Regular report from the Commission on Hungary's progress towards accession 1998.

Abstract

In Agenda 2000 the Commission said it would report regularly to the European Councilon progress made by each of the candidate countries of Central and Eastern Europe inpreparations for membership and that it would submit its first report at the end of 1998.The European Council in Luxembourg decided that“From the end of 1998, the Commission will make regular reports to the Council,together with any necessary recommendations for opening bilateral intergovernmentalconferences, reviewing the progress of each Central and East European applicant Statetowards accession in the light of the Copenhagen criteria, in particular the rate at which itis adopting the Union acquis. Prior to those reports, implementation of the accessionpartnerships and progress in adopting the acquis will be examined with each applicantState in the Europe Agreement bodies. The Commission's reports will serve as a basisfor taking, in the Council context, the necessary decisions on the conduct of the accessionnegotiations or their extension to other applicants. In that context, the Commission willcontinue to follow the method adopted by Agenda 2000 in evaluating applicant States'ability to meet the economic criteria and fulfil the obligations deriving from accession.