Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on 'Reinforcing the pre-accession strategy'
Date: 1998-03-25
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: EU relations, European integration, accession to the European Union, enlargement of the Union

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Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee on ‘Reinforcing the pre-accession strategy’

(98/C 157/14)

On 11 December 1997 the Economic and Social Committee, acting under the third paragraph
of Rule 23 of its Rules of Procedure, decided to draw up an opinion on ‘Reinforcing the
pre-accession strategy’.

The Section for External Relations, Trade and Development Policy, which was responsible
for preparing the Committee’s work on the subject, adopted its opinion on 13 March 1998.
The rapporteur was Mr Hamro-Drotz.

At its 353rd plenary session held on 25 and 26 March 1998 (meeting of 25 March 1998), the
Economic and Social Committee adopted the following opinion by 98 votes in favour and one
against, with one abstention.

1.

Introduction

In December 1997 the Luxembourg European Council
took the decisions necessary to launch the overall
enlargement process. The decisions were based on the
relevant opinions by the Commission (1), decisions taken
by the Council of Ministers on 27 November 1997 and
8 December 1997 and the presidency’s report to the
European Council. Account was also taken of the reports
drawn up by the Commission on the economic situation
and development prospects of the applicant countries (2).

The Council conclusions underline the main challenges
in this area: ‘The task in the years ahead will be to
prepare the applicant states for accession to the Union
and to see that the Union is properly prepared for
enlargement ...’ (3).

The Commission has started on the relevant preparatory
work and the implementation of the pre-accession
strategy began in March 1998.

Appendix contains the key points of the reinforced
pre-accession strategy and the current situation.

For this reason the Committee has in recent years been
closely involved in EU action to forge closer ties with
the CEEC. This has become a priority in the Committee’s
work, and it has drawn up and adopted numerous
opinions and reports to offer constructive advice to the
EU authorities facing this challenge.

In recent years the ESC has also been involved in
developing closer cooperation with the CEEC by holding
a series of hearings (in Brussels, Warsaw, Tallinn and
elsewhere) with representatives of economic and social
interest groups in the applicant countries. The Com-
mittee has also met these representatives in other
contexts in the course of its work. For example, it
organized meetings to coincide with the Citizens’ Europe
conferences held in Vienna and Helsinki. The ESC has
also forged and consolidated bilateral links with groups
from these countries, for example by setting up joint
consultative committees with representatives from cer-
tain countries. The findings and conclusions of these
activities have been recorded separately and have been
duly taken into account in the Committee’s opinions
and reports.

2. Previous work on this subject by the ESC

3. Conclusions and recommendations

An integrated Europe with improved living and working
conditions for future generations has always been one
of the fundamental aims of the ESC.

The purpose of this opinion is to give advice and
to suggest measures and priorities as the EU begins
reinforcing the pre-accession strategy in March 1998.

(1) Agenda 2000, COM(97) 2000 final, Volumes I, II and
summaries and conclusions on the applications
for
accession. Commission proposal for a Council Regulation
(EC, Euratom) on assistance to the applicant countries in
central and eastern Europe in the framework of the
pre-accession strategy.

(2) European Economy, Supplement C No 3 and 4 (ISSN

1027-2097).

(3) C/97/400.

The opinion is based on conclusions presented by the
ESC in previous opinions on the subject without actually
repeating or referring directly to them. As the Com-
mittee’s aim is to continue to participate in the process
of preparing for enlargement of the Union, this opinion
focuses on what the Committee sees as the key questions
at the initial stage of the process.

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3.1.
The ESC endorses the key principles of the
accession process as put forward by the European
Council: the applicant countries take part in the accession
process under the same conditions and criteria, with
each country proceeding at its own pace according to
its level of preparation. Before accession negotiations
can begin, the applicant country must meet the criteria
laid down by the Copenhagen European Council and
must have transposed EU legislation into national law
so that this is actually being applied at the time of
accession.

The aim of all parties with regard to accession must be
to limit the use of temporary transitional measures to
exceptional cases.

These principles emphasize the importance of re-
inforcing the pre-accession strategy, and the ESC feels
that future enlargement will chiefly depend on how
successfully this strategy is implemented from the start.

3.2.
The ESC also endorses the structure of the
reinforced pre-accession strategy, but would draw atten-
tion to the following points:

— It will be crucial to define the accession partnerships
with each country in as concrete and realistic terms
as possible, so emphasis should be placed on the
importance of preparing and implementing these.
To this end, clear political, economic and social
(including employment) goals, sectoral objectives
(for, inter alia, agriculture and the environment) and
goals aimed at promoting regional cooperation
should be set for each applicant country individually.
The ESC is pleased to note that the country-by-
country guidelines for partnership proposed by the
Commission on 4 February 1998 are consistent with
these principles. Attention should also be focused
on the follow-up to these partnerships, reporting on
them and verifying action programmes; this will
probably develop into an ongoing process.

