Brussels, 07/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - With the introduction of the euro, the European unification process can no longer backstep, said the former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl when in Brussels on Wednesday to hand the medal of the Foundation of European Merit to Hans-Gert Pottering, President of the EPP-ED Group in the European Parliament, during a special session of the group in which the Presidents of the EP and Commission Nicole Fontaine and Romano Podi took part, as did Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker (see below) and EPP President Wilfried Martens. The British will "soon have to speak up clearly" regarding the euro, as they cannot continue eternally to "tread on eggs", exclaimed Kohl, adding: "we shall see the City move towards the euro..". As for enlargement, Kohl called on the negotiators not to lose themselves in the details, and noted, in passing, that, had we not played up the affair of "herring quotas", Norway would probably be in the EU today.