EU: As the EU's leaders gather today amid a crisis over its constitution and long-term budget, would-be members fear their accession hopes are receding into a fog of uncertainty and recrimination.
After France and the Netherlands rejected the EU constitution - largely over fears that liberalisation was encouraging jobs and investment to head to the Continent's cheaper eastern flank - sentiment towards expansion of the 25-state EU has soured.
Romania and Bulgaria, who hope to join in January 2007, were told to accelerate reforms or have accession postponed for a year, while membership talks with next-in-line Croatia were again delayed over the whereabouts of a war crimes suspect.
EU officials have also admitted that Turkey's long-term bid may be complicated by the impasse over the constitution, leaving the likes of Ukraine and much of former Yugoslavia to look on as their membership hopes appear to dwindle by the day.
Expansion is officially off the summit agenda, but there was some reassurance for Romania and Bulgaria yesterday from EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.
"We believe an agreement is an agreement, and we believe the principle of good faith is fundamental in international life. So we are not going to propose a revision of the agreements already made by member-states regarding future enlargement."
There was little to nourish the hopes of their Balkan neighbours, however. Dominique de Villepin, the French foreign minister, suggested yesterday that Romania and Bulgaria's accession should be a watershed for the bloc.
"Beyond that, we must certainly open a discussion with our partners on the mode of future enlargements while respecting our commitments," Mr de Villepin said, echoing comments earlier in the week that sent a shiver through the corridors of Balkan power.
"We need to give our citizens time to breathe," said Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's External Relations Commissioner.
While perhaps appeasing the dubious Dutch, French and some others in so-called "old Europe", that does not appeal to many of the 10 countries that joined the EU last May amid such fanfare.
Eight of those new members are in central Europe, have benefited from foreign investment attracted by their low labour, land and taxation costs, and want to exploit their regional markets by bringing their Balkan neighbours into the EU.
The most influential members of "new Europe" - Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia - go into today's summit having agreed to jointly support further expansion, the ratification of the constitution, and swift agreement on a budget which gives them funding for reforms.
Many central European politicians also see the summit as their chance to show the way forward to the EU's dithering elder statesmen. "Energy in Europe today is concentrated in 'new Europe', which is not afraid of change, which has ambition and is hungry for success,"says Lithuanian MP Andrius Kubilius.