European Parliament resolution on Slovakia's membership application to the European Union and the state of negotiations (COM(1999) 511 — C5-0034/2000 — 1997/2173(COS))
Date: 2000-10-04
Institutions: Committee on Foreign Affairs, European Parliament
Subjects: EU relations, Slovakia, accession criteria, accession negotiations, accession to the European Union, economic situation, political situation

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 178/143

Wednesday 4 October 2000

18. Welcomes the fact that the Commission and the Czech Republic are in the process of jointly devel-
oping and implementing an information strategy designed to explain the real short-term problems and the
long-term benefits of EU enlargement to the general public;

Points out that it is essential to step up a structured dialogue with organised civil society, particu-
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larly as many groups know very little about the real consequences of accession and the debate in society is
frequently determined by speculation and conjecture, and therefore calls on the Commission and the Czech
authorities to provide appropriate resources for information campaigns to improve public understanding
of the accession issue;

20. Welcomes the new overview expected from the French Presidency which is designed to set out all
the enlargement-related problems on both sides as it may give a new impetus to the negotiations;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the parliaments of

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the Member States and the Government and Parliament of the Czech Republic.

7. Slovakia

A5-0244/2000

European Parliament resolution on Slovakia’s membership application to the European Union and
the state of negotiations (COM(1999) 511 * C5-0034/2000 * 1997/2173(COS))

The European Parliament,

/ having regard to Slovakia’s application for membership of the European Union submitted on 27 June

1995, pursuant to Article 49 of the TEU,

/ having regard to the opinion of the Commission on this application (COM(1997) 2004 / C4-0376/

1997),

/ having regard to the 1999 Regular Report on Slovakia’s progress towards accession (COM(1999) 511
/ C5-0034/2000) and to the 1999 Composite Paper of the Commission (COM(1999) 500 /
C5-0341/2000),

/ having regard to the decisions taken by the European Council, notably in Copenhagen (21/22 June

1993), Luxembourg (12/13 December 1997) and Helsinki (10/11 December 1999),

/ having regard to the Europe Agreement between the European Communities and its Member States of

the one part and Slovakia of the other part,

/ having regard to the revised EU-Slovak Accession Partnership and to the second Slovak National Pro-

gramme for the Adoption of the Acquis,

/ having regard to its resolution of 3 December 1998 on Slovakia’s application for membership of the

European Union, with a view to the Vienna European Council (11/12 December 1998) (1),

/ having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

/ having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Human Rights, Common Security

and Defence Policy (A5-0244/2000),

A. whereas the conclusions of the Council of Helsinki followed the strategic recommendation of the
European Parliament to open negotiations with all Central Eastern European candidate countries,

B. whereas these conclusions underline the principle of full differentiation in the negotiation process,

(1) OJ C 398, 21.12.1998, p. 52.

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C. whereas the new and democratic Slovak government and Parliament during 1999 have made signifi-
cant legislative efforts in fulfilling a large majority of the short-term priorities of the 1998 Accession
Partnership related to the internal market,

D. whereas Slovakia has to continue to adapt its economy to meet the requirements of the acquis commu-

nautaire and in particular to adapt its financial sector,

E. whereas Slovakia is working intensively on fulfilling the short-term priority of the Accession Partner-
ship concerning the establishment of detailed approximation programmes and implementation strate-
gies in the field of environment,

F. whereas Slovakia needs to work more intensively on fulfilling the short-term priorities in the field of

regional policies,

G. whereas Slovakia still needs to improve its national minorities policy, particularly in the fields of lan-
guage, education and culture, and whereas this should lead to the acknowledgement of a degree of
cultural autonomy,

H. whereas the lack of efficient and effective financial control and audit capacities is a weakness in the

Slovak administration and needs further improvements,

1. Welcomes the fact that the constitutional stability, democratic practices, and the rule of law are
firmly entrenched in the Slovak political culture at large and calls on the Slovak government to fully
implement its ambitious reform programme in order to put Slovakia back into the vanguard of the acces-
sion process;

2. Welcomes the adoption by the Slovak parliament of the law on openness in national government,
whose entry into force on 1 January 2001 will signify a very important step towards a ‘civil society’ and
also make a substantial contribution to fighting corruption;

3.
Supports the Slovak intention to carry out important constitutional reforms like the cancellation of
the probationary period for judges, changes to the nomination and removal procedure for judges, enabling
the transposition of EU legislation by government decree and strengthening of the powers of the constitu-
tional court with the broadest possible political consensus and in a timely manner;

