Paraphrasing (8th paragraph)
Text
However, up to 10 countries (all but Bulgaria and Romania) could join in the first wave of accessions as 4 countries in the second group have actually caught up to the first group in terms of progress in negotiations; these 1 0 countries also agreed to a negotiating timetable set forth at the Goteborg summit. As of the most recent negotiating session on December 12, 2001, all of the negotiating chapters had been opened with these 1 0 candidates except the chapter on institutional issues. Many of the chapters have already been provisionally closed: with Slovenia, 25 chapters have been concluded; with Cyprus and the Czech Republic, 24; with Hungary, 23; with Latvia, 22; with Lithuania and Slovakia, 21; with Estonia, 20; and with Malta and Poland, 19. More formal progress reports for 2001 on each candidate's progress in meeting the economic and political conditions necessary to join were approved in November. These reports concluded that all candidate countries have made steady progress in meeting the accession conditions and in adopting EU legislation. However, to ensure that the candidates improve their ability to implement and apply the EU's acquis, the European Commission will prepare an action plan to help them reinforce their administrative and judicial capacity.
The main idea of the paragraph
Ten candidate countries could join the European Union in the first wave because they have made satisfactory progress in meeting the accession conditions and in adopting EU legislation. To ensure that the candidates improve their ability to implement and apply the EU’s acquis, the European Commission will prepare an action plan to help them reinforce their administrative and judicial capacity.
十个申请国在满足入盟条件以及采纳欧盟立法方面取得了令人满意的进展而可以在第一拨加入欧盟。为了保证申请国改善其实施运用欧盟法规总汇的能力，欧盟委员会将准备制订一个行动计划，帮助申请国加强其行政和司法能力。
词语解释
catch up to / with
to go fast enough or do enough so as not to be/fall behind 赶上，e.g.
Smith ran hard and tried to catch up to his friends. 史密斯拼命奔跑，想赶上他的朋友们。
