EU Commission presents report on state of readiness of candidate countries

The European Union's Executive is to present a report on the progress of candidate countries at an EU summit this month. "Overall they are on track and are doing the things they are supposed to do," said an EU Commission official about the twelve applicants which are struggling to bring their national legislation in line with that of the Union before joining it. "Poland is keeping up with the other candidates - they are enacting legislation on schedule. The problems, however, lie in enforcing these laws, something which is common both to other applicants and to EU members," said an employee close to EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen. European Commission officials say that Poland is being examined in close detail due to its size. However in the nine remaining candidate countries, with a combined population of 32 million, the problems are much greater than those found in Poland with its population of 38 million. The report, which is needed by EU leaders, lists areas in which candidates have failed to meet their commitments. An official who wished to remain anonymous said that Poland needs to amend its central bank charter in order to shore up its independence. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A3, Reuters) A.Z.