Speaking to members of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) on Tuesday 3 June, the Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, was asked about the current state of the various accession processes in the candidate countries for EU membership, at a time when the Commission is constantly emphasising the strategic need to complete the enlargement of the Union (see EUROPE 13624/4).
While Albania and Montenegro appear to be leading the way (see EUROPE 13647/13, 13640/3), Bosnia-Herzegovina, beset by internal unrest (see EUROPE 13618/4), Serbia, whose pro-Russian leanings are a cause for concern (see EUROPE 13639/28), and Kosovo, which has been without a government for many months (see EUROPE 13646/26), are stagnating in their progress towards the EU.
Ukraine, for its part, has seen its process blocked at Council level by Hungary’s opposition (see EUROPE 13639/27) and, because the two applications are linked, is also blocking Moldova’s progress (see EUROPE 13637/14).
As for Georgia and Turkey, there has been no notable progress: the former is “backsliding” in respect of its new government, which is very close to Moscow. The latter’s bid, which has been on hold for many years, is far from being relaunched.
While Ms Kos reaffirmed Europe’s desire to see these countries join the EU, she stressed, more than usual, the importance of “protecting and strengthening” European values: “Respect for democracy and Article 2 (of the EU Treaty) must absolutely be taken into account. We must not just respect them, we must also defend them”, she declared, asserting that there would be “no accession by a State that is not totally ready at institutional level”.
“European values cannot be threatened from within. We cannot move forward if we do not respect these requirements”, she emphasised, referring to problems with the rule of law in certain Member States such as Hungary, while not explicitly naming it. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)