A LOOK BEHIND THE NEWS / A look behind the news, by ferdinando riccardi

EU relations with third countries must take domestic developments into consideration - caution needed for new accessions

An eloquent comment. Mr Barroso, still president of the European Commission for a few more months, recently reassured the Tunisian prime minister, Mr Mehdi Jomaa, of the EU's support for Tunisia, but Barroso added: “taking account of the limits of the possible extravagance of the European budget” (see EUROPE 11105). This small comment of course refers to the EU's relations with the outside, and its meaning is obvious - the EU's action to recover its budget deficits and review its various...