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April 20, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 2
Splits apparent in EU over
enlargement
Western Balkans accession candidates, as it set the two countries most advanced in the process — Serbia and Montenegro — an accession target date of 2025, which is the first time a target date has been mentioned. There was also more clarity for Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Macedonia about what their accession paths might look like.
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker
on April 17 reinforced the message that the Commission wants the enlargement process to continue to the Western Balkans, even warning that a new outbreak of war in the region could be a consequence of failing to do this.
“I'm not naive, I know the difficulties. I know the efforts that the Western Balkan countries have to make. I know the need to improve the performance of some of the Western Balkan countries in some respects,” Juncker said in an address to the European parliament.
“But if we remove from these countries, in this ultra-complicated — I should say tragic — region, the European perspective, we will relive what we experienced during the nineties. I do not want war to return to the Western Balkans.”
However, French President Emmanuel Macron took a very different tone in his address to the European parliament, saying he wants the Western Balkans countries to be admitted, but the time
for their membership has not come yet. He linked future enlargement to the need for the EU to reconfigure after the departure of the UK.
“I will support enlargement only when integration
and reforms in our Europe are deepened,” Macron said according to newswire reports.
"I don't want a Balkans that turns toward Turkey or Russia, but I don't want a Europe that, functioning with difficulty at 28 and tomorrow as 27, would decide that we can continue to gallop off, to be tomorrow 30 or 32, with the same rules," he added.
Macron’s stance is not surprising as there have already been signs of a deep division among the EU’s members over further enlargement. For the most part the newer members from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) would like to see the bloc extended into the Western Balkans, while France and other “old” members are more cautious.
A breakthrough for Macedonia
The Commission’s position is closer to that of the EU member states from CEE in favouring enlargement. The enlargement reports issued a few hours after Macron’s comment contained recommendations for the start of accession negotiations with both Albania and Macedonia, citing the progress both countries have made recently.
“A step forward today for Macedonia and Albania is a step forward for the entire Western Balkans region. The work on reforms and modernisation however needs to continue, in the interest of the partners and the EU,” the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs Federica Mogherini said in
the statement.
Johannes Hahn Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy, said that the progress achieved is an important step forward, but reforms, especially in the rule of law, must be implemented more vigorously and produce sustainable results. He was referring not only to Macedonia and