The report on the impact and consequences of enlargement, compiled by former Dutch prime minister Wim Kok at the request of Romano Prodi and the Commissioner for enlargement Guenther Verheugen, was presented in Brussels on Wednesday 26 March. The document stresses that the success of enlargement consists especially in the chance it provides of permanently creating peace and stability in the European continent. The report also describes the three main challenges of the EU: “improvement of the economic results, consolidation of internal cohesion and capacity to assume a decisive role in foreign policy”. It also identifies the five areas of action “to manage change in the enlarged EU”, namely, “institutional reforms (emphasis on qualified majority and community method); economy; security (cooperation between public prosecutors, control of immigration); partnership with neighbouring countries; common foreign policy. “With enlargement said European Commission president Prodi we need more Europe, both in terms of institutions and policies. No European country is too big or important to make its voice heard if it decides to act alone”.
