The promise of European Union membership encouraged institutional reform in central and eastern Europe.

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All this institutional reform is intended to prepare the Union for its proposed enlargement from today's 15 to 30 or more countries, but for which there is itself no deadline.

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Moreover, many European politicians believe the EU has spent more than enough time discussing institutional reform.

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When he resigned, the North American cardinals and some Europeans began pushing for deep institutional reform.

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President Barroso told MEPs that it was time for the EU to get back to the issue of policy making, after a years of focusing on institutional reform, a viewpoint echoed by Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope .

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Fine-tuning their demands and pushing further on institutional reform will probably ensure that no MDB is denied cash, even if the politics are likely to be messy all around.

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Perhaps the region first had to stabilise its economies and build its social safety net before embarking on microeconomic and institutional reform.

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