BRUSSELS - A year after 10 mostly Eastern European countries joined the European Union, the 25-nation bloc must "pace itself" and carefully consider future expansion, EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said Thursday.
"As to future enlargements, we have certainly learned some lessons from this exercise and even though it has been an overall success, it is fair to say that the EU now needs to pace itself," Rehn told several journalists.
"The next steps in enlargement will be taken gradually in a careful and prudently negotiated manner and by sticking to the criteria of membership," he added.
On May 1, 2004 Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the then 15 EU members.
Bulgaria and Romania signed on April 25 treaties for joining the EU, currently planned for 2007.
The opening of membership negotiations with Croatia were put off last month because Zagreb was not judged to have shown sufficient cooperation in turning over a fugitive general to a UN war crimes court in the The Hague.
Turkey is scheduled to open member negotiations on October 3.
Taking stock of the historic expansion of the EU last year, Rehn said that fears it would lead to institutional breakdown and a flood of workers from the east to the richer west had been proven wrong.
"There is no paralysis of our decision making due to enlargement. On the contrary," he said, adding: "There has been no influx of workers".
The EU had also reaped economic benefits from the enlargement, he explained.
"The economic effect has been beneficial also before the enlargement because perspectives of membership... have been an important stabilizing factor," he said.
"The EU has certainly not gone bankrupted".
04/28/2005 13:54 GMT