Austrian President Heinz Fischer made it clear on Sunday he is against a halt to the E.U. enlargement process. Agreements must be honoured, he said in an interview with the Austria Press Agency. That paricularly went for Bulgaria and Romania, with which the membership negotiations had already been completed. The exact date of entry for these two countries must now be decided. In the case of Croatia, Fischer followed Brussels' line by saying that the start of membership negotiations depended on the country's full cooperation with the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal, according to DPA. In the case of Turkey, the president said, "we all know that today, the membership of Turkey cannot yet be assessed. "The negotiations with Turkey will require particular care. Conscientious regard must be paid to the political, financial, institutional, and also emotional aspects," he said. The president said he believed the enlargement, alongside the E.U. constitution, would be a central theme of Austria's E.U. presidency starting next January 1.
