New battle over EU expansion

Date: 27/11/1997

By Mark Turner

EU GOVERNMENTS and the European Commission are bracing themselves for a new battle over how negotiations with the applicants for Union membership should be conducted.

Denmark and Sweden are expected to propose formally this week that 'screening' should begin next year with all 11 candidates, but possibly with a guarantee that fast-track negotiations with the front runners would begin in early 1999.

Screening would involve combing through the 70,000-page EU acquis to establish exactly where candidates stand before cut-and-thrust talks begin.

But the Commission is expected to oppose the idea strongly, claiming that its limited resources will make it difficult enough to screen even six candidates.

Union governments who favour a clear early differentiation between the applicants will also argue that the idea is misconceived as the less advanced countries would need to be screened again in a few years, when the EU acquis could look very different.

Denmark and Sweden want 'screening' of all eleven applicant countries to begin in 1998. Other Member States and the Commission want this restricted to front-runners. Greece objects to inviting Turkey to pre-accession conference, London, February 1998. Report of discussions at General Affairs Council, Brussels, 8.12.97, and lead up to discussions at European Council, Luxembourg, 12-13.12.97. For overview references on the European Council see Section 2.4.