France warned the UK yesterday that expansion of the European Union could be hit if EU leaders fail to agree a new budget this week. Speaking at a Brussels meeting of foreign ministers, Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister, said the EU needed to think hard about beginning a new wave of enlargement. He added that further expansion of the 25-nation bloc could be open to question if the EU failed to finance last year's entry of 10 new member states with a budget this week. "Should we go on with a new wave of enlargement?" he asked. "Is this the right moment . . . when the EU has yet to find the institutional or financial solutions to the challÃ,Âenges of the enlargement we have already carried out?" At the centre of the debate is the former Yugoslav RepÃ,Âublic of Macedonia, which the European Commission believes should be formally declared a candidate for membership. But Brussels has not yet named a date for the start of talks and privately officials say there is no chance of negotiations next year.
Speaking at a Brussels meeting of foreign ministers, Philippe Douste-Blazy, the French foreign minister, said the EU needed to think hard about beginning a new wave of enlargement. He added that further expansion of the 25-nation bloc could be open to question if the EU failed to finance last year's entry of 10 new member states with a budget this week.
"Should we go on with a new wave of enlargement?" he asked. "Is this the right moment . . . when the EU has yet to find the institutional or financial solutions to the challÃ,Âenges of the enlargement we have already carried out?"
At the centre of the debate is the former Yugoslav RepÃ,Âublic of Macedonia, which the European Commission believes should be formally declared a candidate for membership. But Brussels has not yet named a date for the start of talks and privately officials say there is no chance of negotiations next year.
