CLOSING ADDRESS BY THE HON. DR. JOE BORG, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AT THE MEETING AT MINISTERIAL LEVEL ACCESSION CONFERENCE WITH MALTA – LUXEMBOURG - 12 JUNE 2001

By the end of last year Malta had opened sixteen chapters for negotiations, twelve of which had already reached the stage of provisional closure. Under the Swedish presidency eleven more chapters have now been formally opened for negotiations, leaving only two more substantive chapters, those relating to Justice and Home Affairs and Agriculture, to be opened in the near future, under the incoming Belgian presidency. At the same time, four new chapters have been brought to the point where today they can be added to the list of chapters which are considered provisionally closed, bringing the total number of closures to sixteen.

These results are impressive and encouraging. They are impressive when one considers the short period of time in which they have been achieved, and the increasing complexity of the issues which are being tackled. They are encouraging because they provide the right conditions for Malta to conclude its negotiations in time to form part of the next enlargement of the European Union. It is also significant in that we have today provisionally closed the first two chapters in which our requests for transition periods have been agreed to, and also two of the core internal market chapters, marking a qualitative advance in the negotiations.

Of the eleven chapters included in this meeting's agenda, two, those relating to Free Movement of Persons and to Taxation, are being formally opened for negotiations only today. I would like to make a few remarks on these two chapters.

In our negotiating position on Free Movement of Persons presented in December of last year we had indicated that we wished to discuss the mechanisms that will be adopted to safeguard the sustainable implementation of the provisions of the acquis relating to the freedom of movement of workers, taking into consideration the disruption of the labour market in Malta in the event of a high inflow of workers following accession.

The strategy paper and road map agreed last year proposed that the Union would formulate its own common position on this sensitive issue during the Swedish presidency. We therefore considered it prudent to wait until this common position was finalised before introducing our own proposal in this regard. We have in the meantime consulted quite extensively on this matter. The conditions are now ripe for the introduction of our proposal, and we intend to do so within the coming days. It is our hope and expectation that this chapter will be ready for closure early under the Belgian presidency.

Under the Taxation chapter Malta is making a number of requests regarding certain aspects of the acquis relating to VAT. This issue has important socio-economic implications for Malta which call for careful consideration. There is a need for some further detailed technical consultations with the Commission services before we are in a position to respond to the points raised in this regard in the Union's common position. We understand that these consultations will take place in the near future. After that we may need to consider if this matter should also be taken up at political level. The message I wish to convey to the accession conference at this stage is that for Malta this is one of the more sensitive issues in the accession negotiations.

I would also like to say a couple of words about the Justice and Home Affairs chapter, which we had hoped would be formally opened today. As far as Malta is concerned there are no outstanding issues with regard to this chapter. We are not requesting any transition periods or special arrangements. Many of the required legislative measures and administrative structures are already in place in Malta, and action is well in hand to make adjustments and introduce new measures where necessary.

Furthermore, over the last three months we have provided the clarifications requested in the light of our original negotiating position and submitted a detailed plan for the implementation of the Schengen acquis. In recent days we have also finalised a timetable which will ensure the full harmonisation of our visa policy by the accession date, in line with the commitment expressed in our negotiating position.

We understand that many of the issues arising under the Chapter of Justice and Home affairs are of particular interest and sensitivity for the Union, and that therefore they need a special scrutiny before the chapter is considered ready for provisional closure. We believe that we have provided all the necessary information in this regard. It is therefore our expectation that the conditions for the opening of negotiations on this chapter already exist, allowing for its closure early under the Belgian presidency.

The negotiations process thus far has consistently served to underline Malta's readiness for membership of the European Union.

It became evident from the earliest days of the screening exercise that our administrative practices, the legal framework within which our institutions operate, and the premises and assumptions upon which our legislation is framed, are firmly rooted in the same culture and traditions as those prevailing within the Union. I believe that the discussions on the chapters we have considered today, with particular reference to the one concerning Financial Control which is being provisionally closed, serve to further illustrate this point.

