PARIS, Nov 25: Valery Giscard d’Estaing, President of the European Constitutional Convention and the man most responsible for defining the future of the European Union, says that the EU should “take a pause” before continuing its enlargement procedure.

The demand that the EU “sit back and reflect” and effectively slow down the enlargement procedure was made this weekend at a local citizens meeting on Europe held in France.

On Nov 8, Giscard had caused a stir when he announced that he was personally opposed to the inclusion in the EU of Turkey, which in his estimation was “not a European country.”

“We should really think of taking a pause,” noted Giscard d’Estaing, “especially as enlargement has been somewhat ahead of approfondissement — going deeper into the subject”.

“Therefore,” he says, “we are asking for time, and this to be able to bring about successfully the most important process of enlargement that Europe has ever undertaken.”