Thirdly, on the basis of the Commission's recommendations on readiness for membership, formal accession negotiations will open in spring with Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus. Each negotiation will be conducted separately at its own pace. In the case of Cyprus, the accession negotiations should contribute to a political settlement of the inter-communal problem and the Council made clear that in our view representatives of the Turkish Cypriot community should be part of the Cypriot delegation. The readiness of all 11 applicants will be reviewed regularly. There is no pre-determined order of accession.
Individual countries can catch up or be caught up.
Column 406 criteria as other candidates. Turkey herself recognises that time and changes are needed before actual accession negotiations can be envisaged. But full recognition of her eligibility for accession is a marked step forward for Turkey, and I welcome it. I wrote immediately to Prime Minister Yilmaz to encourage him to take full advantage of this opportunity. I understand Turkish disappointment at being treated in an apparently different way from others.