EU to recommend closure of seven chapters of the acquis with Malta today

by Anthony Manduca in Brussels

The Malta-EU accession conference will today recommend the closure of seven out of the eight chapters of the acquis communautaire that were negotiated between Malta and the European Union under the Portuguese presidency.

The chapters that are to be closed are: industrial policy, small- and medium- sized enterprises, science and research, education and training, common security and foreign policy, external relations, and telcommunications. The only

chapter that will be passed on under the French presidency will be that for audiovisuals. A meeting held yesterday of COREPER, which consists of the ambassadors of the EU members States in Brussels, yesterday decided to recommend closure of the abovementioned chapters at a meeting to be held today with the chairman of Malta's core negotiating group Richard Cachia Caruana.

A formal decision to close the chapters will be officially announced in June at a meeting of the accession conference at ministerial level. It is expected that an additional eight chapters will be opened under the French presidency which begins in July.

Although it is not clear which chapters will be opened in July these could include areas such as company law, competition policy, taxation, free movement of goods, free movement of services and free movement of capital.