The Financial Times

European Union candidate countries will be subject to fines and penalties under a strict monitoring mechanism that will be stepped up once enlargement negotiations have been completed.

The idea is to prevent any backsliding by the 10 candidate countries, trying to complete enlargement negotiations at the Copenhagen summit in December, on the implementation of the acquis communautaire, or EU legislation. Several countries are having difficulties applying this, which could prompt some member states to question food safety, environmental and border security standards of the candidates.

Poland, lagging behind in negotiations, will not be able to implement the acquis by December. In that case, until 2004 - when candidate countries are expected to become full EU members, pending ratification of the accession treaty by existing and new members - Poland and other countries will be strictly monitored."Integration of the candidate countries will be stepped up after Copenhagen," said a senior EU official. "Countries will be fined and penalised if they fail to meet mutually agreed EU deadlines."

In the meantime, the EU has started working on drafting accession treaties ahead of Copenhagen. The aim is to complete as much as possible before October, when member states will put some of the most contentious issues up for discussion. They include agriculture, the budget and regional policy.

By early spring, the Commission and Council, which represents the 15 member states, hope to have a full treaty ready for the European Parliament to confirm. The treaty will then be sent to member states and candidate countries for ratification, which should be completed for new members to participate in the 2004 European Parliament elections.

"We cannot leave all the drafting until the last minute," said a EU diplomat. "We have a road map. We intend to stick to it despite the difficult issues, apart from financial issues, coming up in the autumn.

"One is the Irish referendum on the Nice treaty, which spells out provisions for enlargement.

Another is whether a political settlement can be reached over Cyprus by December.The draft treaty for Cyprus is well under way. The consensus among member states - failing an agreement by December over the divided island - is that if Cyprus has successfully concluded negotiations and if it can be shown that Glafcos Clerides, Greek Cypriot leader, has tried to reach a settlement with North Cyprus, it will be admitted.

The treaty will admit the whole island of Cyprus into the EU, although the EU's acquis will be applied only to the southern, Greek Cypriot part as long as it remains divided.