Sarkozy: No enlargement until Lisbon

French President Nicolas Sarkozy says the EU will not accept any new member-states until the Lisbon Treaty comes into force.

Izvor: Beta

Friday, 20.06.2008.

10:28

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy says the EU will not accept any new member-states until the Lisbon Treaty comes into force. "Without the Lisbon Treaty, there will be no enlargement,” Sarkozy said at the end of the first day of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels. Sarkozy: No enlargement until Lisbon When asked if such a position applied to Croatia, next in line to join the EU, Sarkozy said that full consensus was needed for such a step. "Any kind of enlargement decision requires a unanimous decision and it would be very strange if Europe had trouble agreeing upon its institutions, but agreed to accept a 28th, 29th or 30th member,” the French president pointed out. Earlier, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who is presiding the EU Council, said that the blockage in ratifying the Lisbon Treaty would not affect the accession process for the Western Balkans countries. Jansa told a press conference that he was “convinced that the solution would be found before any of the prospective new member-states fully met all the criteria for membership.” "Practically, I don’t think that there’s any reason for the countries that have started the negotiating process, or have candidate status, to put off reforms, or slow down the process,” the Slovenian prime minister said. Jansa, chairing the EU summit, also said that the “European Commission had no intention of slowing down talks.” "And that’s why I don’t see any special reason in this situation to focus on the enlargement issue and talk about it as the crucial victim of the current blockage,” Jansa said. At a separate meeting, EU foreign ministers reviewed the situation in the Western Balkans, but they only touched on developments in Kosovo and Macedonia. There has been no information so far as to the contents of the ministers’ meeting, but Jansa said that “Macedonia won’t get an exact date to begin negotiations until all the conditions have been met.” He said that these may include conditions that the EU did not have any bearing on, such as the issue of the country’s name, which was a bilateral matter. "The EU will do its best to find a solution as soon as possible,” Jansa said. Declarations on the West Balkans will be adopted at the end of the EU summit.

Sarkozy: No enlargement until Lisbon

When asked if such a position applied to Croatia, next in line to join the EU, Sarkozy said that full consensus was needed for such a step.

"Any kind of enlargement decision requires a unanimous decision and it would be very strange if Europe had trouble agreeing upon its institutions, but agreed to accept a 28th, 29th or 30th member,” the French president pointed out.

Earlier, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, who is presiding the EU Council, said that the blockage in ratifying the Lisbon Treaty would not affect the accession process for the Western Balkans countries.

Janša told a press conference that he was “convinced that the solution would be found before any of the prospective new member-states fully met all the criteria for membership.”

"Practically, I don’t think that there’s any reason for the countries that have started the negotiating process, or have candidate status, to put off reforms, or slow down the process,” the Slovenian prime minister said.

Janša, chairing the EU summit, also said that the “European Commission had no intention of slowing down talks.”

"And that’s why I don’t see any special reason in this situation to focus on the enlargement issue and talk about it as the crucial victim of the current blockage,” Janša said.

At a separate meeting, EU foreign ministers reviewed the situation in the Western Balkans, but they only touched on developments in Kosovo and Macedonia.

There has been no information so far as to the contents of the ministers’ meeting, but Janša said that “Macedonia won’t get an exact date to begin negotiations until all the conditions have been met.”

He said that these may include conditions that the EU did not have any bearing on, such as the issue of the country’s name, which was a bilateral matter.

"The EU will do its best to find a solution as soon as possible,” Janša said.

Declarations on the West Balkans will be adopted at the end of the EU summit.

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