Call for German poll angers Prodi

A call by the commissioner in charge of enlarging the EU for a referendum in Germany before new member states are admitted has drawn sharp criticism from European politicians and diplomats. Mr Gunter Verheugen, a former junior foreign minister in Chancellor Gerhard oder's Schroder's government, told the Suddeutsche Zeitung that, as one of the member-states most directly affected by enlargement, Germany should involve the public in the decision to expand the EU to the east.

"Especially in Germany, we must not repeat the mistake we made with the euro. It was introduced behind the backs of the population. I was in favour of a referendum at that time. It would have forced the elites to come out of their ivory towers and campaign for the euro in a dialogue with the people," he said.

Mr Verheugen acknowledged that Germany would have to change its constitution to allow for a referendum on enlargement - a move unlikely to win support. A government spokesman in Berlin insisted that Mr Verheugen's remarks did not represent official German policy and the Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, issued a sharp rebuke.

"If the commissioner for enlargement does not want enlargement, he must say so," Mr Fischer told reporters at the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Evian.

The President of the EU Commission, Mr Romano Prodi, was so annoyed by Mr Verheugen's remarks he demanded an assurance that they represented no more than the German commissioner's private view.

"I can say that the president was surprised. Mr Verheugen was requested by the president to call him," a spokesman said.

Some EU officials believe Mr Verheugen's referendum call expresses a view shared by Mr Schroder, who faces an election in 2002 and may be tempted to slow down the timetable for enlargement. The chancellor is undoubtedly eager to avoid fuelling fears of mass immigration and unfair competition among many Germans, and would probably prefer to postpone the enlargement debate for as long as possible.

But there is little chance of a referendum, not least because Germany's post-war constitution discourages plebiscites as dangerously populist devices which polarise opinion.

A former member of the neo-liberal Free Democrats, Mr Verheugen is distrusted by many of his Social Democratic colleagues and his influence over the chancellor is limited.

Mr Verheugen said national governments should take the lead in pointing out to their citizens the potential benefits of enlargement, rather than leaving all the "dirty work" to the Commission.

Mr Fischer seized on the commissioner's choice of words, declaring: "I don't regard enlargement as a dirty job but as an historical challenge."