EU: The former EU commission president, Mr Jacques Delors, says that none of the east European states set to join the EU on May 1st is prepared for membership.
"Not a single candidate is ready to enter. Don't forget, it concerns countries which on average enjoy only a third of our living standards," Mr Delors told the Belgian newspaper, De Morgen, in an interview.
However, chief Commission spokesman Mr Reijo Kemppinen said: "As far as the new member-states are concerned, I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear me say they are ready to join on May 1st."
Mr Delors said the EU was wrong to rush into accession negotiations after the collapse of communism in eastern Europe in 1989.
"Remember [former French President Francois\] Mitterrand's proposal to set up a European confederation after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Nothing came of that . . . We should have told the candidate states: you are a member of the family, but it's too early to enter the single market." - (Reuters)