By all means, the timing of this meeting seems to be most appropriate, since it is taking place just after the publication of this document and before the Nice European Council. We welcome the Enlargement Strategy Paper. We think it is an important step forward. Despite some of its elements, that need further clarification, the document certainly gives a new quality to the negotiations. We had a very thorough exchange of views on all these elements and we concluded that the periods and dates as indicated in the Strategy Paper have to be considered as 'the latest' ones.
Nothing prevents an accelerated course of the accession negotiations.
We all think that the road map should be approached in a flexible manner. As far as the members of the Luxembourg Group are concerned, we are all keen on speeding up the process as much as possible, which is also reflected by the our Joint Statement. We also welcome the new techniques as they are appearing in the Strategy Paper. We do hope and, in fact, trust that this again will give a new impetus to the enlargement process, and it will make it possible that the negotiations with any prepared countries be concluded by the end of 2001, or the beginning of 2002, at the latest. We also reconfirmed our determination to continue our internal preparations and to complete the entire preparation process by the end of 2002.