EU and candidates upbeat on accession talks

The European Union and candidate countries voiced confidence yesterday that disputes over funding the EU's eastern enlargement would not derail plans to complete accession talks at a Copenhagen summit in mid-December.

"Even if somebody wanted to derail enlargement, I do not think it is possible now. I am confident we will have a good landing in Copenhagen," EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen told the European Parliament.

He said the EU's biggest ever enlargement to take in 10, mostly ex-communist countries was bound to take place in early 2004, with the exact date depending on how quickly parliaments of the EU's current 15 states ratify the accession treaty.

The candidates had expressed disappointment with the financial package offered by EU leaders at a Brussels summit on October 24-25.

But after bilateral negotiations last week, the candidates said yesterday they were optimistic the EU would improve accession terms on farm aid and budgetary contributions.

"Our arguments that, in terms of revenues and competitiveness, our farm sector must not suffer from accession are well understood," Jan Truszczynski, Poland's chief EU membership negotiator, told a news briefing after talks in Brussels.

Echoing the remarks of diplomats from other candidate countries, Truszczynski said the EU appeared increasingly flexible on agricultural production quotas for new member states and possibly also on direct payments for farmers.

The EU summit in Brussels gave the green light for concluding accession talks in mid-December with Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

On the contentious issue of direct payments for farmers in the new member states, EU leaders agreed these would be phased in over a decade from an initial level of 25 per cent of the amount received in the current EU countries.

Some diplomats from the candidate countries have privately said the EU could increase the starting level to 30 per cent.

The move, which could come in the final hours of the EU's summit in Copenhagen on December 12-13, would allow the candidates to placate their electorates, which are increasingly bitter over the EU's tough stance on financial issues.

"It seems to me from the signals that I am getting from EU member states that it is possible to increase the initial sum of direct payments from 25 per cent to a higher sum," Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller told public radio yesterday.

Verheugen said that if, as expected, the EU's summit in Copenhagen backed enlargement, the EU would present the accession treaty by mid-January and sign it with the future members around April in Greece.

He rejected as "absurd" the suggestions of some Western parliamentarians that EU national legislatures would need 18 months or even two years to approve the treaty.

"It is a simple question of yes or no," he said, adding he did not expect any parliament to block what the EU and candidates see as the post-Cold War unification of Europe.

But he warned the candidates against complacency after they sign the accession treaty, saying the European Commission would closely monitor their progress in implementing EU laws and other commitments needed for membership.

He reassured Bulgaria and Romania, which have been left out of the first enlargement wave, that their goal to join the EU in 2007 was realistic.