Richard Bruton
Question:76 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs when the next phase of EU enlargement will be completed. [12015/99]
Written Answers. - EU Enlargement.
Following the decision of the Luxembourg European Council to launch the accession process, negotiations began with Hungary, Poland, Estonia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Cyprus , the so called ‘ins' or ‘5+1' countries on 31 March 1998. Concurrent with this process the preparation of negotiations with the five other candidate countries, Slovakia, Lithuania, Romania, Latvia and Bulgaria known as the ‘pre-ins' began through intensive screening of their national legislation by the European Commission. This phase of the screening process was completed in early 1999 and bilateral screening with each of the pre-ins began on 1 March.
In September 1998 Malta formally requested that its application for EU membership be reactivated. The Commission produced a report in February updating its opinion of June 1993 on Malta's application for EU membership. On the basis of this report the March General Affairs Council decided that screening with Malta should start as soon as possible.
Negotiations with the in's during the Austrian Presidency covered seven chapters of the Union acquis. The German Presidency has opened a further eight chapters for negotiation and is also carrying forward the work on the chapters still open from the Austrian Presidency. Negotiations at deputy level took place on 19 April with another negotiating meeting at deputy level scheduled for 19 May. Negotiations at foreign minister level will take place on 22 June. The Finnish Presidency will open eight more chapters for negotiation and the Portuguese Presidency will open negotiations on the remaining seven chapters of the acquis. It is therefore expected that by the end of June 2000 negotiations will have formally commenced on all chapters of the acquis.The European Commission will prepare a second set of regular reports on the progress on each of the applicant countries in the accession process. These reports will be considered by the Helsinki European Council. In the light of these reports the Council may decide to include some of the countries currently in the pre-ins group into the formal negotiating process.
Ireland fully supports the enlargement of the Union to include the new democracies of central and eastern Europe. While we do not underestimate the difficulties involved – either in terms of the necessary preparations on the part of the Union or by the applicants – we are convinced that enlargement is a historic opportunity for peace and stability in Europe.