EU: EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said it was vital to keep moving forward by enlarging the union.
Speaking yesterday at the launch of a report lauding the economic success of the 2004 enlargement, Mr Rehn said none of the doomsday scenarios predicted when the 10 new states joined had materialised.
"Enlargement did not create economic problems for the EU, nor did it trigger massive migration flows from the acceding nations into the incumbents' markets," said Mr Rehn, who will report later this month on whether Bulgaria and Romania should join the EU in January 2007 or have their entry delayed by a year.
Mr Rehn said it was crucial to offer an EU perspective to the western Balkans, although he stressed that strict entry criteria would be applied to these states.
His comments come amid concerns that "enlargement fatigue" in the EU could close the door to countries seeking to join the union. Next week the commission is due to present a paper detailing how it thinks the "absorption capacity" of the EU should be taken into account in future enlargements.
Meanwhile, the report, titled Enlargement, two years after: an economic assessment, shows that the economies of the 10 new member states grew by 3.75 per cent a year between 1997 and 2005, compared to 2.5 per cent growth for the original EU15. Average incomes in the 10 new member states also increased, reaching 50 per cent of those of the EU15 in 2005, up from 44 per cent in 1997.
The report also concludes that initial concerns over the relocation of jobs to new members were exaggerated, with just 1-1.5 per cent of jobs lost between 2000 to 2005 relocated to new members.