” “Unity restored” “

Towards an enlarged Union. “Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovak Republic and Slovenia meet the political criteria. In view of the progress made by these countries, the Commission considers that they will have fulfilled the economic and other criteria and will be ready for membership by the beginning of 2004. The objective is to sign the treaty of membership in the spring of 2003”. So begins “Towards the Enlarged Union”, the document of strategy and report of the European Commission on the progress being made by the candidate countries in their bid for EU membership. In the document the EU Executive “recommends” the European Heads of State and of Government to prepare the instruments of membership in view of the formal entry of these ten countries into the EU which ought to take place in 2004, prior to the elections for the renewal of the European Parliament. Absent from the list are Bulgaria and Romania; the Commission “takes note” of their intention to join in 2007. Turkey’s membership bid, on the other hand, has been put on hold: but the Commission recognizes the “great progress it has made in meeting the Copenhagen criteria”, and proposes a pre-membership partnership accompanied with stepped-up financial aid. A shared future and some still unresolved problems. On presenting the Commission’s deliberations to the European Parliament, Romano Prodi traced the history of the political, economic and social changes of the continent over the last thirteen years, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to our own day. He recalled that the countries of central and eastern Europe had carried out far-reaching institutional transformations since the European Council in Copenhagen in 1993. These transformations permit the “historic unity among all the peoples of Europe” to be restored and “a future based on the sharing of the fundamental values of peace, democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and the protection of minorities” to be built. But – Prodi said – the negotiations with the candidate countries on the various chapters that compose the three criteria of Copenhagen still present some unresolved problems. In particular, the chapter relating to agriculture and to financial and budgetary provisions still remain open for all ten countries; other still outstanding problems are the customs union (Malta), the structures of management of structural funds in the field of regional policy and competition policy (Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Malta). To analyze the progress of the candidates, the Commission has notified its intention to publish a monitoring report, six months before the planned date of membership, for submission to the European Council and the European Parliament. The document presented in recent days lastly contains the announcement of the introduction in the various treaties of membership of a “safeguard clause” in the sectors of the internal market, food security, justice and internal affairs, with a maximum duration of two years, with the aim of “permitting an unprecedented number of new member states to be harmoniously integrated in the Union’s policies”. The stages of enlargement. The further institutional hurdles on the way to enlargement are not many but they are significant. The European Council, meeting in Brussels on 24 and 25 October, will be called to examine and adopt the recommendations of the European Commission regarding the ten candidate countries considered suitable for membership. The Executive has declared its wish to conclude the negotiations with the ten candidates by the end of the year. Once the thirty chapters are closed, the signature of the membership treaties is planned for the spring of 2003. Subsequently, the current member states should proceed to the ratification of these treaties by a vote in their national parliaments (second half of 2003, early 2004), which will be followed, presumably by the end of April 2004, by the final vote of the European Parliament. Six months prior to formal membership, the Commission will present a final report on the progress of the candidate countries to the European Council and the European Parliament. As far as Bulgaria and Romania are concerned, prior to the European Council in Copenhagen in December, the Commission will present a detailed timetable aimed at ensuring their membership in 2007. Gian Andrea Garancini – Brussels