PROĊESS TA' NEGOZJATI BEJN MALTA U L-UE: ŻEWĠ
OQSMA O'“RA MAG'“LUQA
Il-konferenza dwar il-proċess ta' sħubija
ta' Malta fl-UE re'għet iltaqgħet dalgħodu fi Brussel fejn kien
hemm qbil bejn Malta u l-Unjoni Ewropea sabiex issir rakkomandazzjoni
lill-Ministri ta' l-Affarijiet Barranin illi jingħalqu żew' oqsma
miftuħa għan-negozjati fil-laqgħa Ministerjali li jmiss li għandha
issir fil-21 ta' Novembru.
Dawn l-oqsma huma l-Li'i tal-Kumpaniji u l-Unjoni
Ekonomika u Monetarja, li t-tnejn infetħu mill-Presidenza Franċiża.
L-Unjoni Ewropea issottomettiet ukoll il-Pożizzjoni
Komuni tagħha dwar l-oqsma tal-Moviment '“ieles tal-Kapital,
il-Kompetizzjoni u l-Politika Soċjali u tax-Xogħol.
Matul il-laqgħa ta' dalgħodu, ic-Chairman
tal-Grupp Ewlieni ta' Negozjaturi Maltin, is-Sur Richard Cachia
Caruana, qal illi Malta qiegħda tapprezza aħjar l-opportunitajiet
illi i''ib magħha l-isħubija. Huwa sostna illi bil-progress li qiegħed
issir fin-negozjati, il-pajjiż qiegħed iħejji ruħu sabiex jipparteċipa
b'mod sħiħ fl-Unjoni. Is-Sur Cachia Caruana żied illi Malta, kif
ukoll il-pajjiżi kandidati l-oħra, qiegħda tantiċipa illi l-Kunsill
Ewropew, li se jiltaqa' f'Nizza ix-xahar id-dieħel, jagħti spinta
sabiex in-negozjati jidħlu f'fazi aktar avvanzata.
Waqt din il-laqgħa l-Ambaxxatur Franċiż Pierre
Vimont, saħaq illi l-Presidenza Franċiża hija sodisfatta ħafna
bil-progress ta' Malta. Huwa qal illi dan huwa dovut għall-mod eżemplari
illi ż-żew' naħat qiegħdin jaħdmu flimkien.
Minn naħa tiegħu, id-Direttur Ġenerali għat-Tkabbir
fil-Kummissjoni Ewropea, is-Sur Eneko Landaburu, qal illi Malta
kompliet tagħmel progress impressjonanti. Huwa fakkar illi Malta
irnexxiela tagħlaq in-negozjati fi tnax-il qasam wara biss tmien xhur.
Id-diskors sħiħ tas-Sur Richard Cachia Caruana,
siltiet mid-diskorsi tal-kelliema l-oħra, kif ukoll tabella illi turi
fejn waslu n-negozjati s'issa huma annessi ma' din l-istqarrija.
Is-Sur Cachia Caruana kien akkumpanjat
mill-Ambaxxatur ta' Malta fi Brussel, Victor Camilleri, minn Patrick
Tabone, Assistant Personali tal-Ministru ta' l-Affarijiet Barranin,
Graziella Pullicino, Ko-ordinatur fis-Segretarjat tan-Negozjati ma'
l-UE, u minn numru ta' uffiċċjali oħra mill-Ambaxxata ta' Malta
fi Brussel.
diskorsi annessi .../..
STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF MALTA BY
MR RICHARD CACHIA CARUANA, CHAIRMAN, CORE NEGOTIATING GROUP AT THE
FOURTH MEETING OF THE ACCESSION CONFERENCE AT DEPUTY LEVEL, BRUSSELS.
16 NOVEMBER 2000.
We are today taking another useful and encouraging
step forward in the process of Malta's negotiations for membership
of the European Union. The time since our last Deputies' meeting has
been short, but quite active and productive. As a result, we are in
the position of being able to discuss another five chapters –
Company Law, Economic and Monetary Union, Free Movement of Capital,
Social Policy and Employment, and Competition. We are also in a
position to recommend the provisional closure of two of them –
Company Law and Economic and Monetary Union.
Work on the Transport chapter, which is the last of
the nine chapters identified by the French Presidency, is also
sufficiently advanced to justify our expectation that, even if the
schedule of formal meetings does not permit it to be discussed this
month, it will be ready for the next meeting of Deputies.
This means that by the end of the French presidency
up to seventeen chapters will have been discussed. On twelve of these
chapters the negotiating work will also have been provisionally
completed.
