Prague - The European Union members who have not yet done so should
strive to meet the criteria for adopting the euro, EU Commissioner for
Economic and Financial Affairs Joaquin Almunia said on Monday.

"The euro provides a considerable shield from the worst effects of
economic turbulence, as we have seen during the current crisis,"
Almunia told a conference on economic effects of EU enlargement in
Prague.

The commissioner warned that tougher surveillance of the 16 economies
that use the euro "will have to go hand in hand" with area's expansion
in order to maintain stability.

He also said that an expanding eurozone would "help reap the full benefits" of EU's single market.

A day after EU leaders claimed at their emergency summit in Brussels
that protectionism was not a European problem, Almunia as well as other
EU chiefs speaking at the conference slammed protectionist tendencies.

"One of our highest priorities is to resist the rising protectionism
which is showing worrying signs of gaining ground," the commissioner
said.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country chairs the EU until
June 30, said a day earlier that there was "not one case of
protectionism in Europe."

Presenting details of the European Commission's report on enlargement's
economic impact, Almunia said that old member states, not just the
newcomers, have gained from the union's big-bang expansion five years
ago.

The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus on January 1, 2004, while Bulgaria
and Romania entered exactly three years later.

The economic boom experienced by EU newcomers prior to the global
financial and economic crisis has "not come at the expense of old
member states," he said.

Between 2004 and 2008, Almunia said, the old members expanded annually
by around 2.2 per cent, a similar rate as in the five years before the
enlargement.

Old members' sales to the new members rose to some 7.5 per cent of
their total exports in 2007, compared to 4 per cent a decade earlier.

"The countries that had feared (the enlargement) the most made the
biggest profit," said Topolanek in an apparent hint to Germany and
Austria that share borders with the newcomers.

The accession countries grew 5.5 per cent since joining the bloc, compared to 3.5 per cent in the five years prior to the entry.

However, Almunia said a credit boom in some of the new members has led
to overheating of their economies and housing bubbles, "also fuelled by
large amounts of foreign borrowing."

"The problem appears particularly acute for some of the Union's newest members," he said. (dpa)