JINFETĦU L-EWWEL TMIEN KAPITLI TAN-NEGOZJATI MA? L-UNJONI EWROPEA

JINFET'�U L-EWWEL TMIEN KAPITLI TAN-NEGOZJATI MA' L-UNJONI EWROPEA

Wara li fil-15 ta' Frar 2000 il-Ministru ta'l-Affarijiet Barranin Dr Joe Borg u l-Ministri tal-ħmistax-il Stat Membru ta' l-Unjoni Ewropea (UE) fetħu uffiċjalment in-negozjati fuq l-isħubija ta' Malta fl-UE, illum fi Brussel inżammet l-ewwel laqgħa teknika bejn id-delegazzjoni Maltija u d-delegazzjonijiet tal-ħmistax-il Stat Membru ta' l-UE.

F'din il-laqgħa nfetħu l-ewwel tmien kapitli tan-negozjati, li jittrattaw il-politika industrijali; l-intrapriżi żgħar u ta' daqs medju; ix-xjenza u r-riċerka; l-edukazzjoni u t-taħri'; it-telekomunikazzjoni u t-teknolo'ija ta' l-informazzjoni; il-kultura u l-politika awdjoviżiva; ir-relazzjonijiet esterni; u l-politika komuni dwar affarijiet barranin u sigurta`. Fil-laqgħa l-Gvern ippreżenta l-pożizzjoni tiegħu dwar dawn it-tmien kapitli.

Fil-laqgħa saru diskorsi mill-Ambaxxatur Portugiż Jose Vasco Valente, f'isem il-Presidenza tal-Kunsill ta' l-UE; mid-Direttur Ġenerali responsabbli għat-tkabbir ta'l-UE Eneko Landaburu, f'isem il-Kummissjoni Ewropea; u miċ-Chairman tal-Core Negotiating Group Richard Cachia Caruana, f'isem il-Gvern Malti. It-test ta' dawn id-diskorsi qed jitqassam ma' din l-istqarrija.

Jakkumpanjaw lis-Sur Cachia Caruana, kien hemm Victor Camilleri, l-Ambaxxatur għall-UE; Saviour Falzon, Kap tad-Direttorat ta' l-UE; Patrick Tabone, Assistent Personali tal-Ministru ta' l-Affarijiet Barranin; Dr Ivan Fsadni, Ko-ordinatur tan-Negozjati fis-Segretarjat għan-Negozjati ma' l-UE fl-Uffiċċju tal-Prim Ministru; Tarcisio Zammit, Kunsillier u uffiċjali oħra mill-Ambaxxata fi Brussel.

Speech by Portuguese Ambassador Jose Vasco Valente

The European Council at Helsinki decided to start accession negotiations with your country. These negotiations were launched at Ministerial level on the 15th of February last. It is our job today to settle the more practical aspects involved, so that the Conference can start its substantive work.

Further to the principles enshrined in the general position of the EU, let me recall the two important principles which have always been applied to accession negotiations First, any view expressed on any chapter of the negotiations will not prejudge the position which may be taken on other chapters. Secondly, during these negotiations nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

I propose to record these principles in the summary conclusions of this meeting.

Moreover, the Helsinki European Council gave concrete guidance on how the EU side will conduct these negotiations. The Union is now engaged in accession negotiations with twelve candidate States.Each of them will proceed towards membership at its own pace, and will be judged on its own merits. Therefore, we need to associate closer progress in pre-accession preparation to the pace of the negotiations. This will be reflected both in the decision to start negotiations in a chapter, as well as in provisionally concluding them.

At the same time, the Union will honour its engagement to give the possibility to the candidates which started negotiations later to catch-up with those already started in 1998, if this is justified by their relative degree of preparedness.

To this effect, the Portuguese Presidency decided to start substantial negotiations shortly after the formal launch of the negotiations. This has of course been made possible by the fact that the time since 1998 has been put to good use. Not only the candidates made solid progress, but the Commission also conducted successfully the analytical examination of the "acquis". As a result, candidates starting now negotiations already cover up as much as six months of the distance with those already negotiating.

