EU foreign ministers gather this weekend in the Luxembourg spa town of Mondorf les Bains to see if they can resolve an issue that may mar the Luxembourgers' summit in December. The issue is whether all the applicant states of the Central and Eastern European Countries (CEECs) should be allowed to start accession talks with the EU at the same time, probably next April, or whether the Commission's list of the five most prepared, plus Cyprus, will get the goahead alone.
The select five are Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Estonia.
The dispute pitches Denmark and Sweden, with Italy, Greece and Portugal, into the first camp against the rest. They argue that to exclude anyone at this stage - except Slovakia because of its human rights record - will be to condemn them to years of secondclass status and is likely to lead to a flight of badly-needed investment capital to those in the first wave of talks.
The Commission in its "Agenda 2000" assessment of the readiness of the CEECs for the heavy responsibilities of membership makes it clear, however, that only the first five are realistically capable of making the transition in the next few years. Involving the others at this stage is simply not worthwhile, the Commission argues, and will stretch beyond its capacity the ability of the Commission and member-states to conduct the complicated talks.
While other controversial aspects of the enlargement debate, such as where the money will come from, are likely also to be raised this weekend, only the issue of Turkey's place in the process also has to be resolved for the summit.
The French have proposed the creation of a European Conference as a form of waiting room for applicants to the EU. If agreed, it is due to be inaugurated formally by the British at a meeting in Buckingham Palace during their presidency in the first half of next year.
Ministers are also expected to debate the situation in Algeria and the Middle East at their two-day informal meeting.
