Rehn stressed the importance of cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. "Countries that are to join the EU have to live up to their international obligations, including locating and transferring war criminals and fully cooperating with the Tribunal in The Hague."
Rehn sees the European Union in 2009 consisting of "about 27 members, with half a dozen Western Balkans countries well on their way to the European Union, and Turkey on track".
After the "big bang", the EU's biggest enlargement in history that took place on May 1 last year when 10 new countries joined the bloc, "further enlargements must be gradual and carefully managed to ensure that European citizens support them and that the Union maintains its capacity to act," Rehn said in his article.