PRAGUE - The European Union could number 35 members within the next decade but urgently needs to reform to be able to function, an international conference on EU expansion heard Thursday.
Speaking at the European Expansion - Experiences and Potential conference in Prague, Amanda Akcakoca, a policy adviser with the Brussels-based European Policy Centre, said that even Russia could warm up to the idea of joining the bloc as its borders approached.
"Russia still sees itself as a big player in its own right but the closer the democratic process gets to Russia's borders, the closer Russia may come to the EU. The day may come when Russia has a change of heart and considers joining the EU," she told AFP on the sidelines of the conference.
"If there is a revolution in Russia I think its people could want to be part of the bloc," she added.
Following the accession of Bulgaria and Romania, the western Balkans, northern European countries and countries from the former Soviet Union could follow, Akcakoca said in her address to delegates earlier.
Ukraine's Orange Revolution had changed the EU's attitude to the country, she added.
"If the reform process continues on track it is difficult to see how the EU could not accept Ukraine as a candidate country," she said.
Other possible future members were Norway, where support for the EU was growing, together with Iceland and Switzerland, she added.
"It's not impossible to imagine the EU having more than 40 members," she said.
"Where it should end is one of the most vexing questions the EU has had to face and there is no definite answer. The EU is being deliberately vague on this."
Akcakoca also insisted that while Turkey was the most controversial candidate it firmly belonged in the European Union.
"The EU would be incomplete without Turkey. Turkey has historical ties to Europe and it can contribute economically, politically and in terms of security. It has a strategic location, young population and dynamic entrepreneurs," she said.
"It will take perhaps 15 years and both the EU and Turkey will have changed by then," she added.
Dogu Ergil, a political scientist at Ankara University, also backed Turkey's membership.
"The political and defence clout that Turkey can bring can make the EU stand much more steadfastly against the challenges of the unilaterals of the present day, like Russia and China," he said.
"It can also increase the EU's economic competence while the EU's ageing population can be regenerated by Turkey's prolific population," he told delegates.
04/07/2005 17:52 GMT