We have a very tight calendar in British Columbia, only 28 days, and shortening the nomination period somewhat, given that the candidates have full knowledge well in advance of when the election will be, would allow Elections British Columbia more time to prepare the ballots and the list of candidates and distribute them during the election calendar.

29. Regrets the confusing announcement by the President-in-Office of the European Council that a list of candidate countries which can become Member States of the European Union in the first wave of enlargement will be drawn up on the occasion of the Brussels-Laeken Summit, as this is an issue which is not agreed upon and might raise false expectations in the candidate countries;

Emphasising that the programming and the drawing up of rural development plans was a completely new concept for most of the candidate countries, the report points out that a framework for rural development programmes had been drawn up by all ten states, and approved by the Commission by autumn 2000.

Common List of Military Equipment: the first report emphasised that top priority needed to be given to finalisation of the Common List of Military Equipment provided for in operative provision 5 of the Code because that list was to be a cornerstone of the Code of Conduct.

enforcement of the strict state aid control provisions contained in the Europe Agreements signed with the candidate countries will be increased through the finalising of implementing rules for these provisions.

IV. THE COUNCIL CALLS ON THE COMMISSION TO: 20. follow-up, as appropriate, the consultation already under way on the Green Papers "Living and working in the information society"[18] , New audiovisual services, "Copyright and related rights in the information society"[19] , "The legal protection of encrypted services"[20] and "Commercial communications in the internal market" [21] ; 21. analyze potential barriers to the development of new information society services, in particular electronic commerce; 22. analyze the impact of information and communications technologies on the competitiveness of industry sectors and submit proposals f ...[+++]or a European initiative to stimulate the use of information and communication technologies, in particular for SMEs; 23. intensify international cooperation, in particular to assist the accession countries in their preparation for the information society and to improve communication with other regions, in order to promote the global information society; 24. report to Council on the competitive position of the ICT industry and the state of implementation of the 1991 Resolution on the ICT Industry.