Outsiders Eager to Get In

In his opening speech, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing greeted Convention delegates in all 11 official languages of the European Union — and in Polish. It was a nice gesture, even though Poles said he mangled the words. But it was hardly enough. Almost half of the national delegates are from the 13 candidate countries. The real prospect that as many as 10 of them will join the European Union in 2004 was what spurred the organization to take on the task of reforming its institutions lest they freeze up when the newcomers arrive. Yet many of the candidates feel they have less than “equal status.”

The chief complaint is no candidate country is represented in the powerful 12-member Presidium, which sets the Convention’s agenda. Jan Kavan, the Czech Foreign Minister and a Convention delegate, will submit a written proposal this week to add two candidate-country representatives. “That would reassure the candidate countries that the slogan, ‘We’re all equal,’ is serious,” he said.

Similar requests are issuing from other capitals. And no wonder. The reforms being discussed in Brussels over the next 12 months will apply equally to the new members, and there’s unease that instead of promoting reform, the enlargement process could take a back seat to it. “The really serious issue is whether the E.U. becomes divided into a fast-moving core and a slower group,” says Dimitrij Rupel, Slovenia’s Foreign Minister. “We don’t want to be on the periphery.”Under the proposed rules, delegates from candidate countries are full participants at the Convention — except that they “cannot block” any consensus among the current 15. However that ambiguous provision is interpreted, candidate countries are in the uncomfortable position of wanting to contribute to the discussion without being tagged as whiners. Says Matjaz Nahtigal, one of Slovenia’s delegates: “Our best bet is to establish ourselves through our contributions as responsible and valuable participants.”

Beyond the procedural discussion looms a more substantive one. Italy has pressed to have the intergovernmental conference that acts on the Convention’s proposals held during its presidency in the second half of 2003 — before the candidates are taken in as full members. “We like the symbolism of moving from the [1957 ] Treaty of Rome to another Treaty of Rome,” says an Italian diplomat. The candidates will have none of that. “That symbolism isn’t worth making almost half of Europe feel bitter,” says Kavan. “The tensions that would generate would be hard to control.” He is convinced the candidate countries have enough allies inside to prevent it but there could be a battle ahead on the question of timing.