EU Commission tells Latvia, Malta they must do better

To the particular disappointment of Latvia and Malta, the European Commission yesterday recommended no expansion in the group of six front-running accession states with which formal negotiations will begin next week. The recommendation is likely to be endorsed by next month's Vienna summit.

In its first report on Turkey the Commission notes "anomalies in the way the authorities operate, persistent violations of human rights, and important deficiencies in the treatment of national minorities," as well as "an absence of real civilian control of the army."

Reporting substantial economic progress towards functioning market economies in all 12 states considered part of the accession process, the Commission noted that not enough had been done to implement political reforms to copper-fasten human rights, particularly reform of the judiciary, in the countries of central and eastern Europe.

Those with which full negotiations will open next week are Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus. Those which will have to wait until they show further significant progress are Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Turkey.

The Commission's report argues that "progress towards accession and towards a just and viable solution of the Cyprus problem will naturally reinforce each other."

The message is that although the EU wants to admit the whole of Cyprus, Turkey will not be allowed to veto progress.

The big disappointments yesterday were for Latvia, which has made most substantial progress in its reform programme, and Malta, whose recent renewal of its application following the election of a new government had been expected to put it with Cyprus in the front rank.

The External Relations Commissioner, Mr Hans van den Broek, told the European Parliament that the Commission had concluded that formal negotiations could start with Latvia before the end of 1999, if it continued its current rate of progress.

He said the Commission could envisage recommending the opening of negotiations with Lithuania and Slovakia within a reasonable period of time.

The reports confirm that the five front-running states of central and eastern Europe are functioning market economies that should be able to cope with competitive pressures in the EU in the medium term.