ZAGREB - European enlargement should not be curtailed following rejections of the EU constitution in France and the Netherlands, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel said Friday.
"We should not press the pause button now," Schuessel said at a two-day international meeting on the EU prospects of southeastern Europe, organized by the Bertelsmann Forum.
"Following the refusal at referendums the EU is now threatened with an avalanche effect and it seems that 20 to 25 percent of (EU) citizens now do not support the constitution."
Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said there were signs of enlargement fatigue but it would not last.
"Those of us standing on the doorstep are expecting that this fatigue should not prevail," he said.
"We expect that EU leaders now clearly say that they will invest even more efforts in the issue of the enlargement."
Croatia, the most advanced of the Balkan countries on the path to the EU, is hoping to become a member by the end of the decade.
But the EU has refused to open membership talks with Zagreb due to its failure to find a fugitive wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague.
The Munich-based Bertelsmann Forum, established in 1977, holds regional summits focusing on political and economic issues.
06/03/2005 15:21 GMT