as needing substantial reforms, and some experts have voiced concern over the prospect of eastern European migration to the West. Other issues under the spotlight include nuclear safety, fish, agriculture, the environment and financial services.

It is still unclear, however, exactly how these findings will affect the political decision on which countries will be invited to the first round of enlargement talks.

Candidates rejected by the Commission have spent the past month lobbying EU governments intensely, and calling on the Commission itself to change its assessments.

But although Foreign Affairs Commissioner Hans van den Broek has accepted a few technical corrections, he is adamant that his final analysis still stands. “We are not going to write a new opinion,” said Commission spokeswoman Lousewies van der Laan. “We will, of course, take these comments into account when we conduct our annual review. But so far we have received no new information that would change our decisions.”

In the meantime, work continues on the new accession partnerships aimed at easing the candidates into EU structures. The first, for Hungary, should be ready by early next year.

This has prompted some infighting within the Commission, with some Commissioners trying to keep control of their dossiers while Commission President Jacques Santer and Van Den Broek attempt to impose a more centralised strategy. “Recent initiatives by Mario Monti (Internal Market Commissioner) and Ritt Bjerregaard (Environment Commissioner) are beginning to ruffle some feathers,” said an official. “Others also want their say.”