EU has "no alternative" to enlargement - ex-commissioner

EU has "no alternative" to enlargement - ex-commissioner

BELGRADE -- It is not possible to tell when the next country or a group of countries would be granted EU membership, a gathering in Belgrade has heard.

This is "due to problems in the Union and the challenges on its margins, but the process must not be allowed to stop under any excuse," participants of the conference "European Union and Western Balkans" stated on Monday.

As former EU enlargement commissioner who held office for a number of years in the past during which he conducted the preparations for the accession of central and eastern Europe countries, Gunter Verheugen expressed his belief that in case the EU was "seriously approaching consideration of its future and role in the world, it has no alternative to the enlargement policy."

"The idea of European unity belongs to every nation in Europe and this is why the question as to which country can be part of the process does not demand an answer based on charity but an answer based on the fact that all European nations have the same rights," Verheugen said.

He recalled that "the conflicts in Kosovo and the crisis in Ukraine" gave ground to a widespread belief that peace is not a given in Europe and that the European integration process is the only instrument for and guarantee of lasting stability.

"Enlargement is not something that we can opt for but do not have to complete, it simply has to go on in case there are countries that are interested in the membership status," Verheugen said.

On the other hand, there is also the fatigue and the president of the European Commission is not ranking enlargement at the top of its agenda, he noted and added that it is perhaps true that EU...