The proposal, developed by France and Germany, was presented before Friday's meeting of presidents and prime ministers in Montenegro. Paris and Berlin proposed granting the candidate countries from the Western Balkans observer status in the EU institutions and limited access to the single market during the accession process.
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia have submitted applications to join the EU and have been waiting for years for the terms to be agreed. The idea of giving these countries pre-accession benefits is seen as a way to ensure that they do not lose hope.
According to two diplomats familiar with the talks who wished to remain anonymous, the politicians reached one key conclusion on Friday.
In their opinion, the process of accession to the Union must be much faster than currently. Europe must “keep its promises” to those who want to join it, says Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal in an interview with POLITICO.
The plan “did not fall on deaf ears,” adds Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal after talks in the coastal city of Tivat. — We should start the discussion at least because when you see the results [wszystkiego]what you do – hard work, reforms and so on – your motivation to act is much greater, he says.
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The President of the European Council, António Costa, was the first to publicly support the discussion on the Franco-German plan. After Friday's talks, he told reporters that reform was under discussion, suggesting “some kind of new enlargement package to end this merit-based process quickly.”
“It looks positive,” said a senior EU official on the issue. “We now need to look at what exactly this could mean, hear what others think and build consensus.”
Montenegro, host of Friday's summit, is keen to avoid being on the list of countries considered for partial benefits. Prime Minister Milojko Spajić said the country had “fulfilled all its obligations” related to joining the EU and would “put itself in a situation where it will be able to enjoy all the rights and assume all the obligations” of full membership.
Some of the countries that are further behind in this process want to reap the economic benefits as quickly as possible. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said in January that a gradual approach to integration was a “good idea” and that he had no illusions that the EU's founding members “are the adults in the family who make important decisions.”
However, some of the remaining countries fear that the move could create second-class countries that will have to follow Brussels' orders without proper representation.
Although the proposal concerns only the Western Balkans, Ukrainian ambassador to the EU Vsevolod Tsentsov warns of a situation in which his country “is offered everything except membership: access to the internal market, participation in EU programs, institutional involvement without voting rights and gradual inclusion in EU policies.”
— This creates a risk of creating two categories of candidate countries: those for which integration leads to membership and those for which integration threatens to replace membership. Ukraine is not asking for privileged treatment, but for equal application of the agreed rules, he claims.
According to Estonian Prime Minister Michal, “full membership should always be the goal.” — There will always be an expectation that Europe will keep its promises and when the requirements are met, you will become members, he concludes.
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