BRUSSELS – The European Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, today presented the 2023 annual enlargement package to members of the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET). Its main focus, in relation to Western Balkan candidates, was Bosnia and Herzegovina, for which the European Commission recommended opening accession negotiations subject to the “necessary degree of compliance with the accession criteria”.
Várhelyi also informed the Committee that the selection process with Albania and North Macedonia was going smoothly, while adding that Albania’s goal was to open the first group on fundamentals by the end of the year. He expressed hope that all parties in North Macedonia would move forward with constitutional changes and urged Kosovo and Serbia to implement the normalization agreement and its annex.
After presenting the situation in the new candidate countries Ukraine and Moldova, Várhelyi said the Commission had also recommended to the Council to open accession negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina once the necessary level of compliance was achieved. membership criteria, on which the Commission will report to the Council by March 2024. He said last year’s candidate status had brought much-needed dynamism.
“New governments were installed quickly after the elections at all levels, and they began to implement reforms. The public commitment of political parties to the strategic objective of European integration has yielded positive results. The Council of Ministers approved a series of draft laws, notably on the integrity of the judicial system, the prevention of torture by designating the ombudsman as a national prevention mechanism, the law on foreigners and freedom of access to ‘information. These were adopted by parliament,” Várhelyi said.
He also highlighted that Bosnia and Herzegovina has significantly improved its alignment with EU foreign policy. The country also adopted an anti-money laundering strategy, action plans on migration and terrorism and the implementation of the national strategy for dealing with war crimes.
Regarding Albania and North Macedonia, Várhelyi said that the selection process is progressing smoothly in both countries and that the authorities have shown a high level of commitment.
“In Albania, the implementation of the comprehensive reform of the judicial system has continued and the monitoring process is progressing at a very satisfactory pace. The special structure against corruption and organized crime, called SPAC, has achieved other results on the ground. Total alignment with the common foreign and security policy constitutes a strong signal of the country’s strategic choice to join the EU. Our goal is to open the first cluster on fundamentals before the end of the year with Albania,” said the commissioner.
In North Macedonia, authorities continued to demonstrate and publicly declare their commitment to moving forward on the EU path, Várhelyi said.
“Now that the process of accession negotiations has started, the pace of EU-related reforms must accelerate. Certain changes to the Penal Code, affecting a large number of high-level corruption cases, have raised concerns. It is essential to build confidence in the justice system and combat corruption, including through a strong track record of investigating, prosecuting and delivering final convictions in high-level corruption cases,” he said. he declares.
He also stressed that Parliament and the government are committed to initiating and implementing relevant constitutional changes as a matter of priority.
“We hope all parties will support him moving forward.” This is a sovereign decision of North Macedonia and its sovereign commitment, which will further strengthen fundamental rights,” said Várhelyi.
Regarding Montenegro, Várhelyi said that while progress on EU accession reforms has largely stalled, the newly appointed government must now focus on EU-related reforms and ensure that the country’s democratic institutions and judicial system become fully functional again.
“Compliance with the interim benchmarks set out in Chapters 23 and 24 on the rule of law will be essential to achieving further progress in the negotiations. No further chapters will be provisionally closed before this stage is reached,” the commissioner said.
On the issue of the normalization process between Kosovo and Serbia, he said that both sides are invited to implement the agreement on the path to normalization and its annex, as well as other previous agreements reached in the framework of dialogue facilitated by the EU, without any delay or preconditions. . This includes the creation of the Association or Community of Municipalities with a Serbian majority.
“Kosovo has made progress in its legislative work and adopted important electoral reform. Kosovo continued to align with the EU in condemning Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and adopting restrictive measures,” Várhelyi said.
He added that the situation in northern Kosovo has been affected by several crises, the latest being the attack on the Kosovo police on September 24.
In the absence of decisive de-escalation measures since June, the EU has implemented measures towards Kosovo, which also have an impact on financial support.
“These measures are temporary and depend on steps taken to ease tensions in northern Kosovo. Finally, we look forward to January 1 next year, when visa liberalization for Kosovo will come into force,” Várhelyi said.
Finally, he highlighted that Serbia has started implementing the 2022 constitutional amendments aimed at strengthening the independence of the judiciary.
“It also passed important media laws in October 2023 before the dissolution of Parliament. Our assessment in the last two reports that Serbia has fulfilled the criteria for opening the third group of competitiveness and inclusive growth remains valid. The Commission supports Serbia’s ambition to open new membership clusters based on continued progress in reforms,” Várhelyi said.
The Commission, he concluded, also recognizes the good cooperation with Serbia in preventing sanctions evasion, while the key issue of alignment with the common foreign and security policy, including sanctions against Russia, remains a concern.