Gulyas: 2004 enlargement EU's 'last achievement'

The last few years cannot be regarded as the European project's brightest, Gergely Gulyas, the head of the Prime Minister's Office, said on Thursday at an award ceremony for students held in Parliament. The European Union's last success was in 2004, when ten countries joined the bloc, followed by three others, he said, insisting that several EU candidate countries "could be approved tomorrow" but the EU "doesn't appear to be up to the job of accepting new members". He said changes were needed over the next five years to ensure the participation of the Western Balkans in institutionalised European cooperation became "a realistic alternative".