One of the chapters which we are recommending for
provisional closure today – Economic and Monetary Union - deals with
one of the newer and evolving dimensions of the European Union. Malta
looks forward to the opportunity of being closely involved in the
process towards economic and monetary union. The decision to recommend
this chapter for provisional closure at this stage underlines the
extent to which Malta is already aligned with the Acquis.
The other chapter ready for closure is the one on
Company Law. Malta's legislation and administrative structures in
this area are very advanced. Our company law legislation was enacted
in the mid-nineties, while over the last few months we have enacted
major new legislation on industrial and intellectual property. As a
result we are already well aligned with the Union's Acquis
under this chapter.
Two of the other chapters we are discussing today,
Free Movement of Capital and Competition, deal with complex and
sensitive areas of the internal market. I believe that I am justified
in saying that, overall, the positions we have presented in this
regard also show the advanced level of convergence which Malta already
has with the Union.
There are, however, a number of additional
clarifications which the Union is requesting us to provide for both
chapters, and there are also some issues which require some intensive
negotiations. Given the nature of the subjects under consideration
this is to be expected.
As I pointed out at our last meeting, there are a
few key issues in these two chapters which go to the heart of
Malta's social and economic well being. On our side we recognise
that, in becoming a member of the Union, Malta will form part of a
closely knit internal market system which can only work effectively
with the active and wholehearted involvement of all its components.
Malta's unequivocal commitment is to form part of this system. We
are convinced that we have the capabilities, resources and
determination to do this.
The special arrangements we are seeking in the
areas of state aid and of purchase of property, though very different
in nature, are intended to safeguard the strength and integrity of our
social and economic structures in such a way as to ensure that we will
indeed play our full role in the internal market. It is therefore not
our objective to stand aside from any of the basic commitments of
membership, but rather to equip ourselves fully to live up to these
commitments.
The last chapter we are considering today is the
one on Social Policy and Employment. Here Malta is requesting four
transitional periods, related both to the aspect of Labour Law as well
as to the aspect of Health and Safety. We are making these requests
following a wide-ranging and detailed examination of the technical and
financial issues involved. Our objective is to ensure our proper and
full compliance with the acquis in this important area. From
its side the European Union is here also requesting a number of
clarifications on various aspects of our position.
Malta looks forward to the opportunity to pursue
more detailed discussions on these matters in the weeks ahead. In this
spirit we are examining with deep interest the ideas on the methods of
negotiations put forward by the Commission in the Strategy Report
which it presented last week. A number of these ideas touch directly
upon aspects of the negotiations which have been a matter of concern
to Malta and other candidate countries up to now. We welcome and
encourage all ideas aimed at better structuring the negotiations in a
way which permits a quicker resolution of relatively minor technical
issues, focuses attention on the few key issues and starts identifying
a time frame for the pursuit and conclusion of the negotiations.
At the same time we wish to look a bit more closely
into proposals which could imply that, from the very outset, certain
requests would be unilaterally classified as unacceptable. The
proposals aimed at setting a road map to guide member states in
defining their common negotiating positions on identified issues would
also need to be examined in the light of the evident differences that
exist among the various candidate countries.
In the report it presented last week the Commission
also encourages those candidate countries, which have not yet opened
all the chapters, to present their negotiating positions on the
outstanding chapters as soon as possible. We welcome the spirit in
which this recommendation is made, namely the objective to have these
chapters opened as early as possible in 2001. We also welcome the
intentions being expressed by the incoming Swedish presidency on this
matter. As already stated, Malta's intention remains that of
submitting most of its negotiating positions on the remaining chapters
before the end of this year. All will have been submitted by early
2001. Our internal preparations on these chapters are very much
advanced and the indications given by both the Commission and the
in-coming presidency have encouraged us to intensify our work.
The concluding weeks of the French presidency will
be a busy and critical period for the future of the Union in general
and the enlargement process in particular. The conclusions of the Nice
summit both with regard to the Intergovernmental Conference on
Institutional Reform as well as with regard to the proposals of the
Commission in their strategy report should give the enlargement
process an immediate and qualitative push forward. Together with the
other candidate countries Malta feels justified in expecting that,
after Nice, the negotiations will move into a new and advanced phase
which will hopefully lead to an early and successful conclusion.