Of course we have never under-estimated the amount of ground we need to cover in order to meet the full requirements of the acquis. However, the key element which is of particular encouragement and inspiration for us continues to be the clear awareness that progressively as we adopt the acquis we are at the same time proceeding in the direction that our national development process has followed in the past, and needs to continue to follow in the future.

In a broad sense the results already achieved have created the necessary space for the more sensitive and critical issues in the negotiations to be highlighted and tackled more directly, and at the necessary political level. Malta has had occasion in the past to remark that accession is ultimately a political not a technical exercise. There are two dimensions to this exercise - on the one hand we are working to form part of a dynamic process in which we share both the full rights and responsibilities of membership; at the same time we need to ensure that as we move closer to membership we find the right means to retain the strengths, while remedying the weaknesses, of our ongoing national development process.

The chapters which we are targeting for action under the Belgian presidency will put all these aspects to the test. In addition to the chapters on Free Movement of Persons and Justice and Home Affairs, to which I have already referred, we will be looking for progress in a number of other chapters, in particular those on Fisheries, Transport, Social Policy, Environment and Customs Union.

We are constantly reminded that the accession process consists of two closely related elements - progress in the negotiations needs to be complemented by an active and carefully monitored implementation programme. Malta's implementation programme over the last few months has been active and impressive by any standard.

In the area of legislative reform we have enacted or are in an advanced stage of enacting major new legislation covering a range of sectors including state aid, banking, fisheries, electronic commerce, data protection and customs.

In the area of administrative reform action taken includes the separation of the operational and regulatory tasks in the sector of telecommunications, the setting up of the Malta Communications Authority, of the Malta Resources Authority, of the eMalta Commission, and of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority, the strengthening of administrative capacity in the taxation sectors, the introduction by Customs of the Single Administrative Document and a number of other customs procedures in accordance with the Union's Customs Code, the innovations in our financial control procedures, the establishment of new administrative structures in the areas of standardisation and quality control, of state aid, of policy planning and of data protection, and the further reforms in our banking and services sectors including the establishment of a Financial Intelligence Unit.

In July a meeting of the Association Committee under our Association Agreement will take place to consider progress in the implementation of our accession partnership. Together with the updating of our National Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis, which should be ready in the coming weeks, this will provide a useful input for the regular report which the Commission will be preparing later in the year. In this connection we also keep the Commission informed on a regular basis of all relevant administrative and legislative developments.

One essential dimension of the accession process consists in the manner in which progress towards membership finds reflection in an increasingly closer involvement by Malta in the life of the Union. This closer involvement must in turn show its visible and positive effect on ongoing social and economic developments in Malta.

Over the last few months there have been a number of useful developments in this regard. Projects financed under Malta's pre-accession allocation have started being implemented. Our effective participation in the Union's educational and youth programmes is in place, and by the end of the next academic year over four hundred students will have benefited from them. We have completed formal preparations for our participation in the science and research programmes, and we are looking forward to starting our participation in other programmes in the near future. In this regard we welcome last week's decision by Council to give the Commission a mandate to negotiate a Framework Agreement for Malta's participation in such EU programmes. Our political co-operation with the European Union has both widened and intensified. We have declared our support and announced our contribution to the ESDP. Together with other candidate countries we are increasingly involved in the discussions on the future of Europe.

One of the more recent developments which are particularly welcome and useful concerns the agreement reached in principle with the Commission on improved reciprocal market access for some of our fisheries products.

The July meeting of the Association Committee will have the opportunity to discuss this agreement and its early implementation, and we are hopeful that in the near future we will be able to open similar technical discussions on improved market access for some of our agricultural products.

We are confident that all of this present momentum in the process of Malta's integration with the Union will be maintained, culminating in the early accession of Malta in the first enlargement. We augur the incoming Belgian Presidency every success in the fulfilment of the objectives set out by it in particular with regard to the enlargement process.

Allow me once again to end by thanking the Swedish Presidency and Council Secretariat for the urgency with which they have approached the enlargement process, the Commission for the sterling work it continues to do in order to keep the process going, and last but not least, the countless Maltese Government officials who are working tirelessly to ensure that the best possible package for Malta is obtained during the negotiations.

Thank you.