EU Enlargement Negotiations Make Good Headway
-Dr. Reinhard Cluse, Commerzbank AG, Germany
European Union enlargement negotiations are making good progress. With the
exception of Bulgaria and Romania, the differences between the candidate countries have
narrowed significantly. A group of 10 countries with Hungary and Cyprus leading and Poland
lagging, has provisionally closed between 16 and 22 of the 31 negotiating points, referred
to as chapters. Therefore, an enlargement comprising these 10 countries at one time looks
likely.
The EU Council has pointed out that negotiations with the leading countries
should be finalized by the end of 2002, enabling them to take part as members in the
European parliament elections in 2004. This schedule is realistic, but ambitious for
several reasons.
# Today's EU members need to ratify the Nice treaty by the end of 2002 at the
latest.
# The negotiations on the most difficult of the 31 chapters will not reach
their critical stage before 2002 and might prove more time consuming than envisaged.
# Once negotiations have been finalized, the enlargement treaties will have
to be adopted without delay by the existing and the future EU countries.
Another risk for EU enlargement taking place in 2004 is Poland. If the
negotiations with the country are not finished in time, EU enlargement might be postponed
by one year.
Cyprus and Hungary have provisionally closed 22 of the 31 negotiating
chapters on adopting the EU's acquis communautaire. With the exception of Bulgaria and
Romania, the differences between the candidates in terms of accession negotiations have
narrowed significantly.
The clear differentiation between the so-called Luxembourg group (Cyprus,
Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia) and the Helsinki group (99
Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Slovakia) has disappeared. This is despite
the fact that negotiations with the latter group only started in February 2000, two years
later than with the first group.
Slovakia has particularly been successful, catching up with the Czech
Republic in terms of chapters closed. Latvia, Lithuania and Malta have also made good
progress, catching up with, or even overtaking, Poland.
Although EU officials continue to reiterate that candidate countries will be
judged solely on their own merits, a "big bang" enlargement comprising 10
countries at one time, all candidate countries except Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey, looks
increasingly likely.
With 16 chapters closed, Poland is currently the laggard of the 10-country
group. Slower progress is due to several factors:
# Due to the government's fragile base of power, the adoption of the
necessary legislation has been slower in Poland than in other countries.
# Given the large size of its economy, its agricultural sector, and its
population, the stakes in the negotiations between the EU and Poland are very high
compared with other candidate countries. As a result, negotiations on both sides have been
particularly uncompromising.
Poland's firm negotiating stance can be partly explained by the general
elections scheduled for September 23. In the run up to the polls, the government doesn't
want to make unpopular concessions to the EU.
For example, while five candidate countries have already accepted the EU's
demand for a 7-year transition period for the free movement of persons, Poland is still
opposed. Similarly, regarding the chapter on the free movement of the capital, Poland is
still trying to impose a transition period of 18 years before foreigners can buy Polish
farmlands; other countries have already closed the chapter with shorter transition
periods.
There is a good chance of the negotiations between Poland and the EU picking
up speed later this year. The preparations for EU membership are expected to be among the
key priorities of the Social Democrats, who are highly likely to win the elections.
However, issues of the purchase of Polish farmlands by foreigners will remain highly
controversial, particularly should the Social Democrats be forced to form a coalition with
the Peasants Party. At its Gothenburg Summit in mid-June, the European Council explicitly
stated that negotiations with the leading candidate countries ( that is, all except
Bulgaria and Romania) should be completed by the end of 2002, enabling them to participate
in the European Parliament elections of 2004 as EU members. This schedule is ambitious.
Negotiations on the most difficult chapters have hardly started yet.
According to the EU commissions road-map, the chapters with the greatest budgetary
implications and those concerning the institutional setup of the enlarged EU -
agriculture, regional policy, financial and budgetary provisions, and institutions –
will be negotiated principally in the first half 2002.
The negotiations will be protracted. As recent EU-internal debates have
shown, today's main recipients of EU structural funds- Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and
Spain- will defend their privileges in a determine way.
With Spain chairing the European Council in the first half of 2002, the
country can be expected to exert significant influence on the negotiations then. Moreover,
France and Germany, the main recipients of EU agricultural subsidies, will hold general
elections in March and September or October 2002, respectively. France will also hold
presidential elections in May 2002. As a result, both countries might be less compromising
on the issue of agricultural subsidies during the run-up to the elections.
The completion of negotiations with the leading candidate countries should be
feasible by the end of 2002. Therefore, EU enlargement should be possible by 2004.
However, there are a number of risks that might result in the accession date being
postponed:
# Negotiations with Poland might not be finalized early enough. For political
and practical reasons, a number of countries, are pressing hard for the first enlargement
wave to include Poland. If that is not possible by 2004, they might try to delay
accessions by one year until Poland could join as well.
# The treaty of Nice might not be ratified early enough. At the EU summit in
Nice last December, the EU Council decided on a number of EU- internal reforms, above all
the future size and composition of the Commission, weighting of votes in the EU Council,
and extension of qualified-majority voting. These reforms are regarded as a crucial
prerequisite for EU enlargement. The EU Commission points out that, for EU enlargement to
take place in 2004, the Nice treaty would have to be ratified by the end of 2002. So far,
only Denmark has fully adopted the treaty; in France it has passed the first Chamber of
Parliament. The Irish electorate recently rejected the treaty in a referendum; a second
referendum will not take place before 2002. The ratification process would also get into
difficulties in other EU countries and prove more time-consuming than envisaged. Besides
Denmark, the Nice treaty needs to be passed by one parliamentary chamber in five other
countries (Greece, Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Sweden). IN 8 countries it needs to
be accepted by two chambers of parliament (Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy,
Netherlands, Spain, and the UK). In Belgium, seven parliamentary instances, representing
the federal and regional levels, need to approve. A referendum is only envisaged in
Ireland.
