Brussels, 29/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - European rapporteur on enlargement Elmar Brok (EPP-ED, Germany) has called for a basic shift in EU enlargement policy. In a working paper, Brok sets out the main thoughts and demands he intends to develop in his forthcoming report which will be put before the EP foreign affairs committee before the summer. His main message is that if the EU wants to remain a “political project”, it will not be able to enlarge as it has done over the last 20 years. “Accession must not be the only option” for all the EU's neighbouring countries which hope to become part of the Union in the medium to long term, says Brok. “Even though enlargement policy is without doubt the most successful of the Union's foreign policies, we need a time-out, a period of consolidation” of undetermined duration, he told a small group of journalists on 29 January. Thus there is a need to offer these countries “options other than accession”. Brok, who is a former chairman of the EP foreign affairs committee proposes a “new architecture” for relations between the EU and its neighbouring countries, which will go beyond the European Neighbourhood Policy without necessarily leading to accession for these countries. In concrete terms, Brok is relaunching the idea of “concentric circles” outside the EU institutions and offering candidate countries intermediate steps, for example, a “European Economic Area Plus”, a “strengthened European Neighbourhood Policy” or a “European Commonwealth”. None of these options should close the door to a more advanced level of relations with the EU, including accession, on condition that the conditions for making such a further step are met. Countries like Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova, which all share the strategic objective of one day joining the EU, and also some Western Balkan countries and even Turkey could use these “concentric circles” to move gradually closer to the EU without necessarily expecting - for some, perhaps ever - that the conditions for accession will be met. Brok denies any intention that his report is an attempt to sabotage Turkey's accession negotiations. Although he is against Turkey's accession, Brok says that it would be mad to halt negotiations. However, depending on the progress, or lack of it, made in negotiations, he does not rule out the possibility of Ankara itself one day opting to join one of the “circles”.
Brok is particularly critical of the European Commission. “It has no coherent enlargement policy,” he says, condemning, in particular, the “lack of coordination” between Direction General Enlargement and DG External Relations which is responsible for the neighbourhood policy. He also reproaches the Commission for not placing sufficient emphasis on the EU's “absorption capacity” in its strategic document of autumn 2007. It is high time that the fourth Copenhagen criterion for enlargement is defined and applied carefully, he says. (H.B.)