Merkel calls for an enlargement lull

Agence France-Presse

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party wants a lull in EU enlargement once Croatia has joined the bloc, according to its manifesto for European elections June 7.

"The enlargement of the EU from 15 to 27 members within a few years ... has required great efforts. As a result, the CDU prefers a phase of consolidation," according to the program approved by party chiefs Monday, Agence France-Presse reported. "The only exception to the rule can be for Croatia," it said. "For Turkey we believe that a privileged partnership is the right solution."

The CDU manifesto said key criteria for joining included "freedom of speech, equality between men and women, protecting minorities and freedom of religion," adding that for this reason a privileged partnership is the right solution for Turkey.

The CDU has always favored such a partnership with Turkey, but after the German elections in 2005, it agreed to demands from the Social Democrats, its junior coalition partner, to pursue membership talks with the Muslim nation.

"When it comes to Turkey, we want ... very close relations but not full membership," Merkel said.

Swenen to open chapters

Meanwhile Sweden, which will take over the EU chair from the Czech Republic on July 1, said it hoped to open "a chapter or two" in Turkey's accession talks, but a difficult agenda is looming as the European Commission is set to review Ankara’s progress on the customs union. The period coincides with the end of the mandate of the current European Commission, due in October, and follows the European Parliament elections in June.

Swedish EU minister Cecilia Malmstrom said at a debate organized by a Brussels-based think tank Monday that the upcoming European elections and uncertainty about when the next EU commission will be appointed will make its presidency "quite difficult" despite the ambitious targets set by Stockholm.

On another front, Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband made a strong case for an expanded EU, arguing the economic crisis must not impede membership prospects for countries like Turkey, Ukraine or Iceland, in remarks published Monday.

"We must re-energize our relations with our neighbors. Because this crisis has shown very clearly how exposed we are to problems beyond our borders," David Miliband told the center-left Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza. "Whatever the temptations, we cannot afford to turn inwards," he said.

Of Ankara's slow-paced accession process and domestic reforms, Miliband said both "were bringing in benefits." "The offer of EU membership is also critical to overcoming the nationalism politics and ethnic divisions that have scarred the Western Balkans for so long," he said.