Commission Report (2002): Czech Republic

D. Accession Partnership and Action Plan for strengthening administrative and judicial capacity: Global assessment

The Czech Republic`s progress and overall state of preparation in respect of the Copenhagen criteria has been examined and conclusions drawn above. The present section assesses the extent to which the priorities of the Accession Partnership have been met and the measures foreseen under the Action Plan implemented according to schedule. It should be noted that both the Accession Partnership and the Action Plan have a time perspective of two years covering 2002 and 2003, providing for another 15 months for priorities to be met. Furthermore, much has already been achieved based on previous Accession Partnerships. The present one focuses on remaining specific and well-circumscribed topics identified as requiring more work to prepare the Czech Republic for membership. Therefore the analysis below only focuses on these specific topics and does not give an overall picture of the state of preparation of the Czech Republic in each domain.

The purpose of the Accession Partnership is to set out in a single framework:

• the priority areas for further work identified in the Commission`s Regular Report;
• the financial means available to help candidate countries implement these priorities;
• the conditions which will apply to this assistance.

The revised Accession Partnership has served as the point of departure for the Commission and Czech Republic to develop jointly an Action Plan to strengthen the Czech Republic`s administrative and judicial capacity.

The purpose of the Action Plan is to identify jointly the next steps required for the Czech Republic to achieve an adequate level of administrative and judicial capacity by the time of accession, and ensure that all necessary measures in this regard are taken, providing the Czech Republic with targeted assistance in areas that are essential for the functioning of an enlarged Union.

Developing adequate administrative and judicial capacity for EU membership is a demanding and wide-ranging task, which requires detailed preparations in each and every domain covered by the Union's policies and legislation. In preparing individual Action Plans, the Commission has taken a comprehensive approach. All priorities from the revised Accession Partnerships which relate to the development of administrative and judicial capacity have been included in the Action Plans. Each of these priorities is treated separately in the Action Plans, and specific measures have been designed to address each of them.

In the following, progress in addressing each of these priorities is reported. For ease of reference and to avoid repetitions, wording from the Accession Partnerships is rendered in italics. As regards the measures foreseen by the Action Plan, implementation is checked against timetables and reported.

Subsections

• Political criteria
• Economic criteria
• Ability to assume the obligations of membership
  • Chapter 1: Free movement of goods
  • Chapter 2: Free movement of persons
  • Chapter 3: Freedom to provide services
  • Chapter 4: Free movement of capital
  • Chapter 5: Company law
  • Chapter 6: Competition
  • Chapter 7: Agriculture
  • Chapter 9: Transport
  • Chapter 10: Taxation
  • Chapter 11: Economic and monetary union
  • Chapter 12: Statistics
  • Chapter 13: Social policy and employment
  • Chapter 14: Energy
  • Chapter 19: Telecommunications and information technologies
  • Chapter 20: Culture and audio-visual Policy
  • Chapter 21: Regional policy and co-ordination of structural instruments
  • Chapter 22: Environment
  • Chapter 23: Consumers and health protection
  • Chapter 24: co-operation in the fields of justice and home affairs
  • Chapter 25: Customs union
  • Chapter 26: External relations
  • Chapter 28: Financial control

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