Brussels, 28/03/2012 (Agence Europe) - MEPs, staff from the European Commission and representatives from member states and civil society held a debate on Tuesday 27 March, on whether there was a need to amend the European Union's enlargement process.
Rosa Balfour from the European Policy Centre said that this was not the time to introduce far-reaching changes to the process. She emphasised that there were risks if they changed the conditions in the current enlargement process and added that it is important that the criteria and conditions are made clear at the beginning of the process.
The director general of DG Enlargement at the European Commission, Stefano Sannino, the DG Enlargement director for the Western Balkans, Pierre Mirel, and the Hungarian representative to the EU and former negotiator during his country's EU accession process, Péter Györkös, underlined that despite being 20 years old, the Copenhagen criteria are clear and should not be revised as they are “general and clear” criteria that can be adjusted to the specificities of different countries. Mirel explained that “flexibility exists and this enables sub criteria to be defined so that we can adapt to different situations”.
In reply to questions from MEPs, Sannino and Mirel explained that it was not necessary to introduce a post-accession mechanism, “if there is a good pre-accession mechanism”, added Sannino.
The process is being fine-tuned. Sannino pointed out that the EU had shifted from a uniform approach to a more case-by-case methodology: “We are identifying specific solutions so that each country, whatever the stage of negotiations, can move on to the following stage.” No matter what the country, the Commission is paying more attention to the rule of law than during previous enlargement processes and is demanding a much more definite commitment from countries even before negotiations begin, explained Mirel. He added that the EU is also highlighting much more the freedom of expression and the media, in addition to the role of NGOs and civil society in the current enlargement process.
With regard to the Balkans, speakers underlined that the enlargement process was a means to develop stability in the region and good neighbourly relations between countries. This is “a foreign policy and conflict resolution instrument”, explained Maria Eleni Koppa (S&D, Greece), who is preparing a report on enlargement. (CG/transl.fl)