MEETING OF THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE EU CANDIDATE MEMBERS - 13-14 SEPTEMBER 2000

The EU candidate countries representatives - being Chief Negotiators or Senior Officials of the twelve candidate countries – Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia – negotiating membership of the European Union met in Vilnius, Lithuania on 13-14 September 2000.

The participants of the meeting discussed important issues related to the European Union's enlargement process, the Inter-Governmental Conference and the Communication Strategy of the European Commission.

The participants of the meeting underlined the importance of the consistency, predictability and momentum of the enlargement process which is a historic development towards the widening and deepening of a secure and prosperous Europe.

The participants emphasised the importance of the decisions on enlargement adopted at the Helsinki European Council and welcomed that the inclusive character of the enlargement process was reinforced by the opening in early 2000 of accession negotiations with Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Slovakia.

The participants reinforced their commitment to pursue their internal preparations for EU membership. They reiterated that all countries should be judged on the basis of their own merits and emphasised that, in line with the principle of differentiation, the possibility of catching up should not slow down accession negotiations with any candidate country.

The representatives of the twelve candidate countries noted the progress in the negotiations during the Portuguese Presidency. An important step was the opening of the negotiations in all areas of the acquis (except "institutions" and "miscellaneous") with Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, the Czech Republic and Slovenia while substantial negotiations with Malta, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia have been launched. The participants expressed their expectation that the French and Swedish presidencies of the European Union will substantially contribute to the acceleration and completion of the negotiating process.

The participants welcomed the intention expressed at the Feira European Council to open negotiations in all areas of the acquis with the most advanced candidate countries which started negotiations in 2000, as early as possible in 2001.

They were also convinced that the accession negotiations could be concluded with any prepared candidate country during the year 2001 and expressed their expectation that this possibility will be included in the "accession scenario" to be adopted by the European Council in Nice.

The participants of the meeting expressed their confidence that the current Inter-Governmental Conference on the institutional reforms of the European Union will be concluded by the end of 2000 according to the plans set out at the Helsinki and Feira European Councils and welcomed the determination of the EU member states that they will be in position to admit new member states from the end of year 2002.

The participants of the meeting were of the opinion that the European Conference scheduled during the French Presidency would give them an opportunity to present their views on the current institutional reform and to contribute to the discussion on the future of the European Union.

The participants stressed the importance of providing information on the historical challenge and opportunities of the enlargement in order to generate a dialogue with Europe's citizens and to ensure broad support for the enlargement process both within the EU member states and the candidate countries. The participants pledged their support and readiness to co-operate with the EU member states and the European Commission in this regard.

The participants of the meeting expressed their intention to organise another meeting of candidate countries next year.

The representatives of France in the capacity of the EU Presidency and of the European CommiSsion were also present at the meeting. The representative of Turkey participated in the relevant session of the meeting.