— During the partnership process, which will probably
run for some time in most cases, attention should
also focus on the fact that the Union acquis will be
constantly changing as cohesion within the Union
grows stronger, the operation of the internal market
is enhanced and monetary union is implemented.
The applicant countries must create sufficient adap-
tability in cooperation to cope with these changes.
At the same time efforts must be made to ensure that
the Union acquis is not put at risk and that the
internal cohesion of the Union is not weakened
during preparations for enlargement, when enlarge-
ment actually takes place or as a consequence of
enlargement.

before or after accession. Action plans must be based
on a realistic funding framework and on existing or
known resources. Efforts should be made to make
use of new sources of funding by, for example,
putting banking systems on a sound footing and
strengthening stock markets, thereby helping to
attract private capital from home and abroad. At
the same time, agreement must be reached on the
exact terms of such funding, the applicant countries’
arrangements for repaying loans and the protection
of private investment etc. For this to be possible, it
is essential to establish a fixed right of ownership.
It is right to define precise funding needs and
destinations
improve-
for each country on an ongoing basis
ments)
depending on the principal
requirements and
improvements needed in particular circumstances.
Funding should be based on the progress made by
the country concerned. New instruments should also
be developed on an ongoing basis under Phare and
the various funds to improve the effectiveness of
support, and effective coordination between differ-
ent funding instruments must be ensured from the
outset. Access to the loan facilities of the European
Investment Bank and loan guarantee facilities of the
European Investment Fund should be increased and
the collaboration already initiated with the EBRD
and World Bank should be developed further.

(including environmental

— As it is likely that preparations for enlargement will
be very complex and demanding, and will proceed
at different speeds, administration of the Union must
be made as sound as possible from the outset and
must be adequately resourced. The preparation and
decision-making process must be open and uniform
for all parties involved.

3.3.
The ESC also endorses wholeheartedly the pre-
accession strategy for Cyprus as laid down in Luxem-
bourg. It urges all parties to foster working relations
between the two communities in Cyprus. This should
help to rebuild confidence between the two communities.

3.4.
The ESC would encourage the EU and Turkey
to step up cooperation in a purposeful and active
manner, with the aim of promoting the conditions which
will allow the pre-accession strategy with Turkey to be
reinforced as soon as possible.

— It is essential to constantly evaluate and monitor
extremely closely the funding of preparations for
enlargement and to avoid decisions which might
result in unsustainable financial consequences, either

The Committee intends to assist that process inter
alia through the activities of the Joint Consultative
Committee established between the ESC and representa-
tives of the various Turkish economic and social interest
groups.

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In more general

3.5.
terms, as preparations for
enlargement proceed, the EU should increasingly focus
attention on developing cross-border and regional coop-
eration between the applicant countries and with their
immediate neighbours, who will remain outside the EU.

requires reinforcing the infrastructure of applicant
countries across a broad front and incorporating
these countries into effective trans-European trans-
port networks. Employment, welfare and working
conditions will also be affected.

Efforts must be made to ensure that economic, social,
cultural and political contacts between the applicant
countries do not break down but instead become
stronger. The Committee proposes that the European
Union continue, by way of action programmes, to
provide strong support to the development of trade and
cooperation between the applicant countries, especially
in border regions and between neighbouring states.

3.6.
The ESC agrees with the European Council’s
observation that enlargement also depends on the
Union’s own willingness to accept new members and on
improving the working of EU bodies in line with the
provisions of the Amsterdam Treaty. An intergovern-
mental conference on this subject should be set up
between the current Member States alongside implemen-
tation of the pre-accession strategy so that the applicant
countries have time to become familiar with these
arrangements.

At the same time, care should be taken to ensure that
enlargement benefits all parts of the Union as much and
as equally as possible, and that, in the present Member
States, there is good information and an active public
debate on the advantages and implications of enlarge-
ment.

With the forthcoming enlargement, due attention should
be paid to developing relations with third parties, both
in the work of the EU and in its involvement in ongoing
negotiations in various international forums, such as
the WTO.

The impact of enlargement on the ESC, its composition,
operation and internal procedures will also have to be
considered and the Committee is ready to give its own
views on the subject.

