PRESS CONFERENCE GIVEN BY THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OUTLINING THE STATE OF PLAY IN THE PROCESS OF MALTA'S ACCESSION TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

The following are briefing notes regarding the Press Conference given by the Minister of Foreign Affairs outlining the state of play in the process of Malta's accession to the European Union.

Press Conference given by the Minister of Foreign Affairs outlining the state of play in the process of Malta's accession to the European Union

04 August 2000

1. Negotiations

There are 31 chapters of the EU's acquis communautaire that need to be negotiated before accession.

Of these, eight were opened under the Portuguese Presidency, and a further nine were opened under the French Presidency. This means that a total of seventeen chapters have been opened with Malta, more than have been opened with any candidate country that started negotiations at the same time (the ‘Helsinki group' of candidates).

Of the eight opened under the Portuguese Presidency, seven (all excluding Culture and Audiovisual Policy) have been provisionally closed (more than any other of the Helsinki group). In these seven chapters the Maltese Government has said that "Malta accepts and is in a position to implement, by accession, the acquis communautaire" and that therefore "no transitional period or derogation from the acquis is requested".

The EU side noted this and for each of the seven chapters stated that "at this stage, this Chapter does not require further negotiations".

The term ‘provisionally closed' means that although it is felt that no further negotiations on the chapter are required at the present moment, if the need is ever felt by either side the chapter may be re-examined.

Of the nine chapters that were opened under the French Presidency, the position papers on Fisheries, Economic and Monetary Union, Statistics and Consumer and Health Protection, after being approved by MEUSAC and Cabinet Committee have been submitted to the EU, while the negotiating position on Company Law is expected to be submitted in the very near future. Drafts of the papers on Free Movement of Capital, Competition Policy and Social Policy have been circulated to MEUSAC for their consideration, while the draft position paper on Transport is expected to be circulated in September.

Industrial Policy: The chapter has been provisionally closed. In areas such as shipbuilding and shiprepair, where Malta needed to safeguard its position, it has done so indirectly by expressly stipulating that the matter will be dealt with under another chapter.

SMEs: The Chapter has been provisionally closed. The chapter offers many benefits to SME's such as participation in programmes and the use of streamlined procedures for their benefit.

Science and Research: The chapter has been provisionally closed. The chapter offers many benefits to Malta such as participation in the EU's research and development programme.

Education and Training: The chapter has been provisionally closed. The chapter offers many benefits to Malta such as participation in the EU's education programmes.

Telecommunications: The chapter has been provisionally closed. Malta is committed to the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector, which is expected to bring important benefits to the consumer and to the economy.

External Relations: The chapter has been provisionally closed. Upon accession Malta will form a part of the rich network of agreements that the EU has negotiated with third countries.

Common Foreign and Security Policy: The chapter has been provisionally closed. Malta's neutrality has been wholly safeguarded.

Culture and Audiovisual Policy: This chapter has not been closed due to a technical issue (relating to Malta and the EU's commitments under the WTO) which should be cleared in the near future. It is therefore hoped that this chapter will be provisionally closed during the French Presidency. The chapter offers many benefits to Malta such as participation in the EU's programmes related to culture.

Economic and Monetary Union: This paper has been discussed by MEUSAC and Cabinet Committee and has been submitted to the EU. Government has not requested any transition periods or special arrangements. It should be noted that Malta and the other candidate countries will not join the Euro-zone upon accession.

Statistics: This paper has been discussed by MEUSAC and Cabinet Committee and has been submitted to the EU. Government has not requested any transition periods or special arrangements.

Consumer and Health Protection: This paper has been discussed by MEUSAC and Cabinet Committee and has been submitted to the EU. Government has not requested any transition periods or special arrangements.

Company Law: This paper has been discussed by MEUSAC and Cabinet Committee and is expected to be submitted to the EU in the coming days. Malta's Companies Act, and its intellectual property legislation are already largely in line with the acquis. It is not expected that any transition period or derogation will be requested.

Free Movement of Capital: This paper is still to be discussed by MEUSAC and Cabinet Committee. Government intends to negotiate a derogation from the acquis on the issue of the acquisition of immovable property.

Competition Policy: This paper is still to be discussed by MEUSAC and Cabinet Committee. Government intends to negotiate transitional periods to cover state aid in the Shipbuilding/shiprepair sector as well as certain other aspects.

Fisheries: This paper has been discussed by MEUSAC and Cabinet Committee and has been submitted to the EU. Government has requested, in particular a derogation in order to continue to manage its 25 nautical miles conservation zone as well as the extension of the market withdrawal provisions to a number of species of fish identified as being important to the Maltese fisheries sector.

Social Policy: This paper is still to be discussed by MEUSAC and Cabinet Committee. A number of studies are still being carried out in this area, and the full negotiating position is still to be ascertained. Transition periods are under consideration for specific aspects of particular directives on health and safety and labour law.

Transport: The Draft Negotiation Position Paper is being prepared and will be circulated to MEUSAC after the Summer break.

How the process is expected to unfold during the French Presidency:

The Government's objectives for negotiations under the French Presidency are:

That Culture and Audio Visual Policy, opened during the Portuguese Presidency, be provisionally closed;

That Economic and Monetary Union, Statistics, Consumer and Health Protection and Company Law, opened during the French Presidency, and where Malta will not request any transitional periods or special arrangements, be provisionally closed;

That substantive progress be made in the negotiations on Chapters 4, 6, 8, and 9 (Free Movement of Capital, Competition Policy, Fisheries and Transport), where Malta is requesting either transition periods or special arrangements; and

That Chapter 13 (Social Policy), be very well advanced or even possibly provisionally closed with Malta with the transitional periods being granted.

The Opposition has criticised Government for moving too fast, and that so many chapters have been closed because the Government is making too many concessions. Government's stand has always been, and will remain, that we will negotiate very hard wherever necessary. So far, closure has been possible on a number of chapters because a) they were easy chapters (benefits not costs) b) Malta successfully safeguarded its interests (e.g. neutrality) c) the reforms to be undertaken are beneficial to Malta anyway (e.g. Telecommunications). Nobody has yet come up with a concrete example of an issue where Government has not safeguarded the national interest.

It is expected that as we move into the more difficult chapters where Malta needs to negotiate transition periods or special arrangements, negotiations will be much tougher and more drawn out.

2. The National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis

As part of its preparations for accession to the EU the Government formulated a National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis, outlining the timeframes and modalities of Malta's progressive alignment with the acquis in the run-up to membership of the Union.

After intensive internal consultations with all the Ministries, departments and parastatal entities concerned, a draft of this document was finalised in January of this year. The document identified a number of studies that were to be commissioned regarding particular issues, in order to assess the impact of the adoption of certain parts of the acquis and to throw light on what our negotiating position on these issues should be. The draft was approved by Cabinet, and made public as a draft document that was to be the basis for public consultation. The document was circulated to all special interest and core group members of MEUSAC, who were asked to give their comments and reactions to the document.

Reactions to the document from a large number of MEUSAC special interest members were received, and a number of studies were therefore commissioned.

Part of the terms of reference for the studies was the need for consultations to be made with interested parties during their drawing up. My Ministry is actively working to ensure that if there are any cases where this consultation has not taken place, this should begin immediately.

The reactions of MEUSAC members, and the results of the studies as they are completed are being factored into the final version of the NPAA for the year 2000 which is expected to be discussed in Parliament in September.

Work on a new document to cover the year 2001 will then begin.

04.08.2000