communist countries joined the bloc. Ukraine has expressed interest in joining the EU, but Brussels has said the country's entry is not on the agenda. The EU summit on Thursday and Friday will devote very little attention to enlargement, focusing on what to do with the bloc's constitution draft and its long-term budget. Rehn conceded that the atmosphere surrounding enlargement has worsened among politicians and citizens since the French and Dutch rejected the EU constitution in referendums, in which the "No" camps campaigned against expansion. "There is a certain enlargement blues," he said. He added that countries in the Western Balkans must not be deprived of membership prospects, which encourage economic and political reforms in the region torn by wars in the 1990s. Rehn recalled a recent statement of EU envoy to Western Balkans Paddy Ashdown, who said that for those countries EU entry prospects was "the glue that keeps them peaceful and on the right track". --SP 1804 Local Time 1504 GMT
