AUSTRIA
•  How big are the chances that agreement will be reached on a European Union Constitution?
The chances are very good. There is an important detail to take into consideration. After the adoption of the European Constitution by the heads of state, each of the 25 countries will have to ratify the Constitution either through a referendum or a parliamentary vote.

SPAIN
•  Will the number of the stars on the European Union flag be increased?
The number of the stars on the Union's flag will not change: this number is fixed; there are 12 stars which are not linked to the number of the member countries, but are a symbol connected with what is probably considered a perfect number from several points of view, like the astrological one, for example. 12 is also the number of the months of the year and so on. In any case, 12 is the number of the stars and this is one of the symbols of the European Union that have been written in the new Constitution. Other symbols are the “Hymn to Joy” by Beethoven, which becomes the EU official anthem, and the currency, which is the Euro, of course, and, finally, the EU motto, which is: “United in Diversity”.

•  What is going to happen to the value of the Euro after the enlargement?
As concerns the value of the Euro, in theory, there should be no important changes after the Enlargement. The value of our currency depends on other general factors, but it will be interesting to see what happens in a few years' time, that is as from 2007, when some of the new countries would like to enter the Euro area, because, after they have entered the EU, they will keep their national currencies. As from 2007 it will be already possible for the first countries to join the Monetary Union and then adopt the Euro as their own currency. Then it will be interesting to see the impact of this Enlargement.

ROMANIA
•  What are the economic costs of the integration of the new countries from the viewpoint of the member countries?
As far as the economic costs for the member countries are concerned, it is difficult to name the exact figure because there have been some contributions to the budget of the EU w hich are distributed among the different countries. There are contributions from the member countries to the new countries, but also flows of capital in the opposite direction, if we consider the mutual investments between the old and the new member countries, the workers' mobility, the positive influence of the Enlargement in general. We need to consider it not only in terms of costs for the old member countries, but also as an extraordinary historical and political opportunity: the whole history of Europe is a history of divisions which have been abolished in the course of time.
Europe was born at the end of World War II as an attempt to get together some of the winner countries and some of the beaten ones in order to share some resources and set up a common organization.
The Enlargement represents the end of Cold War, when Europe was divided into two blocs, the western one and the eastern one, with atomic threats which were a subject for discussion until about twenty years ago, as well as the balance of terror between the two superpowers threatening to use the atomic bomb against each other: Europe was between them, just in the middle.
Now these two blocs, at least the European ones, have joined to form a single family. It is important to see the Enlargement from this point of view, that is, as the end of Cold War and a great opportunity to coexist in peace for countries which were once at war with each other and used to trade weapons, while now they are exchanging students and goods. Therefore the Enlargement is a great event from the historical point of view, which may involve some costs, but is to be seen as a great opportunity for stability in the long term.

•  Do the EU citizens think that the presence of cultural and religious differences can make the integration process of the new member countries more difficult?
As concerns cultural and religious differences, they are part of cultural identity.
Europe is not a super state with a single identity, a single culture or a single religion. One of the features of the European Union is the coexistence of different features, cultures, languages and religions. This is asserted also in the first articles of the new Constitution, which concern the objectives and the values of the Union. It is written that the Union is based on diversity, the Union's motto itself will be: “United in diversity”.

•  Presuming that finally, all Europe will be united, what would be the fate of national identity?
The Union is based on diversity. National identities are granted and nobody will lose their identity when they become European citizens. All the countries will enrich their own national identities with a new element which will make them European; all the languages of the member countries will become official languages. Therefore, also the languages, which are an essential element of national identity, will be kept alive and protected.

•  What will a History Textbook be like?
I think the question refers to what a textbook on European History could be like. I think it could not only explain the history of Europe in the last 50 years, but also give some information on the history of the different European countries: for instance, we know very little about the history of the eastern ones. It is important to remember that the EU cannot take any decisions concerning school textbooks of history or any other subject. Also the syllabus of any school or university subject falls within the competence of national or even regional bodies in some countries, and depends on the decisions of the Ministries for Education of the single countries.

•  It is well known that in case of an external conflict, the EU will function as a whole and defend its interests. What if an internal conflict arises? Who will mediate it?
As concerns external conflicts, there is a new article in the Constitution which states that, should one of the 25 member countries be attacked from the outside also in the form of a terrorist attack, mutual support would be immediately provided by all the other 24 member countries. In case of a terrorist attack to a member country, all the others are entitled to cooperate with the country which has been struck and help it counter the attack. This is one of the most important elements of the new Constitution and has already become effective: in fact, the Interior Ministers who met in Brussels in March decided to apply it in advance as a consequence of the Madrid terrorist events, even before the Constitution came into force.
I think an internal conflict is unlikely or impossible to occur. I do not think the conditions exist for a conflict between two regions in the same country because they are part of a single entity, have the same head of state, the same currency and common interests beyond any historical or linguistic differences. The same is true for the European countries which are part of a large family, which is not a super state: they actually share the same history, currency, institutions and, for this reason, an internal conflict is impossible, while terrorist attacks from the inside are possible, but that is another question.

