§ Mr. SpringTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent progress has been made by(a) Hungary, (b) Poland, (c) the Czech Republic, (d) Cyprus, (e) Slovenia, (f) Malta, (g) Lithuania, (h) Estonia, (i) Latvia, (j) Slovakia, (k) Romania and (l) Bulgaria in their respective accession processes to the European Union. [15396]
§ Peter HainAll candidates in negotiations have made steady progress towards accession. Of the 31 chapters into which the acquis are divided, Cyprus has closed the most (23) and Romania the least (8). Overall, since the beginning of the year, the candidates in negotiations have provisionally closed 74 chapters. This year's Commission Regular Reports, detailing the candidates' progress338W towards meeting the obligations of EU membership, were published on 13 November. They can be accessed at http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/index.htm.