Sweden insisted today it will solve one of the thorniest EU enlargement issues - the free movement of labor from new member states - before it hands the EU presidency to Belgium on July 1st.
"The Swedish presidency has very clearly the aim of settling the issue during the time of the Swedish presidency," said Mr Frank Belfrage, director general for EU affairs at the Swedish foreign ministry.
"It's very much our commitment to see to it that it's solved by the time we hand over the presidency to our Belgian successors," he said, as EU foreign ministers tackled enlargement questions at a weekend informal meeting in this town on Sweden's southern Baltic coast.
Mr Belfrage added that a firm decision could be reached as early as May 14th when the ministers hold their next regular meeting in Brussels - the last to be chaired by Swedish Foreign Minister Ms Anna Lindh.
Currently in various stages of accession talks with Brussels are Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Slovakia.
Turkey is also an official EU candidate, but cannot start negotiations until it is seen to be turning the corner on human rights and democratic reform.
Under one of the best-known rights bestowed by EU treaties, a citizen of any EU member state can find employment in any other member state, and get hired on equal terms with local workers.
But under German and Austrian pressure, the European Commission has proposed that citizens from new member states be barred from working in other EU countries for five years, with a possible two-year extension.
The prohibition would be reviewed after the first two years, however, and each of the 15 current member states would be free to open their job markets to the newcomers on a national basis.
AFP