Outgoing European Commission chief Romano Prodi lamented that the European Union (EU) remains "divided" as he prepares to step down from his five-year-term, including over economic policy.
Prodi, added that the EU's new constitution does not go far enough in integrating power.
"Europe is still divided," he told Belgian national television, citing for example problems with agreeing on economic policy. "We have the euro but we don't have a harmonized economic policy."
The rules underpinning the euro -- currently shared by 12 of the EU's 25 states -- were effectively suspended last year after EU heavyweights France and Germany were let off the hook despite serious and repeated breaches. "It is a very, very difficult problem ... to have a single currency and not to have a single policy to protect that currency. There is a great risk," added, in what he said was his last interview before leaving office.
Prodi has stayed on as a caretaker head in Brussels after his successor, Jose Manuel Barroso, withdrew his new team amid a veto threat by EU lawmakers. The Italian politician meanwhile lamented that the EU constitution -- signed amid fanfare in Rome -- falls short of his hopes, notably because it leaves veto rights intact in many policy areas.
"With 25 countries, it is impossible to take decisions," he said. On Turkey, which hopes to win an EU greenlight next month to start entry talks, Prodi said politicians must work hard to persuade Europe's skeptical public of the potential benefits.
"The door is open ... but it will take time, we have to work together openly and transparently. Otherwise European public opinion will not agree," he said.
By: N. Peter Kramer