In establishing its work programme for the accession negotiations with your country, the Portuguese Presidency took careful consideration of the conclusions of the Helsinki European Council.

Unofficial translation

Speech by Mr. Landaburu on the occasion of the Accession Conference with Malta, Deputy level, 28 March 2000.

·    I am happy about the fact that the Presidency of the EU has just announced that the Union is ready to open accession negotiations with your country on eight chapters. It is an important step in the process of negotiations that we are beginning with your country, and the Commission will contribute so that these negotiations will proceed in the best possible way.

·    The chapters, which are being proposed to you today. are the result of recommendations made by the Commission to the member states, especially on the basis of an update of the exercise of the screening of the acquis communautaire. We thank you for your co-operation in this updating of the screening, which, moreover, we shall continue for other chapters.

·    The chapters chosen today respond to the principles of differentiation and of catching up as they are defined in the Helsinki summit. They have been chosen after taking into account the level of real preparation of your country, and with the intention that the catching up with the countries of the so-called Luxembourg group would take place within a reasonable time.

·    Since Helsinki, co-operation between your country and the Commission has intensified, and this has made it possible for us to accelerate the process of negotiations and to gain precious time. Thus, within a few months we have been able not only to open formally the negotiations but also to identify the first chapters that will be negotiated during the first semester.

·    As has been underlined at Helsinki, progress in the negotiations will go in parallel with the progress in the transposition of the acquis in the national legislation and in its implementation. It is therefore important that your country would make good use of the pre-accession strategy, including the implementation of the Accession Partnerships, for which the Union is giving its financial support.

·    The Commission will continue with its efforts to help your country to prepare itself for accession and to do this we count on the continuation of your co-operation.

STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF MALTA BY MR RICHARD CACHIA CARUANA, CHAIRMAN, CORE NEGOTIATING GROUP AT THE FIRST MEETING OF THE ACCESSION CONFERENCE AT DEPUTY LEVEL, BRUSSELS. 28 MARCH 2000.

Mr Co-chairman,

The Government of Malta welcomes the speed with which the first meeting of the Accession Conference at deputy level is being convened following the opening Ministerial session of the Conference on 15 February. Today's meeting will lay down the principles and the procedural arrangements of the Conference as well as the substantive work programme for the first half of 2000.

At the point that we are entering into the detailed technical and procedural aspects of the accession process it is appropriate to take a moment to remind ourselves of the broader framework in which we will be operating. Enlargement is fundamentally a political exercise. The work of transposition and harmonisation, in its legislative, administrative and other aspects, is a necessary part, but always a part, of a bigger whole. In this spirit we need to remain constantly watchful of what I would consider as two underlying aspects of our work - that relating to method and that relating to timeframe.

In terms of method Malta does not consider that it is in competition with any of the other eleven candidate countries, but is rather engaged in a common endeavour with candidate and member countries alike. The Helsinki summit has made it clear that each candidate can and should proceed at its own pace, according to its own objectives and its state of preparedness. The Helsinki conclusions therefore clearly imply that no one candidate should hold any other back. At the same time they imply just as clearly that progress by one candidate does not come at the cost, or to the detriment of any other.

In terms of timeframe it is essential that clear deadlines be established for the whole of the accession process. Candidate countries are expected to define very specific deadlines for their technical work in the adoption of the acquis and the setting up of the necessary infrastructures. The political counterpart of this technical requirement is however still missing. The accession exercise can only achieve its full momentum once its political timeframe is fully defined. Helsinki went some way in this direction by stating that by the end of 2002 the Union should be ready to welcome new members. This notion should be further defined in the near future through the fixing of an agreed date for the next enlargement.

The extent of Malta's own preparedness to start detailed negotiations on a significant part of the acquis was made clear through the successful manner in which we completed the whole screening exercise in less than twelve months. This experience underlined the determination and commitment of the Government of Malta to align with the Union's acquis in the shortest possible time. It also confirmed the advanced state of our technical preparedness in this regard.

