EU emphasises enforcement of 'acquis communautaire'

by Anthony Manduca

The enforcement of the European Union's acquis communautaire by EU applicant countries is just as important as legislation adopted to comply with the Union's set of laws and directives. This was constantly emphasised by Pierre Mirel, the head of the Coordination Unit Policy Development within the European Commission's Enlargement DG, when he addressed a group of journalists from EU applicant countries, including Malta, in Brussels last week on an EU enlargement press trip organised by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the world's largest professional services organisation.

Mr Mirel gave the journalists a brief overview of the enlargement process since the two groups of applicant States, the "Luxembourg six" and the "Helsinki six", opened accession negotiations in 1998 and 2000 respectively. He said that it was perfectly acceptable for the "Helsinki six" to catch up in their negotiations with the first group, although, he stressed, on a number of occasions, "not Rumania or Bulgaria".

"Each country will be judged on its individual progress," he said, adding that both the Portuguese presidency and the incoming French presidency were in agreement on this.

Mr Mirel said that it was positive that quite a large number of acquis chapters had so far been closed during the accession negotiations between the EU and the applicant countries but said that certain chapters, such as competition and State aid, could prove problematic when they are negotiated. He said it was the member States and not the Commission that made the proposals and adopted positions during the negotiating phase and that the Commission provided technical assistance to the member States.

Mr Mirel said that so far there have been no real requests for transition periods by the candidate countries during the negotiations in Brussels. He made it clear, however, that it take a while to implement certain aspects of the acquis, such as those relating to the environment, transport, agriculture and competition. "The acquis consists of 45 years of legislation," he said, adding that Spain had taken seven years to negotiate its entry into the EU.

He repeated that an applicant country's ability to enforce the acquis communautaire would be crucial in the negotiating phase.

Mr Mirel said that a most important issue during the accession talks would be the control of borders. "Borders must be controlled," he said, adding that failure to do that could lead to exploitation by the Mafia and right-wing extremists. He also said that the question of agriculture could prove more difficult for the candidate countries, such as Poland, than the member States themselves, as consumers in the former would suddenly find themselves with much greater choice.

The head of the Commission's enlargement unit said that there is a perceived problem among certain member States about the free movement of labour once enlargement takes place. "However, this is exactly what used to be said about Spain joining the EU but there was no exodus of Spanish workers when enlargement took place. The same articles that used to be written about Spain could be reproduced today with the word Spain replaced by the names of the applicant countries," he said. "However, what happened after membership was that investment poured into Spain and Portugal."

Regarding the number of countries that will join in the first enlargement wave, Mr Mirel said: "Preferably two, three or four countries will join together. Each country will be judged on its own merits, however, in the case of the Czech Republic and Slovakia, for example, which have a customs union between them it would probably make sense for them to join together," he said.

Mr Mirel said that a progress report on Malta's bid to join the EU will be drawn up by the Commission later in the year. "Progress with Malta is going very well and are very pleased so far. We do not expect any surprises," he said.

He said that it was reasonable to expect a membership target date for the moment. "Perhaps it will be in 2003," he said. Mr Mirel also said that some transitional periods would be acceptable for applicant countries. He made it clear that all member States were in favour of EU enlargement but said that some member States obviously did not want to lose their funds which could be diverted to the east instead.

Mr Mirel said that it was important for countries to explain to their citizens what the EU means. "Enlargement will succeed only if citizens are in favour," he said. He cited the example of the Maastricht Treaty which was only just approved by a referendum in France and which was defeated in the first referendum in Denmark. He said enlargement would inevitably bring about greater trade and a peaceful Europe. "The question of loss of sovereignty is not an issue. How much sovereignty do you think the French Finance Minister has?" he asked.

As regards the conclusion of the EU's Intergovernmental Conference, Mr Mirel said that this might not be completed in Nice this December. "If the IGC is not concluded under the French presidency it is possible that it will be concluded in the second half of 2001 under the Belgian presidency, the reason being that Belgium has more experience in EU affairs than Sweden, which assumes the presidency on 1 January 2001," he said.

Mr Mirel also said that it was likely that as a result of the IGC each country would have the right to appoint a Commissioner.