Kedves Hackz,

Nem azt mondtam, hogy a targyalasok lelassulasa a magyar kormany hibaja lenne. Ezt sehol nem irtam, hiszen tudom, hogy ez nem igy van. Azt irtam, hogy a jelenlegi magyar kulpolitika nem jol kezeli ezt a lelassulast. Ha kicsit is bepillantasz a kulfoldi sajtoba, akkor ez jol latszik.

A Feirai csucs:

PRESIDENCY REPORT ON THE ENLARGEMENT PROCESS

One of the main priorities of the Portuguese Presidency has been to provide impetus for the enlargement process currently under way with the 13 applicant countries.

As regards the applicant countries with which accession negotiations began in March 1997, namely Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, the Portuguese Presidency, in line with the Conclusions of the Cologne European Council, has initiated negotiations on the chapters which had not yet been opened, some of which are particularly complex: Regional Policy, Financial Control, Financial and Budget Provisions, Justice and Home Affairs, the Free Movement of Persons and Agriculture. As envisaged, the opening of negotiations on the chapter on Institutions, will naturally wait until the end of the Intergovernmental Conference on the reform of the institutions.

Furthermore, the Portuguese Presidency has endeavoured to achieve progress in the negotiations on all the other chapters previously opened. It has thus been possible to conclude provisionally with all those applicants the chapter on Foreign Policy and Common Security, Company Law with Cyprus, Estonia and Slovenia, Social Policy with Cyprus, Fisheries with Cyprus and Estonia, External Relations with Estonia and the Czech Republic, Customs Union with the Czech Republic, the Free Movement of Capital with Estonia and Financial Control with Hungary, Slovenia, Cyprus and Poland. The provisional conclusion of the Telecommunications and Information Technology and Industrial Policy chapters was also formalised with Hungary.

The abovementioned results were attained at two rounds of bilateral negotiation Conferences at Deputy level in April and May and confirmed at a negotiating round at Ministerial level in June.

At the same time, and in accordance with the mandate of the Helsinki European Council, the Portuguese Presidency formally launched accession negotiations in February with Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Malta. Accordingly, the Union managed to hold bilateral negotiation conferences with twelve candidate countries simultaneously during the Portuguese Presidency.

Mindful of the notion expressed at Helsinki that cumbersome new processes should not be introduced, and on the basis of the hallowed principle that candidates must be judged on their individual merits, the Portuguese Presidency defined a modulated programme of negotiations with these candidates on the basis of a proposal from the Commission, following consultations with the Member States. It was thus possible to launch concrete negotiations with these six candidates on

Education and Training, Science and Research, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, External Relations and Common Foreign and Security Policy. To this common core of chapters for these candidates should be added the launching of negotiations on Statistics and Competition Policy with Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia, Culture and Audiovisual Policy with Bulgaria, Malta, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia and Industrial Policy and Telecommunications and Information Technologies with Malta.

The results negotiated with these candidates were as follows: all five chapters which were opened with Romania during the Portuguese Presidency were provisionally concluded, negotiations were provisionally concluded on six of the eight chapters opened with Slovakia, with only Competition Policy and Culture and Audiovisual Policy still outstanding; again, of the eight chapters opened, only Culture and Audiovisual Policy, External Relations and Competition were not provisionally concluded with Latvia and Lithuania; four of the six chapters opened were provisionally concluded with Bulgaria, leaving Culture and Audiovisual Policy and External Relations open; finally, of the eight chapters opened with Malta, only the negotiations on Culture and Audiovisual Policy were not provisionally concluded. In order to achieve the abovementioned results with these candidates, the Portuguese Presidency organised two rounds of Conferences at Deputy level and a further two at Ministerial level.

It should be noted, particularly because of its symbolic importance, that the negotiating rounds at Ministerial level held on 13 and 14 June, which confirmed the results of the Portuguese Presidency, included for the first time all twelve applicants for membership, thus ending the separation of applicants into groups.

In addition to the negotiations as such, for which the programme set down by the Portuguese Presidency was completed in full, an endeavour was also made to press forward with other elements of the enlargement process.

An Association Council meeting was held with Turkey – the first in some considerable time – which will contribute to enabling the country to be effectively integrated into the pre-accession process, as decided on by the Helsinki European Council.

It was also possible to reach an agreement within the Union on a Financial Regulation for Cyprus and Malta, thus creating conditions for these two applicants to continue effectively with their pre-accession efforts, and allowing the respective accession partnerships to be formally approved.

Ennyi lenne a csucs "conclusion"-ja. Ebbol jol latszik, hogy a bovitesrol Feira-ban "bullshiting" tortent.

Udv.: euroPeeR