It is with this purpose in mind that today I present to you on behalf of the Government of Malta the Negotiating Position Papers for the eight Chapters selected for our first round of negotiations, namely Industrial Policy, Small and Medium-sized Undertakings, Science and Research, Education and Training, Telecommunications and Information Technologies, Culture and Audiovisual Policy, External Relations and Common Foreign and Security Policy. In all these eight chapters no transitional periods or derogations from the acquis are being proposed. Furthermore I can confirm that Malta is in a position to implement the relevant acquis by the date of accession, which for the purposes of this exercise we are setting at 1 January 2003.

I do not think that I need go into a detailed discussion of the issues involved under each chapter. I believe that, if necessary, there will be time for such discussion at a later stage. I only wish to make reference here to two White Papers which are being annexed to our negotiating position on the chapter of Industrial Policy.

The promotion of international competitiveness of industry is one of the more important elements of the Maltese Government's policy for industrial development. The Government has issued a White Paper entitled "Prosperity in Change - Challenges and Opportunities for Industry" to show the way forward. Malta's industrial policy document will be adopted during the third quarter of 2000, following consultations with all interested social partners.

Another White Paper entitled "Privatisation - A Strategy for the Future" was published in November 1999 outlining Government's plans regarding privatisation over a five-year time frame, with completion scheduled for 2005.

In the eight chapters on which Malta is today presenting its Negotiating Position, the legislative measures and the administrative structures that the acquis calls for are already largely in place. Any remaining transposition and harmonisation work will be relatively smooth and the relevant negotiations are therefore expected to be brief and straightforward. For this reason I do not think it is over-ambitious for us to expect to provisionally conclude negotiations on all or almost all of the chapters we are opening today by the next Ministerial meeting of the Conference.

Looking forward to the opening of additional chapters later in the year, there are areas of the acquis where a certain amount of technical and administrative work may still be required. We are confident that ongoing work in this regard will be completed in good time and that we will therefore be in a position to open a substantial number of chapters before the end of the year.

The areas in which we expect that our accession negotiations will require to be fairly detailed and complex are limited in number. They mainly concern some aspects of state aid, especially in the areas of ship-building and ship-repairing, as well as certain aspects of freedom of movement of persons and of capital, in so far as Malta's small size and very limited land area are concerned. In common with other candidate countries we expect the transposition of some aspects of the environment acquis to require a special effort.

The introduction of the Common Agricultural Policy in Malta presents a particular challenge which is basically related to the very small and fragmented nature of our own agriculture. Nevertheless we were encouraged to assess during the screening exercise that none of the issues which present themselves in this regard - or in other sensitive sectors for that matter - can be considered as insurmountable.

In the coming weeks and months we will be working with the Commission to finalise a programme of pre-accession assistance based on the decisions which have recently been taken by the Council. In effect, in order to help us tackle the complex areas of the acquis and to build the necessary institutional capacity, the Council has just adopted a Regulation creating a pre-accession financial instrument for Malta.

Together with this Regulation the Council also adopted an Accession Partnership document with Malta that sets out the short and medium term priorities eligible for financing under this Regulation. We have already had two rounds of discussions with the Commission in order to draw up a multi-annual programme of activities to be financed from the pre-accession allocation. It is planned that the indicative programme for the year 2000 will be finalised later this week.

In this context I must reiterate that the level of the pre-accession assistance available for Malta needs to be raised, preferably through the two pre-accession instruments, ISPA and SAPARD.

In common with candidate and member countries alike, the Maltese Government places major importance on keeping its citizens fully informed about the accession process, both in terms of its day to day evolution as well as in terms of its over-all objectives. Malta strongly shares the view that the Union is fundamentally a coming together of peoples as much as of governments.

Malta recognises that the extent and complexity of the acquis sets an important challenge to these accession negotiations. Efforts will be required from us all to bring them to a successful conclusion. However, the work we have completed over the last few months, in particular the results of the screening exercise, together with the long-term commitment which Malta brings with it to this undertaking, augurs well for the future. I am therefore confident that these negotiations will have the speedy and successful outcome which we all desire.