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EU to overhaul process for admitting new members

   After Brexit, EU centres on the Balkans for ‘geo-strategic’ enlargement
   against backdrop of French objections.
   EU enlargement
   A Staff member holds a folded UK flag after it was taken down from the
   European Parliament building in Brussels on Brexit Day, January 31,
   2020 [File: John Thys/AFP]
   Published On 5 Feb 20205 Feb 2020

   The European Union still aims to admit the Balkan nations of Serbia,
   Kosovo, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia
   into the bloc, new EU enlargement commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said on
   Wednesday, following France’s veto of the expansion.

   Varhelyi was unveiling a new methodology for admitting new members,
   aimed at mollifying France’s concerns about letting the six countries
   into the EU.

   He said enlargement was “geo-strategic”, a reference to a view that the
   bloc cannot stem its waning global influence without stabilising the
   Balkans.

   “We continue to have full enlargement as a goal,” he told a news
   conference after publishing the European Commission reforms, which were
   reported by Reuters news agency on Tuesday.

   “EU membership is offered to the entire region, including Kosovo,”
   Varhelyi said of the country that declared independence from Serbia in
   2008, a move not recognised by five of the 27 EU members including
   Spain.

   In October, French President Emmanuel Macron halted the process of
   admitting new members, a decision the Commission said was a historic
   error.

   The following month, France, which says it supports accession for the
   Balkan nations in the long term, submitted a proposal for changes.

   The EU executive hopes to persuade France to lift its objections before
   a Zagreb summit with the Balkan states in May.

   The reforms outlined on Wednesday would give existing EU members the
   power to pause the process of admitting new nations, or even force
   countries to restart entry talks in some policy areas.

   It was not immediately clear if the changes were enough for Macron, but
   one EU diplomat urged Paris to allow membership talks to move forward
   with North Macedonia and Albania, who are next in line to open
   negotiations.

   “The Commission has built a solid bridge for France. We are counting on
   Paris to walk over this bridge now, join the EU consensus and pave the
   way for the start of accession talks,” an EU diplomat told Reuters.

   Serbia and Montenegro are the most advanced in their negotiations and
   could join the bloc later this decade.

   The United Kingdom left the EU on January 31 after a 47-year
   membership, becoming the first-ever country to leave the bloc.
   Source: Reuters

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