•  With the effective measures the Romanian school system is taking on its whole in order to join the European Union, today the school is ahead of other institutions or social subsystems (political, economic, juridical). Do you think this effort will be perceived in a realistic way and accurately materialized at the moment of joining the EU? Or will the bad reputation of the political-economic systems be reflected in a negative way in the Romanian school system?
The quality of the Romanian school system is certainly high. Romania's accession to the EU will happen on the basis of the same criteria which have guided the accession of the other countries, like Poland, Slovenia, etc. and certainly also the school system will be analyzed to see if it meets the standards required, if it makes the students' free circulation and exchanges possible. The state of the political and economical systems does not concern the Constitution, but from now to 2007, which is the closest possible date of Romania's integration into the EU, there is certainly enough time to evaluate the progress in all fields. Nowadays there aren't any particularly negative prospects, in the sense that there are some efforts to be made by Romania in some fields, but the objective will stand good until 2007. The same stands good for Bulgaria, which is another candidate country; you know that just on the borders of Europe there are other countries asking to join the EU, like Turkey, which is already a candidate country. A decision will be taken on its future in the next months. In the last months there have been another two countries which have applied to join the EU; one is Croatia and the other is the former Yugoslavian republic of Macedonia, which asked to join the EU just a week ago. There seem to be also strong movements of public opinion in Norway and also in some areas of Switzerland which would support the joining of these countries to the EU. I think that, in ten years' time, the EU will be enlarged to include more than thirty countries. The Balkans are certainly in the general objective of the EU, in the sense that all the Balkan countries which come from a recent war, have expressed their intention of joining the EU, somehow or other; therefore the borders of Europe might extend even further in the future.

POLAND
•  What are for Poland the advantages and disadvantages of belonging to the EU?
The advantages are apparent: it is possible to share a space of stability, security, free circulation of goods, people, capital and services. Now it is already possible for Poland to take part in all the European Programmes of students' exchanges, but not in many other programmes. In the future it will be possible to participate with the Polish in common initiatives of foreign and defence policy.
At present there are no apparent disadvantages. Most Polish, except some euro-sceptical who represent a minority, are willing to join the EU. Nevertheless, the real effects will be apparent in a few years' time.

•  Will it be possible for people from Poland to go to other countries and work there? (When? Which countries?)
Yes, it will be possible for the Polish to go and work in other countries. However, a first temporary phase has been established for the first years after the Enlargement when some of the member countries can decide to restrict free circulation of labour from the new member countries, and this has been decided against the will of the European Commission, which would have liked all the citizens of the new member countries to be immediately free to move and migrate. These provisional measures will be in force during the first years after the Enlargement. In a few years' time, the temporary phase will be over and no limits will be set to migrations.
According to recent surveys, some European citizens seem to worry about the Enlargement because they are afraid of seeing masses of people coming from the new member countries to work in the “old” Europe. This will not happen, because studies have been made which show that the citizens of the new member countries who would like to go and work in the “old” Europe, that is the 15-country Europe, are really few (less than 0.3% of the people): they are mainly students, graduates or managers who are ready to move. Mobility is an opportunity for everybody; not everybody is interested in it and yet there must be such opportunities.

•  What is going to happen to Polish farming and building grounds? Is there a risk that they will be sold out to the other members of the EU?
This topic is not connected with the Constitution but concerns the Enlargement. Some countries would have liked to set a limit to the possibility that foreigners might buy their own grounds. This question has been made clear and, after a first temporary phase of 12 years, it will be possible also for foreigners to buy grounds in Poland in the same way as it happens in all the other countries.

LITHUANIA
•  What about the situation with the farming in Lithuania after it joins the EU? Will small farms go bankrupt? Will taxes and prices get up after Lithuania joins the EU?
As concerns agriculture, there will be more opportunities to export products from Lithuania to other countries and to import other products from the other countries. It is not possible to estimate the final trade balance, but I do not think that small firms may risk going bankrupt. Anyway, a large part of the EU budget will be reserved to the “structural funds”, most of which will be absorbed by the new member countries. The structural funds are used to help the EU industries and regions which are lagging behind. Most of the new member countries will be included among these regions and the sectors which are considered critical in Europe (at present, for example, fishing and agriculture). Therefore, they will get these funds to face possible crises.

•  How will it be possible to reduce corruption in Lithuania after it joins the EU?
First of all I do not know if there is corruption in Lithuania. If it is present, I do not knot how it could be reduced. This is a question which is not connected with either the Constitution or the Enlargement. However, if the Enlargement has been decided, that means that Lithuania meets a series of criteria which include a correct and honest public administration.
This is one of the prerequisites which have been verified, so Lithuania enters the EU also because it has passed this “test”.

