Dominique de Villepin, France's prime minister, on Wednesday suggested the European Union should freeze further enlargement until it had deepened ties between its existing 25 members.

Speaking in a parliamentary debate on the future of the EU, Mr de Villepin said member states should take time to get to know the 10 countries, many from the former Soviet bloc, that had been admitted last year. He suggested the economic fallout of the enlargement had been one of the reasons why French voters rejected the constitutional treaty in a referendum on May 29.