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Malta hopes to close financial control acquis chapter today
by Anthony Manduca and Ivan Brincat
Malta hopes to close another acquis communautaire chapter, that
of financial control, during a meeting in Brussels today for
the applicant countries’ EU negotiators. This is the first
meeting at this level under the Swedish presidency. Financial
control covers areas such as proper control over both government
and EU funds, external audit and fraud.
In today’s meeting Malta is expected to open negotiations
on four other acquis chapters, namely freedom to provide services,
transport, regional policy and financial and budgetary provisions.
Malta’s EU negotiating strategy is now entering a tougher
more complicated phase where the country has to justify its
position regarding special requests and transition periods.
For example, in its negotiations over the fisheries chapter,
Malta will have to successfully show why the sea around Malta
should be treated differently and why the country’s current
20 mile exclusive zone is being managed properly. Malta is asking
the EU to allow it to maintain this zone.
Richard Cachia Caruana, the chairman of the core EU negotiating
group, told The Malta Business Weekly that the first phase of
the negotiations was over. “During this phase we opened
and closed the chapters which were technically and politically
not complicated.”
Now the more politically sensitive complicated acquis chapters
are to be discussed and these will probably not be closed until
the end of the negotiations.
A considerable amount of progress by the “Luxembourg Group”
of applicant countries which opened accession negotiations three
years ago is expected to be made at today’s meeting in
Brussels. Slovenia, for example, is to close the environment
chapter which will bring the number of chapters closed to 18,
equal to that of Cyprus which has always been at the top of
this group of applicant States. Lithuania and Latvia are to
close six and four chapters bringing them in line with Malta.
Lithuania is to close four chapters which Malta has already
closed, namely consumer policy, culture, telecommunications,
and European Monetary Union. It is also preparing to close two
other chapters where Malta is requesting transitional periods
or special arrangements: social policy and free movement of
capital.
In the latter chapter, Malta is calling for a compromise to
be reached over the right of EU citizens to purchase a secondary
residence in Malta in order to avoid a huge rise in property
prices.
In the social policy chapter Malta is asking for four transitional
periods related to working time, noise at work, minimum health
and safety requirements for the use of work equipment by workers
and minimum health and safety requirements at mobile or temporary
construction sites.
Under the Swedish presidency Malta hopes to close the free movement
of goods chapter as well as social policy and customs union.
Another chapter, the freedom to provide services might also
be closed. The government is also expecting to make substantial
progress in the chapters concerning free movement of capital,
transport, fisheries, energy and justice and home affairs by
the end of June.
After this round of meetings, Slovenia and Cyprus are expected
to close 18 chapters, Hungary and Estonia 17, and Poland and
the Czech Republic 15.
Of the Helsinki group of applicant countries Malta, Latvia and
Lithuania are expected to close 13 chapters while Slovakia will
close 12 chapters.
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