The sensitive debate over the European Union's future was set to
resurface Thursday amid new calls for the bloc to hold off on
admitting more members until it tackles public disenchantment with
the EU and its constitution.
At talks before the opening of the EU summit, Bavarian Governor
Edmund Stoiber called on EU leaders and foreign ministers to heed
public opinion, which he said was against expansion to Turkey.
The leading German conservative said future enlargement "had to
be accepted by the citizens," and governments "must make clear
where the borders of Europe are."
"We must be clear about the absorption capacity" of the EU so
that it can take in more countries, said Stoiber, whose Christian
Social Union is part of Germany's governing coalition.
Earlier this week, Stoiber said Europeans were still trying to
digest the EU's mostly eastward expansion in 2004, and said that EU
promises to offer membership to Balkan countries and Turkey had
worried people.
The EU opened entry negotiations with Turkey and Croatia last
year, but negotiations with Ankara are expected to last at least a
decade because of the slew of reforms Turkey has to implement to
meet EU political and economic norms.
Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader told reporters Thursday that
he hoped his country could conclude negotiations in time for
Croatia to join in 2008.
The summit debate will focus on trying to find new ways to
resurrect a sense of public optimism about European integration
despite the growing public dismay and opposition.
Austria has taken the lead in trying to bring back the debate
about integration by focusing on the role of European values and
the benefits delivered by the EU to its 455 million
inhabitants.
Ursula Plassnik, Austria's foreign minister, said on Wednesday
she would relaunch debate of the future of the bloc and its
constitution at the summit and would chair a foreign ministers
discussion on the issue.
Austria, which holds the EU presidency, said one of its goals
was for EU leaders to make a final decision on the constitution's
fate by June.
French and Dutch voters rejected the draft EU charter nine
months ago in referendums. The Dutch government has said it would
not present the current draft to a public vote again, despite
demands from several nations that it do so. Fourteen other EU
nations have approved the charter.
The constitution, drafted over 18 months by a 106-member
convention and signed by EU leaders in 2004, aims to bolster the
bloc's role on the world stage and streamline the way the EU makes
decisions.
It needs unanimous backing from all 25 EU nations to take
effect.
Other issues set to spark debate are whether to create a single
European energy regulator, which many states oppose, and what place
nuclear power should have in Europe's energy mix.
On the wider economic reform agenda, the European Commission is
pushing for agreement to create a European Institute of Technology,
modeled on the US Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to act as
a clearing house for European and private sector investment in
research and innovation.
Several countries, including Britain and Germany, have
misgivings about the idea, which is only likely to win lukewarm
endorsement.
(China Daily March 24, 2006)
