Enlargement Countries Plead With Ireland Over Nice

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

27 September 2002

Ten of the countries hoping to accede to the European Union in 2004 on Wednesday released a joint statement pleading with the Irish people to vote in favour of the pro-enlargement Nice Treaty.

Following a meeting of the ten top accession countries in Poland this week, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Cyprus, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Estonia all urged the Republic's voters to consider the advantages that membership of the Union has brought for Ireland, and to vote to stregthen political unity and security within Europe.

'Enlargement is a historical task. It represents an opportunity to heal the divisions in Europe of the past century...as well as to strengthen peace and security throughout our continent,' the statement explained.

Although then ten EU hopefuls stated that they respected Ireland's right to make its own decision on the Treaty, they suggested that contrary to the impression conveyed by anti-Nice campaigners, a 'Yes' vote in Ireland is crucial to the enlargement process.

Meanwhile, Maltese Prime Minister, Eddie Fenech Adami stated earlier this week that he is confident that the Maltese people will vote to join the European Union in a referendum planned for the early part of next year, despite opinion poll results which show a mere 4% margin in favour of accession.

'The timing is now and the conditions are right. EU membership for Malta is the natural and logical step,' the EU Observer news service quoted the Maltese Premier as observing.

Dismissing fears that tricky issues within the taxation acquis chapter will pose an insurmountable problem, Mr Fenech Adami observed that: 'Malta's accession negotiations are well on track for the country to be part of the next enlargement. I am confident that the next regular report will confirm this.'

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