EU candidates need practical guidance, says Irish expert

EU candidate countries are sick of bureaucrats in Brussels sending experts to give them lectures on joining the union, according to a leading consultant in European Union affairs.

The European Commission should give Central and Eastern European countries resources to develop skills and decide what they need to learn about joining the EU, said Dr Seán McCarthy.

Organisations and companies in Ireland now have a golden opportunity to offer practical advice and develop links with these countries, he added. “I hear them saying: ‘We want skills we can use tomorrow. Give us the money and we will decide who we want to bring down to talk to us.’”

Dr McCarthy is managing director of Hyperion Ltd, which provides training courses on the European Union to civil servants, universities, companies and regional organisations in the candidate countries.

From his base in Watergrasshill, Co Cork, he frequently travels to Slovenia, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Estonia and Latvia, in particular.

Avoiding any EU grants or links with the European Commission, Dr McCarthy says his firm is hired directly by customers in these countries, whom he charges at the same rate as he does clients in Ireland or Germany.

“You must treat these people in a business manner,” he said.

Ireland is seen as a model for development by accession states, especially the smaller countries like Slovenia, Estonia and Latvia, Dr McCarthy said.

Primarily, the leaders of these countries want to learn how the economy in Ireland has been transformed in the last decade, he said.

“We create jobs and that’s what they want to know about. Companies want to know how we do business and politicians want to know how we create jobs. They don’t want academic philosophies, they want to see what we’re doing on a daily basis,” he says.

Rather than viewing candidate countries as competitors, Ireland should see them as partners, Dr McCarthy argues, with the next couple of years offering a golden opportunity to develop contacts.

Indeed, he suggests that Irish organisations should package their experiences and offer them to people in these countries through EU-funded programmes or services.

“Irish organisations should offer themselves as the ideal partner for these countries in trans-regional programmes,” he said.

The candidate countries need money from the EU for infrastructure, skills, travel and technology, and it is important to stress to them that this is an ongoing issue in all the existing EU states, Dr McCarthy said.

“EU funding should not be presented as a handout but as a stepping stone to the upgrading of infrastructure, skills, technology and working.”