Denmark to propose May 1, 2004 as enlargement date for EU

The Danish presidency of the European Union is to propose May 1, 2004, as the date for enlargement when the general affairs and external relations council meets on Monday.

The Danish Ambassador to the EU, Poul Christofferson explained that the reason the date was set back to May, (rather than the expected date of January 1), was to ensure a realistic time-table for national parliaments to ratify the accession treaty in April 2003.

Mr Christofferson said the proposed date for enlargement would actually reduce some of the candidate countries' financial dues to the EU without substantially reducing the aid they can expect to receive.

He also said that each of the candidate countries would be presented with the "detailed complete package" a few days after Monday's meeting.

Remaining tight-lipped about the specific details of the agreements, the ambassador said however that even this package was still subject to negotiation.

The 10 candidate countries have been invited for the plenary meeting of the two-day council taking place in Brussels. Foreign Affairs Minister Joe Borg and chief negotiator Richard Cachia Caruana will be among those present.

Mr Christofferson said there were still a number of teething problems with some of the candidate countries and contrary to what was envisaged by some, "not everything was in the sack".

Problems ranged from finance to agriculture quotas to competition, he said.

He said that a number of candidate countries were demanding more money to cope with the envisaged cost of adhering to EU standards.

One of Malta's stumbling blocks is its request to retain a zero VAT rate on medicines and food.

At another press conference at the European Commission, spokesman Jean Christophe Filori insisted that enlargement was not being delayed.

He stressed that the commission had never proposed the date of January 1, 2004 for enlargement, but had merely stated that new member states would be admitted before the European Parliament elections of June, 2004.

Mr Filori said the commission was doing its utmost to iron out any pending problems before the Copenhagen summit in December, which is expected to formally announce the new EU members.

In the meantime, The Financial Times reported yesterday that the 10 countries lining up to join the EU are set to be offered an extra one to two billion euros and a range of other concessions as part of a new package to clinch a deal on enlargement.

The package, which will be earmarked for specific projects to be discussed by EU foreign ministers next week, is designed to smooth the way to a deal with the applicants at next month's enlargement summit, the FT said.

However, candidate countries are likely to point out that the EU recently removed €2.5 billion from the structural fund budget earmarked for them, partly on the grounds they might not be able to spend so much.

The leaders of the 10 countries met yesterday in Warsaw to coordinate their positions ahead of four weeks of intensive negotiations with the EU in the run-up to Copenhagen.