The Renew Europe group in the European Parliament called on 4 February for the appointment of a double-hatted EU Special Envoy for the Western Balkans.
This person should “work under the authority of the High Representative and Commissioner in charge of Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy and focus on solving lingering conflicts throughout the region”, according to a common position adopted by the group entitled ‘A new approach for the EU Membership Perspective for the countries in the Western Balkans’.
During his trip to the region, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy discussed the possibility of appointing such an envoy (see EUROPE 12416/22).
The group also proposes the creation of an ‘anti-corruption’ unit within the Commission’s Directorate-General DG NEAR, “with the task to assist anti-corruption bodies in both candidate and candidate countries in the region”.
More generally, the group, which includes MEPs from French President Emmanuel Macron’s party, believe that the enlargement process can and must go hand in hand with EU reform, “as the one does not exclude the other”.
See the common position: http://bit.ly/38glbFU (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)