The reinforced pre-accession strategy will focus

3.7.
on two main points:

a)

improving the efficiency of administrations and legal
systems and

b) transposing EU legislation into national law and the
investment required to implement it. The purpose
of these measures is to improve the international
competitiveness of the applicant country on the basis
of both economic and social values, and to ensure
its readiness to successfully take on the increasing
competition, including that on its own domestic
market, which EU membership entails. This also

The major challenge of the strategy is to prepare the
applicant countries for membership of the Union, as
well as preparing the EU itself and its present Member
States for enlargement. A key part of this is providing
the citizens, business community and other players, both
in the EU Member States and in the applicant countries,
with information on the forthcoming enlargement, EU
membership and the implications of these.

The ESC therefore urges the Union to implement the
reinforced pre-accession strategy across a broad front
by including its economic and social players in this
process, as well as encouraging the applicant countries
to develop similar arrangements. The views of business,
wage-earners, farmers, consumers and other important
social interest groups should be taken into account
through social dialogue appropriate to the circum-
stances, and these groups should be involved in the
preparations for enlargement at both national and
level. The ESC is convinced that the
international
chances of the enlargement process succeeding once
started will be increased considerably if these groups are
consulted on the pre-accession strategy, the content,
establishment and follow-up of pre-accession partner-
ship programmes and the running of the Phare pro-
gramme which is connected with this, thereby making
use of the knowledge, experience, contacts and views
which these groups have.

These groups should participate in the process in order
to consolidate in a sustainable way the arrangements
for social dialogue in the applicant countries as practised
in the EU Member States, as well as explaining the
content of partnerships and the conditions which EU
membership entails to the various interest groups in the
applicant countries. Two of the characteristics of a
functioning economy are an effective labour market and
effective social dialogue between firmly established and
autonomous interest groups, such as business, workers’
and agricultural organizations, and between these
groups and the state. Reform processes based on the
principles of a functioning economy, civil society,
democracy and the rule of law should thus form a key
part of the pre-accession strategy, and the relevant
structures, know-how and other arrangements should
be established and developed in the applicant countries.
The input and support of economic and social players
in the EU states is absolutely essential to this. At the
same time this involvement will prepare the relevant
players in the EU and in the present Member States for
enlargement.

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The ESC feels that the relevant players in the EU and its
Member States should be required to assume responsi-
bility, participating in the process to achieve the stated
goals of enlargement.

The ESC can play a key role in the pre-accession strategy
and the matters mentioned above. To this end,
it
proposes that the EU support its ongoing efforts as part
of the preparatory process to forge closer and more
effective relations, both bilateral and multilateral, with
socio-economic groupings in the applicant countries.
With this in mind, the ESC intends on the basis of the
experience and contacts it has acquired to give additional
opinions on the subject and to enhance structured
dialogue by organizing annual hearings with the interest
groups of the applicant countries and otherwise by

forging closer and more regular bilateral ties with the
relevant players in the individual applicant countries.
The purpose of this is to hear the views of social
operators from the applicant countries on the pre-
accession strategy and partnerships,
including how
effective they are and where improvements are needed,
to explain the objectives and conditions of different
factors in the pre-accession process, to improve interac-
tion, to support the creation of the necessary social
structures in the applicant countries, and to channel the
views expressed in this context to the relevant EU bodies.
This is intended to serve as a back-up to the ongoing
preparations for enlargement.
The ESC proposes that the EU approve this action,
institutionalizing it as part of the reinforcement of the
pre-accession strategy.

Brussels, 25 March 1998.

The President

of the Economic and Social Committee

Tom JENKINS

APPENDIX

to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee

The core of the agreed framework for preparing for the accession of new Member States to the EU

1.

The three main elements of the programme to prepare for EU enlargement

In December 1997 the Luxembourg Council agreed on the following three main elements of the
preparations for enlargement:

1) To set up an annual European conference (the first of which was held on 12 March 1998) which will
bring together the Member States of the EU and the European states aspiring to accede to it and sharing
its values and internal and external political objectives. Initially, the EU offers the invitation to the
applicant CEEC, to Cyprus and to Turkey.

The conference will become a multilateral forum for political consultation, where questions of general
concern to the participants will be addressed and cooperation between them on foreign and security
policy, justice and home affairs, and other areas of common concern, particularly economic matters and
regional cooperation, will be broadened and deepened.

2) To launch (on 30 March 1998) a process of accession and negotiation based on Article O of the
Treaty on European Union, comprising the ten applicant CEEC and Cyprus (‘the 15+11 concept’). This
process comprises the following elements:

a) A single framework for these applicant countries will be established and the Member States of the
Union will meet the applicant countries as the need arises. [The Council adopted a regulation concerning
the general framework on 26 January 1998.]

