Administrative capacity beyond accession

Member States are expected to adjust regularly their administrative capacity to the evolving needs of the acquis. Building up an adequate administrative capacity is a process that will not end with the conclusion of the negotiations; indeed, the process will continue up to accession and beyond.

During the period between the signature of accession treaty and the actual accession of the countries concerned, the Commission will continue to follow developments on issues identified in the course of the accession negotiations. In addition, it will also follow developments on economic issues identified in the assessment of the economic criteria. It will report accordingly to the Council.

Pre­accession programmes will continue to operate during that period. For the first acceding countries, 2003 may be expected to be the last year in which pre­accession funds are programmed. Training of civil servants may become one of the most important needs in this period. Implementation will normally continue for up to three years. Transitional arrangements for the management and eventual closure of the programmes in the first years after accession need to be defined.

For the period after accession, the Commission will check, in its role as guardian of the Treaties, how the acquis is implemented by the new Member States, using the same mechanisms applied to existing Member States. Such mechanisms include periodic Commission reports to the Council on the application of Community law, infringement proceedings, and dialogue between the Commission and the Member States on implementation problems (such as the internal market problem­solving network or co­ordination centres).

Benchmarking and peer pressure are increasingly used inside the Union in order to develop interoperable and compatible administrative structures. The participation of candidate countries in Community programmes and agencies already contributes to the effective integration of the candidate countries. The e­Europe initiative, national employment strategies or activities in the context of the EMU have already been extended to the candidate countries through e­Europe plus, the Joint Assessment of Employment Policy Priorities in preparation for their participation in the European Employment Strategy and the pre­accession economic programmes. Candidate countries should continue on this road towards integration into existing policies and mechanisms of the EU.

In addition, the new Member States will benefit from any new mechanisms that may be introduced in order to improve the implementation of Community law. In its White Paper on Governance, the Commission has indicated that it will propose in 2002 twinning arrangements between national administrations to share best practice in implementing measures, drawing on the experience with candidate countries, and promote the knowledge of Community law with national courts and lawyers. The introduction of such twinning between Member States would allow candidate countries to continue to benefit from such arrangements after accession. This would contribute to a better implementation of the acquis in an enlarged Union.

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