Schuessel: EU membership in 2004 realistic

The Austrian Chancellor, Wolfgang Schuessel said on Monday that EU entry for the Czech Republic and other candidate countries in 2004 is an ambitious but realistic goal. Speaking at a conference in Vienna, Mr Schuessel was reacting to scepticism in his country and elsewhere towards the Czech Republic and other candidates being ready to be part of the first batch of countries to join the EU by 2004. Although accession talks come to a close by the end of the year, most candidate countries still have reforms ahead of them with the most painful being that in the financial sector as well as unemployment, Mr Schuessel noted.