As this is expected to be the last occasion on
which the Deputies Meeting is being held under the French Presidency,
I would like to express my personal appreciation, and the appreciation
of all my colleagues, for the thoroughness and energy with which the
Presidency has managed the negotiations over the past months. We
recognise that the demands arising from simultaneous negotiations with
twelve candidates constitute a daunting task.. It becomes even more
daunting when coupled with the other demands on the Union's
presidency, which at this time also include the Inter-Governmental
Conference on Institutional Reform.
As on previous occasions, I also wish to express
our appreciation to the Commission Services and the Council
Secretariat for their co-operation. As the negotiations become more
complex our demands on their time and attention increase. We have yet
to find them wanting.
As Malta moves towards the end of its first year of
accession negotiations its administration and people are certainly
developing a better understanding of the challenges residing
membership of the Union. At the same time, we are equally better
placed to appreciate the opportunities which lie ahead.
Extracts from the statements delivered by
Ambassador Pierre Vimont of France and Director General Eneko
Landaburu of DG Enlargement.
Ambassador Pierre Vimont, Permanent Representative
of France, said that the Presidency was once more happy to express its
congratulations to Malta for the significant progress achieved in its
membership negotiations. He added that the Presidency wished to
underline that it was determined to open all nine chapters with Malta
and to continue to make progress on the chapters already opened.
Ambassador Vimont stressed that the French Presidency intended to use
to the full the time that remained until the end of its Presidency to
advance further the negotiations process.
Ambassador Vimont said that Malta was taking
another important step forward in its membership negotiations, and the
catching up process was already well on track. He added that the way
the Accession Conference was proceeding clearly showed that the speed
of the negotiations depended on the progress made in the adoption and
implementation of the acquis.
At this stage Ambassador Vimont referred to the
Commission's regular report on Malta and said that the evaluation of
the report was an important element in the negotiation process and
that the member states would follow the conclusions of the report.
Ambassador Vimont then referred to the Chapters on
Company Law and on Economic and Monetary Union. He said that the Union
had concluded that no more negotiations were necessary at this stage
on these two Chapters. He added that with regards to Company Law this
conclusion had been reached following the detailed supplementary
information submitted by Malta on its enforcement of intellectual
property rights, Community trademarks and pharmaceutical products. He
said that this additional information had convinced the member states
that on these matters Malta was well advanced in the adoption of the
acquis. He invited the Maltese Delegation to confirm this result of
the negotiations.
Ambassador Vimont then referred to the other three
Chapters on the agenda, on which the Union felt that more negotiations
were necessary. These are Free Movement of Capital, Competition and
Social Policy and Employment.
He described Competition as having strategic
importance in the acquis and in the implementation of the internal
market. On this Chapter he said he wished to point out two things. The
first thing was that the acquis on this Chapter had to be adopted by
Malta before accession. The second was that the Union wished to stress
the need for strengthening the administrative infrastructure needed
for the implementation of the acquis.
Ambassador Vimont then spoke about the Chapter on
Social Policy and Employment, stressing the importance of this part of
the acquis for the proper functioning of the internal market. He
referred to the social dimension of the Union as underlined in the
Amsterdam Treaty and said that the Union was inviting Malta to adopt
the social policy and employment acquis by the time of accession. He
explained that this would require administrative structures that had
to be functioning by accession.
The Director General of DG Enlargement of the
European Commission, Mr. Eneko Landaburu referred to the conclusions
of the Commission's regular report on Malta and to the Enlargement
Strategy paper recently adopted by the Commission. He expressed the
hope that these two Commission documents would help accession
negotiations to move into a more substantive phase and to advance more
smoothly. He added that the Commission's decisions expressed in
these documents conformed completely to the Helsinki conclusions in
that candidate countries would continue to be regarded on their own
merit and that there would be realistic catching up possibilities.
Mr. Landaburu added that since the last meeting of
the Conference Malta continued to make impressive progress. He said
that sufficient progress had been made to permit five Chapters to be
put on the agenda and for two of them to be closed. He wished to
mention only a few points on the Chapters on which further
negotiations were needed.
Mr. Landaburu also hoped that progress would be
made on the Chapter on Social Policy and Employment once the
Commission would have examined the supplementary information submitted
by Malta.
Mr. Landaburu also spoke on the Chapter on
Transport. He said that the Commission would transmit its Draft Common
Position on this Chapter as early as possible so that the Council
would be able to evaluate it during the course of this Presidency.
Mr. Landaburu once more congratulated Malta on the
remarkable progress it had achieved. He concluded by saying that
Malta's achievements made him hope that the accession negotiations
would progress quickly even on the more complicated chapters to come.