POLAND: GERMAN CHANCELLOR GERHARD SCHROEDER TELLS E.U. MEMBERSHIP CANDIDATES HE IS SURE THEIR ENTRY TALKS WILL BE COMPLETED BY DECEMBER

Record ID: 640693

  • Title: POLAND: GERMAN CHANCELLOR GERHARD SCHROEDER TELLS E.U. MEMBERSHIP CANDIDATES HE IS SURE THEIR ENTRY TALKS WILL BE COMPLETED BY DECEMBER
  • Date: 7th November 2002
  • Summary: (U7) WARSAW, POLAND (NOVEMBER 7, 2002) (REUTERS) ***CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** SLV POLISH PRESIDENTIAL PALACE (2 SHOTS) MV GERMAN CHANCELLOR GERHARDT SCHROEDER ARRIVES AT PALACE; MV GREETED BY POLISH PRESIDENT LESZEK MILLER; MV SCHROEDER AND MILLER WALK INTO PALACE (2 SHOTS) MV SCHROEDER AND MILLER STANDING IN FOYER OF PALACE WITH OFFICIALS (4 SHOTS) SLV DINNER TABLE; SCU SCHROEDER SEATED; SCU MILLER SEATED (3 SHOTS) SLV MILLER AND SCHROEDER ARRIVE FOR NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) SCHROEDER SAYING "With this decision, which will definitely be confirmed in Copenhagen, the enlargement of the European Union will enter its final phase. In principle, all the conditions for enlargement have been met. So, we have the unique, historic chance to make our continent of Europe a place of lasting peace and well being for our people and for the whole of Europe and I think this historic chance must not be missed and we must not lost sight of it." MV OFFICIALS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) MILLER SAYING "I have the information that all Chechens living in Poland now are not terrorists".
  • Embargoed: 22nd November 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: WARSAW, POLAND
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: European Union,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8QD9QKWROFKG8YQPK98UDEG2J
  • Story Text: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has told European Union membership candidates he is sure their entry talks will be completed by December, but urged them not to seek more aid from the bloc.
    Schroeder said EU leaders took tough decisions on funding the 40 billion euro enlargement project at last month's Brussels summit, and nothing now stood in the way of a final enlargement deal at the bloc's next meeting in Denmark.
    "These decisions will definitely be confirmed in Copenhagen," Schroeder said after dining with Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller in Warsaw on Tuesday (November 5).
    But Schroeder said there was little scope to boost the EU aid on the table for EU aspirants, mostly eastern European countries still shaking off the economic legacy of decades of communist rule.
    "We have the unique, historic chance to make our continent of Europe a place of lasting peace and well being for our people and for the whole of Europe and I think this historic chance must not be missed and we must not lost sight of it," Schroeder said on his first official visit abroad since his re-election in September.
    Germany, the largest net contributor to the EU budget, strongly backs the bloc's eastward expansion, which will open up new markets and create a zone of stability to its east lacking for most of its modern history.
    But Schroeder, beset by high unemployment and economic stagnation in Europe's largest economy, is reluctant to open his wallet further after assuring France that farm aid would continue around current levels well into the next decade.
    Candidates are unhappy at the financing deal on offer and fear they could at first pay in more than they get out, because EU-funded development projects will take a while to get off the ground.
    But Miller, like Schroeder a social democrat, avoided broaching the issue, saying only that prime ministers of candidate states would have a lively discussion on funding at talks in Warsaw next week.
    Poland, Hungary, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta hope to join the EU in early 2004.
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