He expressed conviction that by the time Croatia completed negotiations, the EU would solve all of its constitutional and institutional issues.
The best solution would be for us to succeed in the constitutional and institutional reform which would solve issues such as the number of votes in the Council of the EU, the number of seats in the European Parliament, the composition of the European Commission, etc., Rehn said.
I believe that all European political leaders see that the EU must be more efficient and more democratic, not only because of the enlargement, but because of the EU itself and this is the best solution, Rehn told a news conference, adding that at this point he did not want to get into plan B.
The Nice Agreement was signed in 2000 so as to enable enlargement which would include the then 12 candidate countries. Ten of them joined the Bloc in 2004, while Bulgaria and Romania were not yet ready for membership.
Rehn held a news conference in Brussels on Monday ahead of the first visit of the European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, to the countries of Southeast Europe included in the Stabilisation and Association process (Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia and Albania). Commissioner Rehn will accompany Barroso on the tour.
Asked to comment on unofficial announcements that they were not coming to Zagreb empty handed, Rehn said that they never come empty handed and that they were bringing European prospects, adding that Croatia had concrete European prospects.
He declined to comment on the relief of the Croatian Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt. This is a matter of the internal policy, he said, adding that he had requested from associates and services a report about the issue.
He also declined to comment on the fund for the financing of the defence of an ICTY indictee, Croatian General Ante Gotovina. It is important to continue cooperation with the Hague Tribunal and I am familiar with the practice that countries of the region help the defence of indictees, Rehn said adding that he would look into it more during his visit to Zagreb.
He stressed that the main purpose of Barroso first official visit to the region was to confirm the European prospects of western Balkan countries and encourage leaders and peoples in their reform processes.