BRUSSElS European unification is set to gather pace in 2001 as the European Union's 15 nations press ahead with plans to embrace the former communist countries of Eastern Europe and edge closer to new democracies in the often-troubled Balkans.

Attempts to end the bitter and lingering legacy of the Cold War will go hand in hand with a lively debate on the EU's political future. "Our objective is to attempt to pave the way for a political breakthrough on EU enlargement," says Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh whose country will take over the bloc's rotating presidency from France on January 1, 2001.

"Enlargement is our greatest priority," she added. Lindh is hoping EU leaders meeting in Stockholm in June will overcome their traditional reluctance to fix deadlines for eastward enlargement.

EU governments meeting in Nice from December 7-11 completed a range of complicated internal reforms to streamline the bloc's institutions and decision-making machinery ahead of expansion.

Significantly, they also voiced hope that candidate countries in Central and Eastern Europe would be inside the union in time to participate in elections for the European Parliament in mid-2004.

Sweden wants to prod its EU neighbors into going further. "We hope we can have a time schedule with target dates for the entry into the union of new Eastern European members," says Lindh.

A shift in the EU's enlargement gear will be welcomed by Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus, countries which are widely believed to be frontrunners in the 12-nation race to join the union.

Other countries standing in the enlargement queue are Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Latvia and Lithuania. Turkey is recognized as a formal candidate but has yet to open membership discussions with Brussels.

With Yugoslavia finally rid of strongman Slobodan Milosevic and with Croatia in the democratic fold, EU governments also intend to intensify efforts to draw closer to the Balkans.

In addition to a multi-billion reconstruction and aid effort in the region, officials say union membership for Balkan states is on the cards, albeit in a distant future.

An unprecedented summit of EU leaders and their counterparts from the Balkans was held in Zagreb in November to symbolize the union's commitment to the region's democratic future.

But democracy and human rights issues also made their way on to the EU's internal agenda.

Hours after Austrian Conservative Party leader Wolfgang Schuessel forged a political alliance with Joerg Haider's far-right Freedom Party in end-January, Austria's 14 EU partners took the unprecedented step of imposing bilateral diplomatic sanctions on Vienna.

Austria's diplomatic isolation finally ended in autumn after a panel of so-called "wise men" cleared the country and government of any suspicion of human rights violations, racism or mistreatment of ethnic minorities. But the episode prompted EU governments to draw up new rules on dealing with countries accused of possible human rights breaches, a move that officials said were especially important as the bloc expanded into Central and Eastern Europe.

Meanwhile, food safety issues climbed to the top of public concerns as more and more cases of BSE or "mad cow" disease were discovered in France, Germany and Spain.

EU governments rushed to establish a food safety authority and also ordered a complete ban on the use of meat and bone meal in animal feed.

With older cattle believed to be most apt to get the deadly disease, governments also agreed on a massive BSE testing drive and the destruction of a total of 2 million cattle over thirty months.

The year ended on a mixed note. EU leaders meeting in Nice approved a treaty of nice paving the way for the bloc to take in Central and Eastern European nations.

But the treaty negotiations witnessed a no-holds-barred battle for power and influence in the union and unusual acrimony between the bloc's small and big nations.

After five days of gruelling negotiations, EU leaders managed to hammer out an accord on curtailing some use of national vetoes, reweighting votes in the decision-making EU Council of Ministers and trimming the size of the European Commission.

There will be plenty of time for further debate. EU governments are set to open another constitutional conference in 2004 to discuss "the future of the union," including a share-out of responsibilities between the EU, national governments and regions.

"We have a great debate on Europe ahead of U.S, "European Commission Spokesman Jonathan Faull predicted.

(DPA)