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

Abstract

n Agenda 2000 the Commission said it would report regularly to the European Council onprogress 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. TheEuropean Council in Luxembourg decided that“From the end of 1998, the Commission will make regular reports to the Council, togetherwith any necessary recommendations for opening bilateral intergovernmental conferences,reviewing the progress of each Central and East European applicant State towards accessionin the light of the Copenhagen criteria, in particular the rate at which it is adopting the Unionacquis. Prior to those reports, implementation of the accession partnerships and progress inadopting the acquis will be examined with each applicant State in the Europe Agreementbodies. The Commission's reports will serve as a basis for taking, in the Council context, thenecessary decisions on the conduct of the accession negotiations or their extension to otherapplicants. In that context, the Commission will continue to follow the method adopted byAgenda 2000 in evaluating applicant States' ability to meet the economic criteria and fulfil theobligations deriving from accession.