Hvað segir ESB sjálft?

Deilt er um, hvers eðlis aðlögunarviðræðurnar við Evrópusambandið hafi verið. Sumir segja, að þetta hafi verið samningar tveggja aðila. En er ekki best að spyrja Evrópusambandið sjálft? Í bæklingi frá því um aðildarferli umóknarþjóða segir:

First, it is important to underline that the term “negotiation”can be misleading. Accession negotiations focus on the conditions and timing of the candidate’s adoption, implementation and application of EU rules – some 90,000 pages of them. And these rules (also known as “acquis”, French for “that which has been agreed”) are not negotiable. For candidates, it is essentially a matter of agreeing on how and when to adopt and implement EU rules and procedures. For the EU, it is important to obtain guarantees on the date and effectiveness of each candidate’s implementation of the rules.

Eins og aðrir hafa bent á, fer hér ekkert á milli mála: not negotiable.