Tide turns towards setting a target date for ending accession talks

Date: 27/07/00

By Simon Taylor

MOVES to set a target date for completing enlargement negotiations with the applicant countries are gathering momentum, less than a year after EU governments firmly rebuffed European Commission President Romano Prodi's call for a fixed timetable.

Support for the idea is growing as governments search for ways to counter candidates' accusations that the Union is dragging its feet in the accession negotiations. But it is likely to run into strong opposition from France and Germany, which argue that the timetable must depend on the applicants' individual performance.

The debate was reignited this week when UK Foreign Minister Robin Cook called for a target date to be set for concluding entry talks for the first time, arguing that this "could concentrate minds". The Dutch and Scandinavian governments are also now reportedly in favour of a firm timetable, and Italian Prime Minister Guiliano Amato recently called for new members to join as early as 2002, saying it was "scandalous" that they had been made to wait so long.

Diplomats from the candidate countries have warmly welcomed Cook's remarks and other signs of growing support for a firm timetable for completing the accession talks. "I do agree with Mr Cook on the question of the tempo of enlargement and the need to ensure that reforms are not delayed," said Poland's new Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski. Diplomats from other applicant countries echoed this. "This is a very positive sign. It means that we could still meet our hypothesis of finishing negotiations by the end of 2001," said one Hungarian official.

European Commission officials also welcomed Cook's statement, saying it would strengthen their argument for setting dates to prevent any foot-dragging by member states in the negotiations. "We need a date because without it we cannot go forward nor can the candidate countries themselves," said one.

Both Commission President Romano Prodi and enlargement chief Gunter Verheugen have long argued in favour of fixing a date, but initially ran into fierce opposition from existing EU governments which feared making commitments to the applicants which the Union would not be able to keep.

Hungary and the other best-performing candidates for Union membership have grown increasingly worried that EU governments would prefer to delay the first wave of enlargement until 2005. Austrian enlargement envoy Erhard Busek said last week that 2005 would be a good date for expansion because more EU aid money would be available to help new members and the issue would not cast a shadow over elections in France and Germany in 2002.

However, many argue that it could happen sooner. They say that if the front-running candidates could conclude entry talks in 2001, Budapest and other countries could theoretically achieve their ambition of joining the Union in 2003 provided national parliaments in existing EU member states ratified the accession treaties within 18 months.

Diplomats say the aim of those who favour setting target dates is to get agreement on the principle at the Nice summit in December. The date itself could then be set soon after, possibly during the Swedish presidency in the first half of 2001. They also suggest different dates could be set to reflect the 12 candidates' progress in preparing for membership.

But the French presidency argues that no decision can be taken on this issue until an analysis has been carried out this autumn of each applicant's readiness for membership. "We agree that setting a date can have a mobilising effect, as happened for monetary union and the single market, but setting a date without having a detailed overview means you would be making decisions which are not necessarily based on individual performance," said a spokesman.

Moves to set a target date for completing enlargement negotiations with the applicant countries are gathering momentum, less than a year after EU governments firmly rebuffed European Commission President Romano Prodi's call for a fixed timetable.