The Window of Opportunity is Very Narrow, Says Verheugen about Enlargement Dates

Brussels, 10 July - by STA correspondent Mihela Zupancic

Neither the EU member states nor the European Commission are presently in favour of stating target dates in the enlargement process for individual candidates, European Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen said on Monday, but added that some dates were nevertheless at hand. There is the Union's target to be internally prepared for the enlargement by the end of 2002, as well as the European Commission's target to see first new members actually admitted before the term of the incumbent Brussels team runs out at the beginning of 2005. "The window of opportunity is already very narrow," Verheugen stated in an interview for Slovene journalists in Brussels.