BRUSSELS: Romano Prodi, the new President of the European Commission, has wasted no time in laying down a challenge on the biggest issue facing Europe today: the pace and the scale of enlargement of the European Union, and what this enlargement will mean for the EU itself. It is a challenge whose implications may be deeply unwelcome to the governments, and the electorates, of many of the Member States. Indeed, Prodi told the European Parliament that he would recommend that membership negotiations, (currently under way with five countries from Central and Eastern Europe, plus Cyprus), should also be opened with the second wave of six applicants: the remaining five countries from the CEE, plus Malta.
BRUSSELS: Romano Prodi, the new President of the European Commission, has wasted no time in laying down a challenge on the biggest issue facing Europe today: the pace and the scale of enlargement of the European Union, and what this enlargement will mean for the EU itself. It is a challenge whose implications may be deeply unwelcome to the governments, and the electorates, of many of the Member States. Indeed, Prodi told the European Parliament that he would recommend that membership negotiations, (currently under way with five countries from Central and Eastern Europe, plus Cyprus), should also be opened with the second wave of six applicants: the remaining five countries from the CEE, plus Malta.