Mr Enlargement takes a test drive

Date: 27/04/06

Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has one of the most difficult tasks in the Barroso Commission: trying to maintain political support for further expansion of the EU in the face of increasing scepticism in national capitals (and even outright opposition to Turkey's bid).

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to give Turkey a "privileged partnership" rather than letting Ankara join as a full member. France and Austria will hold referenda on Turkey's membership.

But Rehn, who has a wry sense of humour, is undaunted by the challenge. He likens the current EU to a customer who has ordered a new car. Recalling that the Union's biggest ever enlargement took place only two years ago in 2004, he says: "We are doing a test drive and we have already decided we need a new car." The implications of the last enlargement are still being digested, he suggests (see left).

He is unfazed by the sudden emphasis that national governments and some MEPs want to put on the Union's absorption capacity (or ability to take in new members, generally taken to be code for political will). He points out that absorption capacity was already a criterium for enlargement at the Copenhagen summit in 1993. "The history of absorption capacity has been a success story," Rehn argues, saying that historically the political and economic challenges of expanding the Union have always been taken into account before waves of enlargement.

Candidate countries need to be able to adopt the Union's established body of law (the acquis). "We need to ensure that the EU functions effectively, that it can be financed and can execute foreign policies," Rehn says.

The commissioner says he welcomes the current debate on enlargement and the Commission will make a further contribution to the discussions on absorption capacity in the run-up to the June EU summit which will look at the prospects for further expansion.

Nevertheless, Rehn argues, the EU needs to carry out "constitutional or institutional reforms to make it more competitive, more effective and more democratic", he says, insisting that those changes are needed "now, not in some distant future". "We can't wait until Turkey is ready [to join] to have consti-tutional and budgetary reform," he says.

Despite the difficult political environment about future enlargement, Rehn sees his job as ensuring that candidate countries take their preparations for joining as seriously as possible while going ahead with admitting new members which have done their homework. In that way the arguments of those hostile to further expansion are harder to sustain. "Consolidation means being cautious before taking on new commitments while honouring our existing commitments," he says, adding that, in terms of timing, Croatia is not likely to join before the turn of the decade while for Turkey and states of the western Balkans it will be longer.

He rejects the idea that becoming a part of the EU is more difficult now that in was for the countries which joined in 2004. "We have the same yardsticks," he counters.

Rehn says he does not compare himself to his predecessor Günter Verheugen in terms of how many new members join, referring to the ten new states the German commissioner ushered in. Instead, Rehn wants a qualitative assessment of his performance, being judged on whether candidate countries "have gone through a profound economic and democratic transition process".

Comments by the European Commissioner for Enlargement, Ollli Rehn, on his role.
Article is part of a European Voice Special Report, 'EU enlargement'.

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