4. Welcomes that the Slovak government has adopted a National Programme for the Fight against Cor-
ruption (NPFAC) and expects Slovakia to intensify its fight against corruption and organised crime / fully
aware of the fact that this is an endemic problem in many Central European countries;

5.
Recalls that, as regards the ever increasing trafficking in women, Slovakia is both a country of origin
and a country of transit and/or destination; calls on the Slovak government to adopt effective measures to
tackle trafficking in human beings and to ensure that the victims of such trafficking are guaranteed con-
crete and effective support;

6. Welcomes the fact that the Slovak government has developed a Roma strategy and urges the govern-
ment to implement this strategy and monitor the effects of the different projects in close association with
the Roma communities and local authorities so as to guarantee a continuous check on its results which
should feed back into further fine-tuning of the projects implemented; considers that a change in people’s
attitudes towards the Roma is of fundamental importance if it is to be possible for the Roma to become
integrated into Slovak society;

7.
Trusts that the provisions of the Law on the Use of Minority Languages of 1999 are going to be
implemented and prevail, as a matter of subsequent and specific laws, when interpreting and applying the
Law in relation to the provisions of the Law on the State Language, calls on the Slovak government to
improve its policy of cultural subsidies in favour of cultural diversity and the maintenance of national
minorities’ cultural heritage;

8.
Calls on the European Commission and the Council to make sufficient funds under Phare available to
assist Slovakia in the tackling of this European problem and consider the setting up of a multi-country
programme to address this multi-country problem;

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9. Welcomes that the joint assessment of the medium-term economic policy priorities of Slovakia has
been signed with the European Commission and that the government has taken decisive steps on the path
of economic reform so that Slovakia can soon be regarded as a functioning market economy;

Calls on the Commission to monitor how the Slovak government deals with further privatisation
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and restructuring of the economy, in particular of the banking and finance sector and how it pursues the
path of fiscal consolidation;

11. Welcomes further that the government has been successful in keeping a close dialogue with the
social partners, and labour unions in particular by consulting them regularly on the government’s eco-
nomic strategy, which contributes to the necessary cohesion on social issues that will facilitate the acces-
sion process;

12. Welcomes the accession of Slovakia to the OECD;

13.
Calls on Slovakia, given the strong support for EU membership in the public and its potential, to
continue the speed of alignment to the EU acquis in order to ensure a speedy negotiation process for the
more difficult negotiation chapters (e.g. environment and agriculture) and in order to enable Slovakia to
accede to the Union together with the first new members; recommends the Slovak Republic to remove the
legal obstacles still blocking transition to the second stage of the Europe Agreement;

14.
Supports the agreement reached with the European Commission to shut down the two reactor units
of the Bohunice nuclear power plant in 2006 and 2008 respectively and supports the allocation of finan-
cial resources from the Union to implement these plans;

15. Welcomes the decision by the Slovak and Hungarian governments to reopen the Maria Valeria
bridge between their two countries, as a sign of European integration and their support for freedom of
movement;

16.
Reminds the Slovak Republic that public administration and civil service reforms remain to be
implemented and efforts still need to be made in strengthening the implementation and enforcement capa-
cities in the administration in particular in the field of agriculture, veterinary and phytosanitary legislation,
the environment and regional and structural policies;

Reminds Slovakia that without such implementation capacities Slovakia will not be able to utilise

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the pre-accession funds PHARE, ISPA and Sapard to the full;

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Points out further that a speedy development of the instruments for an effective regional policy will
be helpful to deal with the socio-economic effects of the accession to the EU specifically in the peripheral
regions of Slovakia and calls on Slovakia to address the regional disparities in the country;

19. Welcomes proposals to this effect; calls on Slovakia to continue the building-up of effective finan-
cial control and audit procedures which are needed if the use of the pre-accession funds is to be checked
thoroughly;

20.
Calls on the Commission and the Council to ensure that the principle of differentiation is fully
implemented in the negotiation process so that all countries from the Helsinki group have a realistic
chance of catching up with the Luxembourg group if sufficient progress is made;

21.
Supports the Commission in its efforts to maintain the dynamics of the pre-accession strategy with
all candidate countries and underlines again its firm conviction that all negotiating countries should be
treated equally;

22. Welcomes that the European Commission and the Slovak government are in the process of devel-
oping and implementing together a targeted information strategy for both the candidate countries and the
Member States which will inform the citizens of Europe about the advantages of enlargement;

Calls on those EU Member States that require Slovak citizens to have entry visas to remove such

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requirements as soon as possible;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the parliaments of

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the Member States and the Slovak Government and Parliament.