Czech President Vaclav Havel today warned that postponing the enlargement of the European Union would be "dangerous for Europe as a whole", three days before Ireland holds a crucial referendum on a the EU's enlargement treaty.
Any delay to the entry of the Czech Republic and nine other countries scheduled for 2004 would "give extra momentum to the growth of various nationalist and populist movements" across Europe, Mr Havel said.
It could also put up psychological barriers between the 15 current EU members and their Central and Eastern European neighbours that would amount to a "new iron curtain", the former dissident added.
"It's for the Irish people to make up their minds," Havel said. "But we should emphasize the aspects of the treaty that are in all of Europe's interests."
Mr Havel joined his Hungarian, Slovak and Polish counterparts Mr Ferenc Madl, Mr Rudolf Schuster and Mr Aleksander Kwasniewski in an appeal for a Yes vote in the referendum.