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EU candidates worried over bilateral trade deals

BRUSSELS: Countries newly admitted to European Union membership talks said on Tuesday they were concerned about the fate of a number of bilateral trade pacts they hold once they join the bloc.

The concerns were expressed as Slovakia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania and Malta sat down at the negotiating table with EU negotiators for substantive talks for the first time.

The six join Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Estonia, Slovenia and Cyprus who began negotiating their EU entry two years ago.

Once they join the EU, the countries will join a common customs area with the bloc and will be obliged to scrap any bilateral free trade areas or customs unions they are part of.

Some of the new candidates say they want to maintain the accords for a number of years once they have joined, or to find other ways of preserving the pacts' benefits.

In some cases the problems have arisen because the accords are held by two candidate countries and they are worried that they will not join the EU in the same year.

That goes for a customs union between the Czech Republic, which joined membership talks two years ago, and Slovakia, which has a lot of catching up to do with its former partner.

"We have a link in the region to the Czech Republic. We would like to keep it as long as possible to preserve all the benefits of the customs union," Slovakia's chief negotiator Jan Figel told reporters.

"As soon as Slovakia is closer to entry we shall see more exactly how the situation develops, whether the gap between the Czech Republic is widening or closing."

Latvia and Lithuania said they wanted to prolong a free trade agreement in agricultural products between the three Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, if the three do not manage to join the EU at the same time.

In other cases the pacts concern countries which have been excluded from EU membership talks. Romanian chief negotiator Aurel Ciobanu Dordea said a free trade agreement the country holds with neighbouring Moldova would have to be discussed.

Lithuania also said it wanted to maintain a free trade accord with Ukraine for five years after joining the bloc.

"Ukraine is an important country and for the future a promising market for Lithuanian goods," Lithuania's chief negotiator Vygaudas Usackas told reporters.-Reuters