On Wednesday 4 April, the Party of European Socialists (PES) gave its support to the accession of the Western Balkans to EU.
"We expect concrete decisions in support of the EU accession process of the Western Balkans in the following months", Knut Fleckenstein, the S&D spokesperson for foreign affairs, stated at a PES conference. In Fleckenstein's view, the Western Balkans summit in Sofia on 17 May, the Berlin Process summit in London and the June EU Council need to reconfirm "the European perspective of the region".
Sergei Stanishev, the president of the PES, had the same message. While recognising that the accession process was "long and difficult", he said that "the very prospect of joining Europe is an extremely strong positive force for any country". "The future of the Western Balkans is in the European Union", he added.
What is more, in Fleckenstein's opinion, "it is high time that the accession negotiations with Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are opened". "These moves will render the European perspective more credible and speed up the reform process in the candidate countries", he said. Albania and FYROM are led by prime ministers whose parties are members of the PES.
The European Commission's progress reports on the EU candidate and potential candidate countries will be published on 17 April. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)