It may be regarded as a functioning market economy, able to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union in the medium term. Similarly, in the medium term it should be capable of applying the whole body of Community law and practice on the single market, provided it maintains the effort to transpose the law and speeds up work on actual implementation. The Commission therefore recommended that accession negotiations with the Czech Republic should begin. It may be regarded as a functioning market economy, able to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union in the medium term. But the country will have to make a considerable effort to transpose Community law, particularly with regard to the effective application of the rules on the single market.
Sound progress is needed in areas such as the environment, employment, social affairs and energy.
The Commission therefore recommended that accession negotiations with Slovenia should begin. On 4 December Parliament stressed the need for prior institutional reforms within the EU and recommended that the enlargement process be set in motion by a common act with all the applicant countries. Having stated that the Union's institutions would have to be strengthened and improved before enlargement, the Luxembourg European Council took the decisions required to set in motion the overall process. It stressed that the process was a comprehensive, inclusive and ongoing one which would take place in stages with each of the applicant countries proceeding at its own pace depending upon its degree of preparedness. It decided to set up a European conference bringing together the Member States of the European Union and the European States aspiring to accede to it and sharing its values and internal and external objectives.