The European Commission’s annual progress report on the pre-accession process of candidate countries and potential candidate countries pays special attention to the effects of the economic crisis on these states and the further development of the rule of law.

The Netherlands largely endorses the Commission’s findings, though it does question the advisability of setting a target date for completing negotiations with Croatia. Despite Croatia’s substantial progress, the Commission is right to point out that justice sector reforms continue to lag behind other areas. Moreover, full cooperation with the ICTY has yet to be achieved. This also applies to Serbia, and the Netherlands consequently sees no reason for unfreezing the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with that country and implementing the interim agreement on trade conditions.

At the end of October, the Dutch government will send the House of Representatives its response to the Commission’s report. The permanent parliamentary committee on European affairs will meet on 11 November to address the subject of EU enlargement, and the European Council will discuss the conclusions on 7 and 8 December.

The Treaty of Lisbon is now a step closer, thanks to Poland’s ratification and the positive outcome of the recent Irish referendum. This eliminates a number of practical obstacles to further enlargement. Expanding the European Union to include the countries of the Western Balkans and possibly Turkey can make a major contribution to the Union’s stability and security, economic development and energy supply security.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen has pointed out, ‘This does not mean, however, that we should start fiddling with the strict admission requirements. The issue that has prompted the most concern is reforms in the field of justice and home affairs. The European Commission correctly identified problems relating to the fight against corruption and organised crime, the independence of the judiciary and the reform of the justice sector, which we are seeing in almost all candidate countries and potential candidate countries. Laws that were enacted in some cases to placate the EU are often not being implemented or enforced.’



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