BULGARIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Speech of Gunter Verheugen, Member of European Commission responsible for Enlargement
Strasbourg, 13 March 2002

Debate on EU-Enlargement
Plenary Session of European Parliament

2002 is a crucially important year for the enlargement process. The Gothenburg and Laeken European Councils have drawn out important guidelines for the remainder of the process. What we have to do now is harness the political momentum that has been created in order to solve the most difficult issues in the enlargement negotiations.

Our aim is to allow all those candidate countries that are sufficiently prepared to become members of the Union early enough in 2004 to take part in the European elections in the summer of that year.

The negotiations are on schedule. The Commission is confident that all the negotiating chapters that are still open with the ten candidate countries named by the Laeken European Council can be largely or completely closed during the Spanish presidency, except for those that have a bearing on finance, and institutional questions.

As envisaged in the road-map, in the weeks to come the Commission will present draft common negotiating positions for the agriculture, regional policy, budget and institutional chapters. Where Bulgaria and Romania are concerned, we hope to start work by the end of the year on all those negotiating chapters that have not yet been touched.

Looking back at the discussions of recent weeks, I should like to turn to the controversial subject of the Benes Decrees. The issue facing us here is not only legal but above all political and moral in nature.

In the Commission's view, the Benes Decrees that concern expropriation are obsolete and no longer effective. We should be working together to return to a more objective stance on this issue and not encumber the enlargement process with issues that belong to the past.

Our object now must be to arrive at an understanding that enables all participants to maintain stable and lasting neighbourly relations and to shape the future of Europe.

The question whether Czech legal practice in the restitution of property produces discriminatory effects is important for coexistence within the EU. I was pleased to learn that the Czech Government for its part intends to look into this matter. I also welcome the EP's request for an independent report. The Commission too is currently examining all the legal aspects of this matter.

I also welcome the fact that the Czech Government fully agrees with the Commission that legislative action must be taken in the Czech Republic if current legal practice proves not to be compatible with European law.

I should also like to briefly address another item on the political agenda for this year. With the conclusion of the accession process with Poland and Lithuania, the territory of Kaliningrad will become a Russian enclave inside the EU.

The Russian Government has raised a number of issues such as access, cross-border traffic and energy supplies. These subjects must be dealt with in context. It involves more than arranging a transit system and the visa question, for which we are striving to arrive at a accommodation in the framework of the existing Schengen rules.

The Commission set out its views on the whole range of issues last year and underlined its readiness for dialogue. We now need to press ahead with these talks within existing fora. But there can be no separate negotiations with Russia on the Kaliningrad question within the framework of the enlargement process.

The crucial question is how the territory of Kaliningrad can be included in the dynamics of development in the Baltic region. Our goal must be to close the social and economic gap so that the impetus for growth generated by enlargement does not produce social and political tensions in this part of the Baltic region.

In recent weeks I have conducted a range of political discussions in Cyprus. I came back from Cyprus feeling encouraged. I have the impression that both the chief negotiators engaged in the ongoing direct talks on the Cyprus problem are determined, serious and committed in their desire to arrive at a lasting political solution.

Once again I should like to encourage the two sides to pursue these talks constructively and to exploit the window of opportunity in order to agree on a workable and lasting peaceful solution before the accession negotiations are concluded at the end of this year.

The Commission is keeping up its intensive contacts with the United Nations in order to ensure that any political solution is compatible with the relevant provisions of European law. It is also crucial in this respect that Cyprus has the capacity to act internationally as a subject of international law, with a single voice.

On 30 January, the Commission presented its proposals for a common financial framework for enlargement, its aim being to ensure consistency between the negotiations on agricultural policy, structural policy and the budget chapter within a clearly defined framework.

Beyond that our aim is to make a success of enlargement on terms that are acceptable to all sides. There cannot and will not be such a thing as second-class membership!

However, at the same time there has to be a sound financial basis for enlargement which is measurable over time. In preparing the common negotiating positions in the weeks to come, the Commission will be guided by the following principles:

The rules of the game have been clear ever since the Agenda 2000 decision was taken in Berlin in 1999. The overall upper limits set in Berlin have to be respected even if we now take in up to ten new Member States rather than the six that the Berlin decisions were based on.

In principle, the new Member States will take part in all fields of common policy, albeit in some cases only after agreed transition periods.

After accession, the new Member States should not be financially worse off than before.

And finally: our proposals should in no circumstances prejudice the future shape of Community policy. The Commission's proposals in no way pre-empt the next Financial Perspective for the period after 2006.

As you know, this is essentially a structural aid package because that is where the need is greatest. The amounts proposed for structural, cohesion and rural development measures account for some 76% of total resources.

An increase in resources is proposed only for the cohesion funds but not for the structural funds. The main focus will therefore be on projects in the environment and transport infrastructure fields, which is where the candidate countries' greatest need lies.

More needs to be done as regards rural development. The Commission sets great store by this. We need to actively promote structural measures for rural areas and exploit opportunities for restructuring.

The Commission's proposals are designed in such a way that the new Member States can build on the experience and administrative structures of SAPARD.

No detailed figures were worked out in Berlin as regards direct income support for farmers in the period to 2006. However, in political and legal terms, the position is clear: direct aid is part of the acquis and we have to deal with it.

After accession, the new Member States will pay full contributions to the EU budget, while the budgetary impact of some structural and agricultural policy measures will only make itself felt in the fairly long run. As with previous enlargements, the Commission will therefore make provision in principle for a lump-sum rebate. Obviously the specifics can only be decided in the final stage of the negotiations.

I would stress once again that the Commission regards this package as politically and substantively balanced and a good basis for negotiation.

The outline is clear and the negotiations are progressing apace. The contours of the next stage are clearly visible: by the time the European Council meets in Seville a common EU negotiating position will have to be worked out for the agricultural policy, the structural policy, the budget chapter and the institutional chapter.

The Commission will also draw up a report for the Seville European Council on action plans for administrative capacity-building in the candidate countries.

In late October, the European Council under a Danish presidency will turn its attention to the regular progress reports for 2002 and the Commission's specific recommendations as to the countries with which negotiations should be concluded.

This will clear the way for final stage of negotiations to begin before the European Council meets again in Copenhagen in the middle of December this year.

The continuing close cooperation and political support of the European Parliament is essential if this process is to be brought to a successful conclusion.

14 March 2002