•  What status will the Lithuanian language gain after Lithuania joins the EU?
After Lithuania has joined the EU, the Lithuanian language will be considered as one of the 20 official languages so all the official written documents of the EU will be translated into all the languages, including Lithuanian. Also the official meetings that will be held in the European Parliament or in the Council of Ministers will have to provide for translation service from and into all the languages of the Union. There are the logistical problems of finding room for all the interpreters. In this room, for instance, there are five translation cabins because only 11 languages, that is the official ones at present, are expected; in a few months' time it will be necessary to find room for another nine cabins like these. The same will happen in the seats of the other institutions, it will be necessary to add more cabins, more interpreters, and this is the cost of Europe's riches, because we do not have only one or two official languages, all the languages are official. Then a solution will have to be found for the meetings so that people can communicate effectively, but, from the official point of view, also Lithuanian will be an official language, like Italian, Greek, Slovenian, German, English, etc.

ITALY
•  Is there any possibility for a European military force to be set up in the future?
The possibility that one day a European military force may be set up exists on paper as a UE project. So far, this had not been envisaged in the previous treaties, but the new Constitution will provide Europe with a common foreign and defence policy. Defence represents the operational arm of foreign policy. The EU defence polity will have several tools at its disposal: first of all it will have an agency for weaponry research and development; then it will probably have a strategic command to coordinate the defence operations of all the countries. We cannot speak of a real European military force yet, but collaborations are already under way between some of the member countries to build a kind of future European military force. Last year four countries, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium launched the idea of a European Security and Defence Union. Other countries like Britain seem to be interested in joining this initiative and this represents an important innovation with respect to the past, when each country had to keep its own army as a bulwark of national sovereignty. For this reason, putting in common the operations command and research on defence means to lay the foundations for the creation of a European army one day, provided there is need for it, and in that case it will be used only for defence or reaction purposes, not for offence. This is the prerequisite, as the Constitution states that the Union's first objective is peace: peace inside the Union, which has already been reached, but also outside the Union, which has not been reached yet and represents the priority objective of future Europe.

•  How are the countries chosen to become members of the EU?
The countries are not chosen. The countries have to apply to enter the European Union, but they must meet a series of criteria shared by all the European countries which are: democracy, a free market, internal stability, internal pluralism and so on. They represent a whole series of conditions which seem obvious but are no so obvious in all the countries. For instance, the possibility of giving voice to the oppositions and avoiding the persecution of political oppositions are not granted in some countries just on the borders of Europe. In order to accept a country's application, it is necessary to verify if many criteria, such as environmental standards, economics criteria and the safety of products have been satisfied. The final decision lies with the heads of state and the heads of government of the present member countries, who will unanimously decide the accession of the new member country on the basis of the preparatory work of pre-accession, when each country negotiates the various articles of the agreement.

•  What do you think of the recent Education Reform Act? What is the European Commission going to do in this field? Will there be any common syllabuses for all the schools belonging to the European Union?
As concerns education administration or syllabuses, education is a matter of national competence. The European Commission is active in this field, in the sense that it organizes and supports students' exchanges, organizes Socrates, which has several intervention sectors, one for schools which is called Comenius, one for university called Erasmus, etc. There are initiatives for the mutual recognition of educational qualifications between different countries, for promoting distance learning and e-learning. There are a lot of initiatives, like the opportunity for university students to carry out part of their studies abroad, either in the EU or in third countries, as the Mediterranean ones, or even different ones. There is no common policy on education because education policy is national, but there is a European dimension of education, which a kind of “younger sister” of common policy in the sense that it promotes exchanges, projects and programmes. Taking part in these exchanges represents an added value for the single European citizen. In conclusion, education can be seen as a European matter, even though it comes under a special category which is called “support actions”, not within the competence of the Union, but in support of the Union. Surveys have been carried out of the participants in the Erasmus Programme (over a million of them last year): they were asked what it had meant for them to go and live abroad for three or six months or a year. 98.5% of them said it had been an extraordinary experience in general. Nearly 90% said that, after this experience abroad, their job opportunities had improved, both from quantitative and qualitative points of view. Once they have come back home from their experience abroad, many young people know better what they want to get from their studies and their professional future; as they know what they want, they can try and get it more effectively. Besides, they have got a wealth of experiences which is very useful in their working lives: they know a foreign language well, they know a foreign country, they are able to deal with the typical situations you may meet abroad and cannot be studied in school textbooks, but can only be “studied” when living abroad and coping with real everyday problems. These competencies are appreciated in the world of work. For this reason I invite all of you to take advantage of these short or long exchanges one day and become European citizens, that is to say, beyond any rhetoric, people prepared for their future jobs.

Translation by 4 Elt C - 2003/2004

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