Brussels, 07/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - After Bulgaria and Romania (which will join the EU in 2007 or in 2008 at the latest), there are no plans for further accessions over the next few years, and certainly not before the end of the decade, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told the foreign affairs delegation of the French National Assembly in Paris on Tuesday. “The next country on the list will probably be Croatia”, on condition that it meets the criteria, but beyond that it was “impossible” to predict, he said. “Negotiations with Turkey have started, but everyone, including the Turks themselves, knows that it will be a long process with no guarantees on its outcome. It's the same for the countries of the western Balkans, which are at an even earlier stage in their relations with the EU.” This, Mr Rehn feels, gives the EU sufficient time to reflect and decide on how it wants to develop, what form it should take and what its future is, notably to resolve its institutional problems.
Because the EU takes seriously the concerns of its citizens about the speed of enlargement, “I propose to build a new consensus on enlargement based on two principles,” said Mr Rehn: to defend the strategic interest of Europe, which is to extend and consolidate the peace, freedom and prosperity area, and therefore to abide by commitments already made: this means too that the EU stands by the European prospects offered to the Balkan countries and Turkey; - to ensure that the EU maintains and develops its capacity for decision-making and action both internally and externally (EU “absorption capacity” or “assimilation capacity”). The absorption capacity determines the extent to which the EU can accommodate new members and remain efficient, but this is an “operational concept, not a geographical one,” stressed Mr Rehn.