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b) Reinforcement of the pre-accession strategy to enable the ten applicant countries to become members
of the Union will be undertaken. The main elements of the strategy are the accession partnerships and
the increased pre-accession aid (see chapter 2). Cyprus was offered a specific, somewhat different
pre-accession strategy. [The first general review of the strategy will be carried out in 1999.]

c) The Commission opinions (Agenda 2000 and the annexes to it) provide the starting-point and
accession negotiations will be structured as follows:

EU will convene bilateral intergovernmental conferences (on 30 March 1998) to begin negotiations with
Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Estonia, the Czech Republic, and Slovenia on the conditions for their entry
into the Union.

The Member States will, at the proposal of Coreper, decide without delay on a general negotiating
framework with detailed procedural arrangements for the negotiations to come. [The Council decided
on these points at its meeting of 13-14 March 1998.]

EU will speed up (at the same time as the point above), in particular through an analytical examination
(‘screening’) of the Union acquis, preparations for negotiations with Romania, Slovakia, Latvia,
Lithuania and Bulgaria [starting from 3 April 1998].

d) There will be a review procedure based on regular reports by the Commission to assess the progress
of each applicant CEEC. A recommendation can then be made to open bilateral-intergovernmental
conferences. [The first report will be drawn up at the end of 1998.]

3) To offer a specific strategy for Turkey, confirming Turkey’s eligibility for accession to the Union.
The strategy will be reviewed by the association council of the two partners, in particular on the basis
of Article 28 of the association agreement. [The Commission complemented this strategy in March by
making proposals for closer cooperation on several specific questions.]

2.

The core of the reinforced pre-accession strategy

In 1995 the Essen Council launched the pre-accession strategy, based on the Europe Agreements,
structured dialogue and financial aid from the Phare programme. In 1996 the Dublin Council decided
that this strategy should be enhanced and extended to all applicant countries.

On the basis of decisions taken at the Luxembourg Council, the Europe Agreements form the basis of
the Union’s relations with the ten applicant CEEC. [Agreements concerning the three Baltic states also
came into force on 1 February 1998.] The pre-accession strategy is described in more detail in the
Commission’s Agenda 2000 document (1).

The reinforced pre-accession strategy is intended to enable all the applicant CEEC to prepare themselves
for membership negotiations and membership itself, and to align themselves as far as possible with the
Union acquis prior to accession.

The strategy centres on a) accession partnerships and b) increasing pre-accession aid.

(Country-specific) accession partnership is the key element of the reinforced pre-accession strategy. The
goal is to mobilize all forms of assistance to the individual applicant country, based on detailed
formulated priorities and action programmes prepared by the Commission and agreed annually by the
EU and the applicant country concerned. Financial assistance, above all from the Phare programme, will
be linked to the applicant’s progress and, more specifically, to progress in adopting the Community
acquis.

The Council will decide without delay on the establishment of the partnership concept and based on
that will decide by 15 March 1998 at the latest on the details of each individual partnership. [Proposals
for each country’s partnership were submitted on 4 February 1998. These included short-term objectives
(to be achieved in 1998), as well as longer-term goals, both general and sectoral. The Council and the
Parliament approved them on the basis of Article 235 on 23 February 1998 and 10 March 1998.]

(1) Agenda 2000 — Volume II DOC/97/7.

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[In order to begin negotiations, individual applicant countries have also been asked to submit in March
their action plans showing how they intend to implement the acquis. The other components of
preparations are: a programme of key medium and long-term economic objectives, guidelines for
implementing the single market and cooperation to prevent organized crime.]

Substantially increased pre-accession aid will be allocated chiefly through the Phare programme, which
has been refocused on accession priorities by setting two priority aims: the reinforcement of administrative
and judicial capacity (about 30 %) and investments related to the adoption and application of the acquis
(about 70 %). Phare is the most significant programme for the CEEC with a budget of ECU 10,5 billion
for 1990-1999. Arrangements for the Phare contribution in the period 2000-2006 are in preparation. [The
Commission submitted its proposal for a regulation on pre-accession financial instruments (ISPA) on
18 March 1998.]

Pre-accession aid will, as from the year 2000, comprise aid for agriculture and a structural instrument,
which will give priority to measures similar to those of the Cohesion Fund. ECU 7 billion from the
Structural Fund and ECU 4 billion from the CAP has already been earmarked for pre-accession aid. The
European Investment Bank (EIB) has recently decided to double its support to the CEEC to ECU 3,5
billion over the next two years.

An important part of pre-accession aid is also the opening up to applicant countries of Community
programmes and the management of certain committees based on case-by-case decisions.