On Tuesday 2 September, the Danish Minister for European Affairs, Marie Bjerre, said that EU enlargement needed to move forward.
“We need to move on with enlargement. It is a geopolitical necessity, because we need to have a stronger EU, a more secure EU, an EU that is capable of defending itself. And enlargement is essential for that future”, she stressed at the end of the informal meeting of European affairs ministers in Copenhagen. In her view, the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the “new political winds” blowing from the United States make enlargement more important, “perhaps more so than ever”.
“The doors of our Union are open, and those doors will stay open for those who meet the Copenhagen criteria fully, fairly and also transparently”, added the Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, reiterating that accession will remain a “rigorous, fair and merit-based process, entirely dependent on the objective progress made by each candidate country”.
Of the six Western Balkan countries applying for integration, Montenegro and Albania remain the most advanced in the process. For the first time, the Commissioner for Enlargement even mentioned the possibility of Tirana concluding the technical accession negotiations next year, with a two-year window for ratification by the member countries.
By the end of the decade, the EU could have two new members, provided that it “responds to the concerns of citizens”.
Ms Kos also pointed out that Ukraine and Moldova were ready to begin accession negotiations on the first cluster of accession negotiation chapters. This opening has been blocked by Hungary, which refuses to allow the Ukraine process to move forward. On their arrival at their informal meeting, several ministers reiterated their desire for the two countries to make progress now in their accession process.
“This is a merit-based approach. So far, we haven’t addressed (the) issue (of decoupling the two countries) openly. Moldova has not asked for it either. We will be open to this discussion when the time comes. But we really want to send positive signals to the Ukrainian people, not negative ones. The situation is obviously difficult, but the simplest solution would be for Hungary to stop blocking Ukraine”, said Ignacy Niemczycki, Poland’s State Secretary for European Affairs. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre and Camille-Cerise Gessant)