The European Union (EU) must be ready to integrate new members “by 2030”, European Council President Charles Michel urged Monday (28 August) at a conference in Bled, Slovenia.
“If we want to be credible, we have to talk about timing,” he said. “As we prepare the next EU strategic agenda, we need to set ourselves a clear goal. I believe that we must be ready ? on both sides ? by 2030 for an enlargement,” the former Belgian Prime Minister told the Strategic Forum, which is being held from August 28 to 29 in Bled.
Five Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia), Ukraine and Moldova are candidates for membership. “It is ambitious, but necessary. It shows that we are serious,” added Charles Michel. The enlargement of the EU will be at the heart of the discussions of the leaders of the Twenty-Seven at their next summits. In particular, they will have to decide on the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova.
The European Commission is due to present its recommendations on this issue in the autumn. Both countries were granted candidate status in June 2022, months after Russia began invading Ukraine. Five Western Balkan countries are also candidates and some have started negotiations with the EU for more than ten years.
Frozen negotiations with Turkey
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, present at the Forum, hailed an “extraordinary” announcement, hoping it would “translate into concrete steps” in the near future. While he deemed Ukraine’s membership “natural” as part of a European “peace” project, he “hoped that this wish would not be made to the detriment of the Western Balkans”.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, for her part, regretted a very long wait in the antechamber of the EU, which, according to her, fed euroscepticism in her country. “We are geographically, culturally, economically European”, she insisted, calling on the Twenty-Seven to “take the plunge and take a politically courageous decision to integrate the Western Balkans into the European family”.
Charles Michel acknowledged that “the slow progress towards the EU has disappointed many, both in the region and within the EU”. The next EU-Western Balkans summit will be “backed by the European Council” on December 14-15, he said. He suggested that the new “gradual integration” approach would allow candidate countries to participate in certain European policies like defense and security once they are deemed ready, even if they have not fulfilled all the conditions. to be included in the block.
The President of the Council also said he “entirely agreed” with French President Emmanuel Macron that the EU should reform before the next enlargement. “Integrating new members into our Union will not be easy. This will affect our policies, our programs and their budgets. This is going to require political reform, and political courage,” he acknowledged. Turkey is also a candidate country, but accession negotiations were frozen in 2018.