# Following the conclusion of accession negotiations with the candidate
countries, the enlargement treaties will have to be ratified by all the existing and the
new member states. This process might entail additional problems.
Rejection in individual candidate countries would result in these countries
not becoming an EU member. However, this would not necessarily cause a delay for other
candidates.
Much more serious would be any of the existing EU members withholding their
approval. In this case, EU enlargement would be temporarily blocked.
Text courtesy: Made in Germany Vol XIX No. 4/5, 2001. Embassy of Germany in
Kathmandu.
UNESCO falls for the mediaeval walled town of Provins
-Raphelle Lucas, France
Since December 2001, the medieval town of Provins, located some 80 kilometers
from Paris, has figured on UNESCO's world heritage list. The town, which has succeeded in
maintaining its original urban fabric, attests to the earliest developments of
international trade fairs and economic and cultural exchanges in Europe. Every stone in
the charming city generously tells the story of the past.
Many of the street names immediately conjure up the Middle Ages for anybody
wandering around the small town of Provins, with Rue de la Friperie- Clothes street. Rue
de la Foire-aux-chevaux, horse fair street, Ruelle aux Foins- Hay Allay, Ruelle des
Teinturiers-Dyer Allay; Rue Hollande-Holand street, Tour aux engins-device street, and
Grange aux dimes-tithe barn. All these places now form part of the world heritage.
UNESCO's World Heritage Committee, which met from 11 to 16 December 2001 in Helsinki in
Finland, registered the medieval fair town of Provins on its prestigious world heritage
list which includes the legendary Samarkand in Uzbekistan, the historical centers of
Vienna in Austria and Goias in Brazil, the Masada national park in Israel and the Medina
of Essaouria in Morocco as well as the prehistoric drawings of Tsodilo in Botswana
sometimes known as the "Louvre of the desert". Today, 721 cultural or natural
sites, in 124 countries, considered as being of "exceptional universal value".
Benefit from the protection of UNESCO.
Provins meets two of the six possible criteria of selection concerning
cultural items, one of them being the fact of bearing witness to a considerable exchange
of influence on the development of architecture or technology, monumental arts, town
planning or landscape creation, and the other offering an eminent example of a type of
building or an architectural or landscape grouping, illustrating one or several
significant periods of human history, during a given period or in a determined cultural
area. Indeed, this medieval walled market town, located in the heart of the former region
belonging to the powerful Counts of Champagne, which has successfully maintained its
original urban fabric, bears witness to very important economic, commercial and cultural
influences between 11 and 13 centuries, as well as to the town planning of the time. The
kinds of buildings found there illustrate the beginnings of economic and cultural
exchanges in Europe.
Lying at the crossroads of some twenty roads, Provins, in the 11 th century,
could hardly be avoided when traveling between Flanders and Italy, which, at the time,
were the hubs of trade. The Counts of Champagne turned this fact to their advantage by
holding fairs in May and September, which reached their heyday in the 12 and 13 centuries.
In order to guarantee their success but also to enrich themselves, these nobles had
organized protection for the merchants. In addition to escorting the merchandise of those
wishing to go to the places where they could buy wholesale, they also ensured their
security on the spot with court cases, settlement of disputes, wording of contracts and
bringing offenders to justice all over Europe.
These privileges quickly made the reputation of the fairs and stimulated the
activity of local craftsmen thanks to the volume of exchanges. This is how the cloth trade
developed into a speciality that was famous throughout Europe. Moreover, the historian
Jean Favier explains in his Dictionary of Medieval France, "'the coinage by the
Provins mint known as Provinois, enjoyed such a reputation throughout Europe that it was
imitated as far as Italy". These economic exchanges naturally went together with
extremely rich cultural exchanges. However, with the 14 th century and developments in
European trade routes, and, especially, with the wars of religion and epidemics, the fairs
in Champagne started to wane.
Because of its canals and streams, the Romantics named Provins "Little
Venice". With its winding streets, it has managed to retain its authenticity and
charm to which the great variety of its historical monuments contributes. Most of them
date from between 11 and 15 th centuries. The town's treasures include 150 valued cellars
which were used to store goods, the inextricable network of underground passages dug in
the limestone, and merchant's houses and the inns where they ate. But Provins has also a
rich military heritage with its ramparts and Caesar's Tower, a splendid keep standing on a
rocky spur from which the town developed in the 11 century. It also has a remarkable
religious heritage with its Saint-Quiriace collegiate church and its Saint-Ayoul and
Saint—Croix churches.
The charm of Provins also comes from its having escaped the ravages of wars
and the dreadful restoration operations of the 19 th century as well as the disastrous
effects of town planning and industrialisation. Moreover, its listing as part of the world
heritage includes its whole area and not just its historical center. Nevertheless,
restoration work has been carried out in several sites over the last three decades. The
town council has also undertaken a vast program of touristic enhancement, with pageants
and historical tournaments. As a result, every year more than 500,000 visitors stroll
along the streets of this town which was already listed as a historical monument by the
writer Prosper Merimee in 1875. |
