Upon arriving at their informal meeting in Sofia, the foreign affairs ministers of the EU member states appeared disunited about the date of accession to the EU for Serbia and Montenegro, although the ministers were due to discuss the Commission's strategy for the Western Balkans that was published on 6 February. The strategy considers that these two countries could join the EU by 2025 (see EUROPE 11955). According to a European source, the ministers had a "positive reaction" to the strategy's ideas during their discussion. "Some said it was not ambitious enough, others that it was too ambitious, but everyone is positive about the principle of the strategy", the source told a small group of journalists.
"I am very disappointed about the strategy. I think integration and enlargement should be much quicker (in the region) and I think this could be more easily overcome if enlargement went more quickly", Hungary's minister, Péter Szijjártó, stated. "Serbia and Montenegro could move forward much more quickly. 2022 could be realistic (...) 2025 is too late", he added, wondering why "it would be necessary to wait seven years to integrate them". "I do not see any reason why we have to be so slow", Szijjártó said, believing the EU should not complain that the USA, Russia or Turkey have a strategy on the Western Balkans, but that it should promote its strategy and move much more quickly. He wanted Serbia and Montenegro to open all their accession chapters that are not yet open, this year. Podgorica has already opened 30 of its 35 chapters, and Belgrade 12. "Let's negotiate and let's try to conclude by 2022", he said.
While the Hungarian minister thought accession would help settle the tension in the region, for his Slovenian counterpart, Karl Erjavec, it is exactly the tension, at border level, that makes the date of 2025 "unrealistic". Saying that his country had taken 20 years to discuss with Croatia to find a solution on their border (a solution that is still not effective), and that Croatia and Serbia had been discussing their common border for over 26 years, the Slovene foreign minister stated that it was "not possible" to expect these conditions to be fulfilled by 2025. "And this could be a serious problem for the enlargement of the EU and the Western Balkans", he said.
"It was certainly not helpful to close the door to the Balkans at the start of the Juncker Commission, but today it is important not to give false hope. We have rather the impression that this is a sort of making amends", Belgium's minister, Didier Reynders, told Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir, adding that it was important to work according to each country's merits. "If it is in 2025 or before, so much the better – otherwise it will be later", he concluded.
Like France's minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Bulgaria's minister Ekaterina Zaharieva did not dwell on the question of the date of accession, but stated there were conditions to be fulfilled to become a member of the EU. "We will have a common future in the EU when they are ready", Zaharieva said, believing the Commission's strategy was "very timely, complete and objective, and that it made no compromise". "It is clear that the countries have a calling to enter the EU (...) it is indisputable. But it is clear that there are conditions, requirements and that the road to join the EU is difficult", Le Drian added. According to a European source, most ministers said during their discussions that joining the EU was based on merit, that there were conditions, that these had not changed and that conflicts must not be imported into the EU. They also highlighted regional cooperation and the importance of engaging with young people, the same source added. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)