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Ten new EU members possible by 2005 |
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May 7, 2000
BERLIN, MAY 6 (AP) - The official in charge of European Union enlargement says new members from eastern and southern Europe may join only in 2005, but that the list could then comprise 10 countries, a German magazine reported Saturday.
Guenter Verheugen, the EU commissioner for expansion, has outlined the proposed timetable in talks with EU leaders, Der Spiegel said. The plan would be slower than some aspirants, notably Poland, want.
The report said Verheugen sees front-runners Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia and Cyprus becoming members on Jan. 1, 2005 - along with Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia and Malta.
Verheugen will propose at an EU summit in December that the bloc set the end of 2002 as formal target date for completing membership talks, with another two years for national parliaments to ratify the accession accords, the report said.
Concern has been growing among the first-wave candidates that the EU is slowing down the enlargement process after holding out the promise of quicker progress in the 1990s.
But EU leaders have stressed it's up to the eastern European countries - particularly Poland - to reform their economies and inefficient agriculture and meet other EU standards such as environmental protection.
Poland has set a 2003 target, and its leaders were stung by a recent report by a German business group saying it might not be ready to join before 2005.
The EU began membership talks with the six front-runners two years ago. Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Malta began entry negotiations on Feb. 15.
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