SARKOZY: EU ENLARGEMENT SHOULD BE SUSPENDED

PanARMENIAN.Net - The European Union should suspend further enlargement of the bloc after French and Dutch voters rejected the EU constitution, French Minister of Interior, head of the governing Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday, in a veiled reference to Turkey's EU entry bid. He said Bulgaria and Romania should be allowed to join as planned as their accession process was too far gone to stop now. "We have to suspend enlargement at least until the institutions have been modernized," Sarkozy said after talks with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. During the EU charter campaign, Sarkozy strongly opposed Turkey's entry into the bloc and called for Ankara to sign a privileged partnership accord with the EU instead. Although not mentioned by name, Turkey was clearly his target again on Monday when he said: "Europe cannot enlarge indefinitely". Sarkozy called for Europe to focus its energies on concrete projects, notably in the fields of energy and giving tax breaks to economically depressed areas. Europe's six biggest countries should work together to become a powerful motor for a new Europe, he added, without specifying which countries he was referring to, Yerkir Online reports.