European Council of Seville, 21-22/06/2002

Among the main decisions taken at the European Council of Seville was the approval of an action plan to combat illegal immigration. In the economic field, an agreement was ratified at the level of Finance Ministers regarding general trends in economic policy, which provides for a return to a situation close to balance in public accounts by 2004. Regarding the Reform of Institutions, the Council mainly approved a reform limited to the functioning of European institutions. The European Council, the executive body of the Union, will henceforth meet for one day instead of two. The size of delegations will be limited to 20 people per member state and the number of meetings to four per year. On the issue of enlargement: The Europeans confirm their commitment to complete, by the end of the year, negotiations with Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the three Baltic countries, Cyprus, Malta and Slovenia. They promise to resolve their differences by the end of November regarding the extension of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Structural Funds to new member states. On the other hand, Ireland announced its intention to organize a second referendum on the ratification of the Treaty of Nice in autumn 2002, following the first rejection of the Treaty by its voters. An “Irish National Declaration” published in Seville guarantees Dublin its military neutrality. Greece reaches an agreement with its partners on the future Rapid Reaction Force of 60,000 personnel, which will be operational in 2003. Finally, the Fifteen call for the organization of an International Peace Conference in the Middle East.