Mr President, the current Slovakian Government has, since 1998, made considerable inroads into the accession process. If Brussels was very sceptical at that time, the country is now joining the ranks of candidate countries that are first in line to join the EU. It is no longer playing second fiddle to the members of the so-called Luxembourg Club if one considers the number of concluded negotiation chapters. Credit where credit is due. To the Slovakian Government, but also to the population which has managed to sit and wait for far-reaching reforms, which also have their drawbacks, of course. Take the unacceptably high level of unemployment. The high speed with which the negotiations have taken place is not merely a reflection of an energetic government. Slovakia is one of the smaller candidate countries and can therefore afford a higher degree of flexibility. The country is taking advantage of this. The support for EU Membership remains as high as ever, and it is fair to say that there is political consensus surrounding this issue in Slovakia. However, one can question whether a government of a different make-up would have managed to make the same progress. Nevertheless, there are points of criticism. In the light of the Council’s and Commission’s strategy to conclude a number of negotiations next year, these points of criticism deserve extra attention. If Slovakia is to keep up with the frontrunners, an extra effort will need to be made in this connection. That is why, with all due respect, it is not so much the role of the European Parliament to be kind, but rather to give the right incentives. I have therefore adopted in my report many of the critical observations which my fellow MEPs have made in the various committees. These observations will hopefully speak for themselves as it is impossible to list them all here. Slovakia is transposing EU legislation at a rate of knots, which, in fact, as in other candidate countries, begs the question of whether all these new laws can actually be implemented and whether sufficient, qualified staff are available for this task. This is all the more pressing in the sphere of financial control for which, admittedly, draft legislation has now been submitted in Slovakia, but in respect of which it is fair to continue to question the country’s aptitude to process EU subsidies in an adequate manner once it is an EU Member State. Fortunately, the Slovakian Government is in the process of recruiting additional officials, which, in itself, is a considerable step forward. Commissioner Verheugen was right this morning to declare this topic a priority, and I should like to give him my unqualified support in this. I should also like to provide him with the word ‘transparency’ as a key concept in this connection. In the spring, we were startled by the news of irregularities committed by a high official responsible for the distribution of EU monies. Needless to say, the Government took action, which is praiseworthy in itself. However, the inquiry is still under way. The matter should, in our opinion, be subject to a thorough investigation, particularly to establish whether this was simply one incident or whether this was a symptom of a more systematic phenomenon. We would, in this framework, also like to receive the initial assessment of the anti-corruption programme which the Slovakian Government adopted a while ago. I have, in the past, regularly expressed my concern regarding the large discrepancies in income between the different regions in Slovakia. The country is not unique in this either, and it will soon have fresh opportunities to do something about it thanks to EU membership. Nevertheless, I cannot shake off the feeling that many plans take a long time to come to fruition. That is unfortunate because what matters is relations between rich and poor in Slovakia. A worrying trend is that concerning the deployment of elected regional councils. This decentralisation is important from an EU point of view, because the country’s administration will become more efficient and democratic control will improve as a result. Parliament recently took a few decisions, but the Slovakian Government partners do not consider these to be satisfactory. That is why the coalition has come under pressure. A year before the possible conclusion of the negotiations, there is now the threat of a Government crisis, the implications of which are not entirely clear. We do not decide on the regional re-division of Slovakia. We can, however, ask that every effort be made to stave off a crisis. The present coalition has a job to finish, and the involvement of the Hungarian minority remains every bit as important in this connection. In fact, they themselves subscribe to this wish. Surely during further discussions on this topic, it should be possible to reach a final compromise which is acceptable to everyone. That means that everyone must be accommodating, for everyone is responsible for the cohesion within the Government. A free vote in Parliament is not always the best solution in this connection. We continue to receive complaints about the treatment of minorities, and not only from Budapest. Progress has been made with regard to the Roma people. Nevertheless, we can continue to question the speed with which improvements are being made and the willingness of local authorities to commit themselves fully to these. Unpleasant incidents are still occurring. I repeat once again that next year, at the – what we hope will be – final assessment, the first genuine and concrete results of the Roma policy will be revealed. It will be an exciting year for Slovakia, a year of hard toil in order to maintain the momentum of the negotiations, and we hope we will be able to pass a verdict on the end result next year.

Political group: PSE