09.04.08: EP report seeks to put brake on further EU enlargement - The Diigo Meta page

• 09 Apr 08
  

  Prof. Dr Wolfgang Schumann

  enlargement enlargementpolicy_eu europeanparliament absorption_capacity westernbalkans

  • The European Parliament is preparing a report that argues in favour of significantly slowing down the process of further enlargement of the EU, warning that hurried expansion will lead to a fragmented Union.
     
     Prepared for the foreign affairs committee by German centre-right MEP Elmar Brok, the draft report says: "Further enlargement without adequate consolidation could lead to a Union of multiple configurations, with core countries moving towards closer integration and others lying at its margins."
  • Enlargement strategy should "be flanked by a more diversified range of external contractual frameworks." Countries could then graduate to more integrated agreements if they fulfilled certain conditions.
  • Despite the proposal for a stronger political relationship with the EU, the report's emphasis on its own ability to absorb new member states represents a blow to countries such as Ukraine and Georgia which have been strongly lobbying Brussels for hints that they can eventually join the club.

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