BRUSSELS: Eight months away from formal accession, preparations for the 10 new members to join the European Union are in full swing in the various capitals and in Brussels.

When the European Commission ruled at the end of 2002 after years of negotiations that 10 of the 13 candidate countries were ready for membership in the greatest single act of enlargement to date, it did not forget to list the shortcomings that needed to be resolved before they joined.

The admonition that “progress has been made” in the fight against corruption, bribery and economic crime, but that “grounds for concern” remain in this respect, is a constant theme in reports in Brussels.

Variations on this theme in differing degrees of seriousness can be found in almost all the reports on the individual candidate countries, which speak of concern, grave concern and in the case of Poland very grave concern.

The candidate countries still have much to do in order to satisfy the European Commission by the time it produces its next report at the end of the year.

The authorities in Brussels have in many cases praised the way laws on corruption have been tightened up in the candidate countries, but have regretted failings in implementation.

Weaknesses in administration and the legal systems, which are serious in some cases, have also been criticized in many of the countries in recent reports from the commission.

Of particular concern to Brussels is the protection of the EU’s external borders and the related problem of illegal immigrants.

EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen has always highlighted the histories of the countries concerned and said that only with colossal effort could they make up the political and economic deficit by comparison with the current EU members.

And they have to accept that the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries simply does not exist within the union any longer.

There are scarcely any areas in which EU countries can take decisions and act on their own recognizances, without consultation with their partners in the union.

For example, the commission monitors the conditions under which prisoners are held and has criticized the countries concerned with regard to their prisons and other closed institutions.

The position of the Roma, who form large minorities in some of the candidate countries has been carefully looked at.

In the Czech Republic they are reported to face a “difficult situation” and in Hungary to suffer legal discrimination. Slovakia has also been urged to improve the conditions under which they live, in the commissions most recent report.

The accession states have to take over EU law in its entirety, although only after a transitional phase in some cases, and Brussels is watching this with a keen eye.

Estonia has been criticized for its handling of waste and maintaining clean air standards, as has Latvia for its veterinary medicine and food safety standards.

Lack of control in the Czech Republic’s financial system has drawn fire from the commission.

The candidate states know that it is in their own interests to resolve these problems, for once they are full members of the club, any contravention of the rules can result in proceedings before one of the union’s many supervisory bodies resulting in large fines.

It is true that this principle is scarcely honoured by the current 15 members, as not one of them has adopted all EU laws in its own legal code as theoretically required.—dpa