PARIS, Dec 4: France is to propose on Thursday at a constitutional convention in Brussels that Europe think beyond 2004, and already make plans to create a union that would include 34 countries, and not 25 that are scheduled to be admitted in two years.

The French government’s proposal comes a week before the EU summit in Copenhagen that is to determine whether the ten countries that had been selected for admission to the European Union in 2004 will in fact be given the green light to do so. They are Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Lettonia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The summit is also expected to deal with controversial comments made last month by convention president Valery Giscard d’Estaing, according to which Turkey, in his estimation, “does not have its place in Europe.”

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin who announced on Monday that the French Government is fully behind the admission of Turkey in the EU is now proposing that Europe “look ahead” and consider the names of the countries that are to be included after 2004.

The “first circle” of countries to be admitted after 2004 that the French Foreign Minister will propose, would include, besides Turkey, the western Balkan states of Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Albania, Romania and Bulgaria. That would bring the total to 34, more than twice the present size of the EU.

As far as France is concerned, says Mr de Villepin, Europe should therefore stop thinking in terms of 25 countries, but at least 34, and should accord the EU the appropriate institutions and constitutional framework so that the enlarged European Union not become unmanageable, as many critics of the EU have predicted, not the least of which Dr Henry Kissinger who has repeatedly castigated the 15-member EU for not having a center of power: “when I have to call an official at the EU,” says the eminent former Harvard professor, “I don’t know whether to call Bonn, Brussels, London or Paris.”

In French Foreign Minister de Villepin’s eyes, Europe is “destined to become a melting pot,” a “crucible that will allow Europe to put forth a controlled form of globalization,” that is, if it undertakes the preparations now to ensure that the overall structures do not soon become overwhelmed with the addition of 9 more countries in the years following 2004.

A further, “second circle,” according to Mr de Villepin’s visionary plan, would include such “partner” states as Russia, the Ukraine, and — a pet subject of President Jacques Chirac who has insisted repeatedly that the EU must “turn more southwards” than heretofore it’s done — the Mediterranean basin countries, notably Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, perhaps also Libya.

A “third” circle of countries, which he refers to as “EU-associated” states, would include indeed sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Americas, with whom, “the EU is called upon to develop specific forms of cooperation.”

AFP ADDS: Economic growth in the 12-nation euro zone could stagnate early in 2003, casting doubt on a pick-up expected later in the year and making an interest rate cut by the European Central Bank more urgent than ever.