ABSTRACT
Seven of the twelve candidate countries use nuclear energy on a commercial basis. Only Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Malta, and Poland do not possess atomic power plants. Austria had been picking out nuclear energy as a central theme in the context of the enlargement, following the publication of the Commission's Opinions in July 1997. Under the Finnish Presidency in the autumn of 1999, the chapter on Energy came on the agenda of the accession negotiations for the first time. The European Council of Helsinki invited the Council to assess how "the question of nuclear safety could be treated in the framework of the enlargement process in line with the relevant Council Conclusions". At the end of May 2001, the outcome of the enquiry of the expert working party was presented in the form of a "Report on the Nuclear Safety in the Context of the Enlargement".
