Bosnian premier attacks EU’s ‘enlargement fatigue’

The Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Adnan Terzic has issued a sharp warning over the EU’s hesitancy to admit new members.

Ahead of a meeting of EU leaders today (14 December), which is expected to discuss a slowing down of enlargement, Terzic said: "The countries of the European Union are playing around with the strongest political instrument that they have." He warned that reform efforts in the Balkans could falter if EU enlargement is not continued.

The two-day EU summit in Brussels will include a wide-ranging discussion on future expansion of the EU. The government leaders are expected to confirm that further enlargement cannot take place until new treaty rules governing the EU are established. That is not expected to happen until 2009 at the earliest.

The summit will also confirm that the impact of expansion on common policies, the budget and EU institutions must be assessed before further commitments are made.

Terzi? criticised the EU for showing a lack of leadership in explaining what is at stake. "[Some people say] a new generation of politicians is needed to explain the need for further enlargement, I think these people are right," he said.

"For me it is incredible to hear that someone is saying there is enlargement fatigue. How can Europe be tired of the process of democratisation?"

With member states increasingly split on what kind of message to send to Terzic and others in the region, the Finnish presidency has set itself the goal of achieving consensus that will regain the EU’s credibility.

But the presidency will have to steer a difficult course between member states which strongly favour future expansion and those which would like to see the process slow.

Some member states are pushing for the EU to ease conditions on Serbia’s entry to the EU. Talks on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement - the key step towards EU membership talks - are suspended until suspected war criminal Radko Mladic is captured. Italy and others are calling for a less strict interpretation of the rules.

The summit’s discussions will focus on a recent Commission report on enlargement strategy and the Union’s ability to absorb new members. The report made a number of recommendations, including periodic impact assessments of the EU’s integration capacity and stricter conditions for potential EU members.

There are growing calls for enlargement policy to take into account public opinion. As one French diplomat put it, "public opinions have to have the impression that there is political control over the process of enlargement, that it is not just a technical process".

Terzi? accepted that rules on entering the EU will now become harder. "We are ready for this and we do not want to diminish the demands, we just need a process," he said.

The concept of integration or absorption capacity has also been criticised within the EU.

"The debate in the course of this year has been sending all the wrong signals," Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt told European Voice.

"In a lot of this debate on absorption capacity the strategic perspective has been lost. It tends to be a very Brussels-centric thing about the number of languages and interpretation booths…personnel planning or the financial perspectives. History is made of greater stuff than that," Bildt added.

The Prime Minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina Adnan Terzic has issued a sharp warning over the EU’s hesitancy to admit new members.