Something fishy about EU information on enlargement

Enlargement will increase the number of EU coastal states from 13 to 20. The waters of the Baltic Sea will become almost exclusively EU waters, and the EU's common fisheries policy will extend further into the Mediterranean. It will also boost the aquaculture industry and the extent of inland fisheries in the Union. Altogether, between now and the end of 2006, €272 million will be available under EU fisheries funding for the new member states. So, because the policy is of interest to all 10 new member states (including those landlocked, as it covers not only sea fisheries and aquaculture but also processing and marketing of fisheries products), information in all 20 official languages of the EU now appears on the EU website on the implications of accession for the fisheries and aquaculture. Information available at http://europa.eu.int/comm/fisheries/

Extending GMO controls across the enlarged EU

National enforcement laboratories from the acceding countries last week signed up to the European network which helps detect genetically modified organisms in food and feed samples. The European Network of GMO Laboratories works with the European Commission's Joint Research Centre, which co-ordinates the process. In a system that is new for the entire EU, applications for genetically modified food or feed can now only be granted if an authorised laboratory decides, through a series of tests, that the methods used for detecting GMOs in food and feed samples are accurate and effective. "We are committed to ensuring the full respect of EU legislation when it comes to GM plants and their derived food and feed products," European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin said. "EU legislation requires a case-by-case assessment of all GM food or feed applications based on scientific evidence. Only products meeting these stringent requirements will be able to be sold in an enlarged EU." The network will also help to introduce new labelling rules for GM feed and reinforce existing labelling rules for GM food.

EU-Russia agreement will cover the enlarged EU

Just days before the May 1 deadline, a deal was reached between the EU and Russia over the terms of the partnership and cooperation agreement that binds them together. The agreement needed adapting to cover the ten new member states, and there had been tough talks between the two sides right up to the last moment. Now enlargement is fully recognised by Russia. European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said after the signing ceremony for the new agreement: "The extension of the PCA to the enlarged EU ensures Russia will be able to benefit from all the opportunities for increased cooperation arising from EU enlargement. EU enlargement is good for the EU and for its neighbours, including Russia. Conditions for trade will improve, offering considerable potential for further growth. We expect the ratification of the protocol to follow rapidly on both sides." And a joint statement from both sides added: "The interdependence of the EU and Russia, stemming from our proximity and increasing political, economic and cultural ties, will reach new levels with the enlargement of the EU." Among the many aspirations expressed in the joint statement, it notes also that both sides "look forward to the final report of the study on the feasibility of a high-speed train connection to Kaliningrad by mid-July 2004."

EBRD and EU upgrade Romanian waste-water treatment

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is lending €10 million to help improve waste-water services for more than 170,000 residents across the city of Sibiu, in central Romania. The money complements a €25.6 million grant from the European Union's ISPA programme. The combined financing will help extend and rehabilitate the sewer network, upgrade the drinking-water treatment plant, and improve the water distribution network. The EBRD loan is "a strong signal of the EBRD's growing confidence in the strength of some of Romania's local authorities", the bank said, promising to increase its support to municipalities across the country, including in areas such as district heating and public transport. The loan is being provided under the Municipal Environmental Loan Facility set up in 2000 to provide co-financing with the ISPA programme for wastewater-related projects in Romania. More than €80 million of EBRD loans have been extended in concert with ISPA grants, which help improve living standards and prevent environmental pollution through compliance with EU environmental standards.

Nothing for Roma to celebrate on enlargement?

The Roma people of eastern Europe have little celebrate as enlargement goes ahead, since their practical living conditions and attention to their rights have improved little, says their leading lobby group in Brussels. "The EU has always taken an ambiguous stance towards the situation of the east European Roma", says the European Roma Information Office, alleging that the EU has relegated treatment of minorities in new member states to a secondary issue. The EU is now too "preoccupied with the economic situation in eastern Europe and in the west to care much about human rights and the rights of minorities which are anyway internal matters of the member states and not within the competencies of the Union", says ERIO. And the EU15 have consistently seen the Roma as essentially a problem to be contained as far as possible in eastern Europe, says ERIO. "It advocated their rights while they stayed in their countries, but individual member states systematically rejected their claims as soon as they emigrated. Hundreds of Romani asylum seekers from Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic saw their asylum applications turned down in the EU on the grounds that they were considered as mere economic refugees". A new beginning is needed for Roma too, urges ERIO. "In the wake of enlargement, a commitment is required that European values and the rights of European citizens are also valid for Europe's most discriminated and most marginalised minority", it said in a statement last week.