On Thursday 17 July, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a high-level conference on EU enlargement with two European affairs ministers from the Western Balkan countries: Maida Gorčević (Montenegro) and Orhan Murtezani (North Macedonia).
The ‘Enlargement Candidate Members’ initiative, of which this conference is part, aims to include civil society in the candidate countries in the accession process in order to make it more fluid and “strengthen its democratic character”.
According to the EESC and its President, Oliver Röpke, “the enlargement process cannot be built behind closed doors. It must involve civil society, the social partners and, above all, young people”.
He followed the lead of those who see Montenegro and Albania joining the EU by the end of the decade (see EUROPE 13640/3).
The Montenegrin minister, Maida Gorčević, pointed out that all the negotiation chapters with her country are open and that seven have already been closed. She is setting the objective of concluding negotiations by 2026 (see EUROPE 13627/13).
She also stressed the need for planned budgetary integration of the candidate countries, in particular into the cohesion funds, so that they are not “mere spectators” in the next budget cycle, but players in their own right.
Through its initiative, the EESC has always promoted the importance of gradual, “merit-based” integration into the EU, where progress is rewarded with real prospects of membership, in order to avoid another decade of stalled negotiations. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)