Reports on progress towards accession by each of the candidate countries. Composite paper.

Abstract

The European Council meeting in Luxembourg in 1997 invited the Commission todraw up regular reports on the progress made towards accession by each of thecandidate countries:“The Commission will make regular reports to the Council, together with anynecessary recommendation for opening bilateral intergovernmental conferences,reviewing the progress of each central and east European applicant state towardsaccession in the light of the Copenhagen criteria, in particular the rate at which it isadopting 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 abasis for taking, in the Council context, the necessary decisions on the conduct of theaccession negotiations or their extension to other applicants. In that context theCommission will continue to follow the method adopted by Agenda 2000 in evaluatingapplicant states’ ability to meet the economic criteria and full obligations deriving fromaccession.A dynamic approach should be maintained in assessing the progress made byapplicant states in the Regular reports which the Commission will submit to theCouncil”.The European Council meeting in Cardiff asked that the reports for the end of 1998should also cover Cyprus.