EU leaders met yesterday for the last time as a group of 25, amid agreement to slow down the process of enlargement until the bloc has the institutional tools it needs to support new members.
With Bulgaria and Romania poised to become the 26th and 27th EU countries in just over a fortnight, the leaders have decided that their entry into Europe's rich club will be the last for several years.
Turkey's candidacy was slowed down this week, with a freeze put on further discussion on around a quarter of the policy chapters it must negotiate to realize its 40-year quest for European integration.
The stand on newcomers will also have major repercussions for Croatia, the most advanced of the current EU hopefuls, and Macedonia, which has made tremendous reform strides just five years after narrowly averting a civil war.
Respect the rules
Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, whose country holds the bloc's presidency until the end of the month, said that the leaders had agreed that EU hopefuls should be obliged to more strictly respect the rules.
"It was strongly underlined that the pace of accession depends on the acceeding countries ability to comply with the rules," he said, late Thursday after a summit dinner focused on future expansions.
"The criteria must be strictly applied to," he said.
A key to the problem has been the failure of the European constitution, endorsed by EU leaders but which was rejected by French and Dutch voters last year, sparking the bloc's worst-ever crisis.
The constitution was meant to streamline the EU's institutions as the bloc grows, but while there have been tentative moves to discuss alternatives, no real solution to the blueprint for Europe's future is expected before 2009.
Vanhanen said the leaders, in confidential talks, had agreed that there was no point in throwing away the painstakingly assembled text.
"We cannot throw out the entire text and start again from scratch," he said. "Most member states would like to retain, if not the treaty as such, at least as much of the substance as possible."
Tougher
European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso said the leaders were moving toward a "new consensus" on enlargement that will make it tougher for prospective members to join, particularly until the institutions are reinforced.
"I see after this very deep discussion, a new consensus emerging on enlargement," he said, after the heads of state and government had laid out their visions of where Europe's final frontiers should lie.
"We understand the need to combine the strategic vision of enlargement -- why enlargement is so important for Europe -- with the capacity of integration of the EU."
Germany, which takes over the EU presidency from Finland on Jan. 1, is expected to revive talks on the constitution, though probably not using that term, and plot a roadmap for its acceptance.
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