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EU Candidates Hail Historic Nice Accord, Target 2004
by Michael Thurston
BRATISLAVA (AFP) - EU candidate states hailed as historic Monday an 11th-hour agreement in Nice to reform the 15-member bloc, saying it firmly opens the door to the Union's eastwards expansion.
The prime ministers of four leading candidates said they hoped to join the EU in time for European parliamentary elections in 2004.
"We understand the Nice conclusions as a signal that enlargement should take place before parliamentary elections" in 2004, said Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda.
Dzurinda was hosting a meeting of the prime ministers of Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovenia hours after the end of the Nice summit before dawn Monday with accord on reforms needed to allow eastwards enlargement.
"We all have reason to be in a good mood," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told reporters.
There had been fears that a failure in Nice would jeopardize the Union's plans to expand to the east and southeast.
Some candidate states have warned for some time of signs that key EU countries are growing cold on EU enlargement amid internal disputes about the bloc's own reforms.
But after more than four days - the longest in the EU's 43-year history - of intense negotiations, the Nice summit finally pulled off an accord that should make the expansion work without gridlock or paralysis.
"The summit made an important step towards the reunification of Europe," said Hungary's foreign ministry spokesman Gabor Horvath, describing it as "a historic step."
"This ... proves that the EU is not planning to delay its enlargement," said Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek.
But the four leaders meeting in Bratislava cautioned that problems could still lie ahead.
"The results are sufficient for enlargement," said Slovenia's Janez Drnovsek, adding that "Some countries expected more ... but this is a realistic result."
"Of course there might be new problems," said Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman.
Candidate states underlined that Nice had gone a long way to meeting their targets, notably by according them all a member of the European Commission, the EU's executive branch.
Bulgarian Prime Minster Ivan Kostov, whose country is near the back of the EU candidate queue, said Nice had given Sofia "the certainty that Bulgaria's position will be well protected within EU institutions."
Six countries - Poland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia and Cyprus - began EU membership talks in 1998. Six others began talks this year: Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Malta.
Turkey, which is formally a candidate but has not yet been invited to begin membership talks, was notably miffed by its absence from the Nice Treaty document itself.
"The EU presidency has not handled this issue very well. They could have inserted a little explanation," said one diplomat in Ankara.
Amid the relief that Nice had not collapsed, some commentators and politicians kept up pressure for a firm timetable for enlargement.
"No commitments were made and candidates' hopes of joining before June 2004 could be illusory," warned the Polish daily Trybuna, referring to the EU's desire that "certain" candidate states take part in 2004 EU parliament polls.
Politicians also kept up the pressure. "It is vital that the EU be able to accept new members by the end of 2002," said the Slovenian foreign minister.
But overall there was satisfaction. Poland, the largest EU candidate state with 39 million inhabitants, said the Nice accord confirmed it would be one of the EU's big six when it joins.
"Poland, put on an equal footing with Spain, will be one of the biggest countries in the Union, with a real influence on how it works," said foreign ministry spokesman, Grzegorz Dziemidowicz.
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