Belgium backtracks on EU enlargement list

Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium, which holds the rotating European Union Presidency, announced at the end of the European Council meeting in Ghent on 19 October 2001, that the next Council summit in Laeken in December 2001, could name specific candidates for the first wave of enlargement. These remarks were played down by the Belgian Foreign Minister who insisted that a list of countries would not be drawn up in December, but that a review of progress would be made.