The joint letter, signed by 23 major think tanks from western and eastern Europe, recognises the recent French and Dutch referenda results as posing a challenge to the Union's immediate plans. "This challenge should not, however, be overestimated."
"The enlargement issue is not, and should not be among those affected by the votes in France and Netherlands, as the European Commission has already declared," the organisations said in the letter. The initiative behind the letter comes from the Romanian Academic Society (SAR).
Meanwhile, External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner has said that the EU should give its citizens "time to breathe" in the wake of the previous enlargement round. "We must fulfil what we have said, but my idea is to reduce the speed of [future] enlargement," she said.
