30/11/2001 (Agence Europe) - The German President of the EPP-ED group, Han-Gert Pöttering (CDU), has sharply criticised the position of the French Foreign Affairs Minister Hubert Védrine on enlargement. The latter has called for EU enlargement to take place in one go, with 12 applicant states to be taken in at the same time - the "Big Bang" scenario. Mr Pöttering believes this is "unacceptable" because it would mean that all the countries would have to wait until the last of them were ready for accession and the Community would have to conclude agreements with them next year which would break the Community's own budget. Pöttering claimed that a date for accession could not realistically be taken until autumn 2002.