Europese Commissie presenteert op 10 mei analyse over periode van grondwetbezinning (en)

vrijdag 5 mei 2006

Wednesday 10th May : Contribution to the European Council on the Future of Europe

The news :

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    The Commission will adopt its contribution to the June European Council on the Future of Europe.
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      The paper, prepared under the authority of President Jose Barroso i, draws on the results of the internal Commission seminar held on 27-28 April 2006.
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      At the end of the European Council on June 18th 2005, Heads of State and Government adopted a declaration on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe and called for a "period of reflection" following the negative referenda votes in France and the Netherlands.
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      The Commission called for the launch of a public debate in its contribution to the period of reflection and beyond adopted on October 13th 2005 (Plan-D for democracy, dialogue and debate). This paper gave a commitment to produce a contribution to the June 2006 European Council.
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      The Commission contribution to the European Council will draw initial conclusions from the period of reflection and outline an ambitious policy agenda required for the Future of Europe.
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The event :

Press Conference with President Barroso and Vice-President Margot Wallström i at the Berlaymont in Brussels at 12.30.

[Graphic in PDF & Word format] Video and photo coverage by EbS.

The sources :

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    European Commission Debate Europe website :

http://europa.eu.int/debateeurope/index_en.htm

The contacts :

Johannes Laitenberger + 32 2 296 5745; Pia Ahrenkilde Hansen +32 295 3070

Tuesday 16th May : Reports on Slovenia and Lithuania joining the euro zone

The news :

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    The Commission is expected to adopt its reports on Slovenia and Lithuania following their requests to join the euro zone on May 16th in Strasbourg.
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    Slovenia (on March 2nd) and Lithuania (on March 16th) requested the Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB) to assess whether they are ready to adopt the euro on January 1st 2007.
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    The Commission and the ECB must assess whether the two countries have achieved a high degree of sustainable convergence by reference to the fulfilment of a number of economic criteria including price stability, government deficit and debt positions and the participation and behaviour of their currency in the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERMII). The so-called Maastricht criteria are spelt out in Art 121 of the EU Treaty and in an annexed Protocol.
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    If the Commission concludes that one or the two countries meet the criteria, it will make (a) proposal(s) to the Council. The European Parliament must be consulted.
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    Along with Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia joined the ERM II on 27 June 2004. Three other countries (Cyprus, Malta and Latvia) joined on 29 April 2005 and Slovakia became a member on November 25th 2005.
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    All new Member States except Poland have set themselves a date for adopting the euro which varies from 2007 to 2010.

The event :

Press conference with Commisioner Joaquin Almunia i in the press room of the European Parliament in Strasbourg (time tbc).

[Graphic in PDF & Word format] Video coverage by EbS

The sources :

http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/publications/eurorelated_en.htm

http://europa.eu.int/comm/economy_finance/euro/transition/transition_main_en.htm

[Graphic in PDF & Word format] Memoclip sur la Lituanie

[Graphic in PDF & Word format] Infoclip sur la Slovénie

The contacts :

Amelia Torres + 32 2 295 4629 ; Marisa González + 32 2 295 1925

Tuesday 16th May: Monitoring report on Bulgarian and Romanian accession

The news :

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    Reports on the progress being made by Bulgaria and Romania in preparation for accession to the EU will be submitted to the college of commissioners.
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    Accession negotiations with the two countries were concluded in December 2004 and the accession treaties were signed in April 2005. The planned accession date is January 1st 2007, however if there is a serious risk of any of those states being manifestly unprepared to meet the requirements of membership by January 2007 in a number of important areas, the Commission may recommend to postpone the accession of Bulgaria or Romania or of both countries until January 1st 2008.
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    In its latest Monitoring Report of October 2005 the Commission concluded that both countries should be able to meet the requirements of EU membership at the envisaged date of accession on 1 January 2007 provided they concentrate all efforts on the reforms, with particular attention to their actual implementation.

The event :

Press conference with Olli Rehn i, Commissioner for Enlargement at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Time tbc.

[Graphic in PDF & Word format] Video coverage by EbS

The sources :

[Graphic in PDF & Word format] Memoclip sur la Bulgarie

[Graphic in PDF & Word format] Menoclip sur la Roumanie

The contact :

Krisztina Nagy + 32 2 298 8663

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