In contributions sent to the European Commission ahead of its presentation of 6 February of its strategy for the Western Balkans, a number of EU member states are cautious about setting a date for the most advanced countries to join the EU.
Media reports suggest the strategy might mention 2025 as a credible date for Serbia and Montenegro to join the EU.
A contribution headed by Italy and signed by eleven other Member States (Austria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia), seen by this newsletter, states that ‘although the process must remain based on progress and not dated,’ the mention of a date ‘would have an encouraging and stabilising effect.’ But these countries add that that did not mean that the recommended compromises in the conditions for accession. France is reported to be highly reticent about a date being stated and opposes any artificial acceleration of the timeline.
In a number of contributions seen by this newsletter, the member states want the European Commission to have a regional approach and for the strategy to therefore not concentrate solely on the countries that have progressed the furthest towards accession (Montenegro and Serbia) but to also focus on the six countries of the Western Balkans (the two cited above, along with Albania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo). In his State of the Union address, the president of the European Commission initially highlighted the countries that are the most advanced in the accession process, the European Commission has on several occasions since then announced that the strategy it will be presenting will cover the whole region.
The member states have suggested to the Commission a number of approaches. Several note the need to work on questions relating to accession chapters 23 and 24, viz ‘judicial system and fundamental rights’ and ‘freedom, security and justice,’ before the accession negotiations even started, particularly for countries that have not yet begun the accession process. Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are possible here, not having yet begun accession negotiations, and Bosnia and Kosovo are potential candidates.
The member states recommend that foreign policy and common defence questions should be addressed earlier in the accession process, while others say that the EU member states could play a leading role in some domains of reform as mentors for Balkans nations. The member states also focus on regional cooperation, particularly on questions of connectivity.
In parallel with the enlargement process, more intense cooperation between the EU and Balkans states, particularly in areas of mutual interest, is being promoted. Some member states propose that the Balkans states should be more closely associated with EU programmes and the work of its agencies and for their leaders to regularly take part in Council meetings. The group of 12 says that each year, the European Council should have a meeting with the leaders of the six Western Balkans nations.
Several contributions stress the need for strategic communication for the Balkans by developing better cooperation between the member states and the EU institutions and the six Balkan states.
In a document, Spain says that Kosovo was not part of the EU accession process. Madrid does not recognise Kosovo’s independences (see EUROPE 11951). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)