Vienna promises to be brutally honest with applicant countries

Date: 02/07/1998

By Mark Turner

AUSTRIAN Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schüssel will warn the EU's central and eastern European applicants that talks on the free movement of people will be extremely tough, during a ground-breaking tour of the six 'first-wave' candidates this week and next.

A foreign ministry spokesman indicated that Vienna would insist on a long transition period after the first applicant countries join the Union before eastern Europeans are allowed to work in the EU.

He said the delay would be necessary to allow for wages to rise closer to Austrian levels. “There are 5 million people in the region within commuter distance of our major cities,” Schüssel's spokesman Florian Krenkel told European Voice. “We need some time until their salary level increases.”

Vienna says the message, which mirrors similar warnings from both of Germany's major political parties, will highlight Austria's no-nonsense approach to EU enlargement.

“We are the only country that tells the truth,” said Krenkel. “We will not tell them they can join by 2001 or 2002, or that we will do everything to get them in by 2003. That is not in our or their interests.”

Vienna's bluntness may not, however, go down particularly well in the candidate countries, which fear that Austria's hostility to eastern immigration could significantly slow down the enlargement process.

As Schüssel never tires of stating, Austria shares 1,260 kilometres of border with the applicant countries, and would be in the front line for any mass population movements.

Vienna insists that its approach is at least honest, as opposed to other countries which promise the earth in public but resist enlargement behind closed doors. “We want to help the candidates. We are not going there to tell them stories,” said Krenkel.

Although UK Foreign Minister Robin Cook visited a number of eastern European countries in the run-up to the British presidency, Schüssel is the first incoming president to include the applicant countries in his preparatory whistle-stop tour of European capitals.

Between 3 and 7 July, he intends to stop off in Tallinn, Warsaw, Budapest, Ljubljana and Prague. His secretary of state will visit the second-wave countries at a later stage.

Krenkel claims that Austria can help most by sharing its own experience of EU accession and pushing for the start of full-scale talks once a 'critical mass' of screening has been completed.

“We would like to start substantive negotiations in the autumn in order to keep the momentum of negotiations and encourage the applicant countries to proceed with the necessary reforms,” said Schüssel.

But other member states such as France and Spain, wary of enlargement progressing too fast, have already made public their opposition to early talks.

Vienna could consequently find itself with a major political fight on its hands within weeks of the start of its presidency.

But Schüssel's spokesman made it clear that his government would not shy away from the challenge.

Referring to the step-by-step examination of the applicants' compatibility with EU law, he said: “If you want to wait until the end of the acquis screening, it could take a whole year. That would not be the right signal to send our future partners.

“By September we should have screened 13 chapters of the EU acquis. We should be able to start on two or three. If we can achieve this, it will be a major step forward.”