Olli Rehn EU Commissioner for Enlargement Enlargement package European Parliament, AFET Committee Brussels, 15 October 2009

SPEECH/09/473

Olli Rehn

EU Commissioner for Enlargement

Enlargement package

European Parliament, AFET Committee

Brussels, 15 October 2009

Chairman, Honourable Members of the European Parliament,

Yesterday, the Commission adopted its annual strategy on EU enlargement. This communication highlights the progress the Western Balkans and Turkey have made towards European integration during a difficult year of global economic crisis. It spells out the main challenges facing them in the months and years to come.

I am glad to return before you today and to have the opportunity to present the key findings.

This is the last enlargement package of this Commission. Let me start by thanking all of you for the excellent co-operation we have had over the past years. The European Parliament has always played an active role in shaping our enlargement policy – through your engagement in South East Europe, through your debates, reports and resolutions.

In fact, the European Parliament sets an example for democratic accountability, and I am very glad to have this Committee as a thoughtful and reliable partner, also in difficult times. And I am really looking forward to continuing this good co-operation in the future.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have pursued over the past 5 years to strike a delicate balance between commitment and consolidation, as well as the strategic imperative to enhance peace and prosperity, the need to ensure our own capacity of integration, liberty and democracy in South-Eastern Europe.

This is what has enabled us to keep on moving in a gradual, managed enlargement process, without losing the inspirational pull that drives reform in the countries concerned and makes the journey worthwhile.

This approach is bearing fruits. Let me just highlight two examples:

Firstly, we are now able to recommend the opening of accession negotiations with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The country has made convincing progress and substantially addressed the key reform priorities, also known as the 8+1 benchmarks. The Commission considers that the country sufficiently fulfils the Copenhagen political criteria. These elements have enabled the Commission to recommend the opening of accession negotiations.

I trust that the government in Skopje will take this as a very strong encouragement to finally settle the name issue. We underline in our conclusions that "maintaining good neighbourly relations, including a negotiated and mutually acceptable solution to the name issue, under the auspices of the UN, remains essential". Now it is needed more urgent than ever, for the sake of the country's EU future.

Secondly , visa liberalisation for the Western Balkans will progress substantially in 2010. You are currently discussing our proposals for the establishment of a visa-free regime for the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia as of January 2010.

I am aware that some would have preferred our report to be more inclusive – I share that common goal, which will materialise once Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina will have met the rigorous conditions for visa-free travel. The Commission will table similar proposals for Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the first half of 2010, provided these countries meet the conditions set in the road maps.

Visa liberalisation is of paramount importance for the countries concerned. The adoption of this proposal will demonstrate that reforms bring concrete, tangible benefits for their citizens. It is about the Europeanisation of the civil societies in the Western Balkans.

Five years ago, we were barely contemplating visa facilitation! This is an enormous enlargement dividend for the citizens of the Western Balkans.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

There is no doubt that the European perspective of the Western Balkans and Turkey has been a factor for stability, progress and democratic and economic transformation.

Croatia is nearing the finishing line, after four years of intense accession negotiations. The country needs to pursue and intensify its reform efforts, especially on the judiciary, fight against corruption and organised crime before the negotiations can be concluded. And it has to definitely solve the issue of access to documents for ICTY as a matter of urgency.

I welcome that we now have new momentum in the accession negotiations. If Croatia meets all outstanding benchmarks, the accession negotiations could be concluded next year.

We have free-trade agreements in place with the rest of the Western Balkans – the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo .

We must continue what I would call our policy of " political de-mining " in the Western Balkans and Turkey to avoid back-sliding. We have seen some successes, such as the recent agreement on solving the border dispute between Croatia and Slovenia and the re-launch Croatia's accession talks after they had been hold up for almost a year.

Bosnia and Herzegovina risks being left behind the other countries of the region. Last week, together with Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt and US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, we met for two days with the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina to try to overcome the political stalemate that has dragged this country backwards over the past 18 months. We are going back next week.

We have offered the country's leaders a package of measures – including essential constitutional changes – that will help them jump-start the country's EU and NATO integration.

We want Bosnia and Herzegovina to be a credible applicant for EU and NATO membership. Let us be clear, an application for EU membership by Bosnia and Herzegovina could only be considered once the OHR has been closed. A quasi-protectorate cannot join the European Union.

The leaders – and ultimately the people – of Bosnia and Hertzegovina must decide, whether the country wants to stay permanently behind its neighbours, in an associate partnership only with the SAA, or whether it is able to get its act together and strive seriously for EU membership, with all the rights and obligations that it implies.

I hope, for the sake of their citizens and the Western Balkans as a whole, that the Bosnian leaders will rise to the occasion and reach a deal. The EU and the United States are engaged at the highest levels because we want Bosnia to succeed.

In these difficult times of economic crisis, the membership applications of Montenegro and Albania have underscored the Union's continued power of attraction and our role in promoting stability, security and prosperity. Iceland's membership application adds a new dimension to our enlargement agenda too, that of anchoring financial stability.

Let me emphasize a few cross-cutting challenges that lie ahead of us in the region:

The rule of law , in particular the fight against corruption and organised crime, remains a major challenge throughout the enlargement countries. A lot of work is ongoing, and the Commission will continue to use all our instruments to help them in this endeavour. This is a top priority, as we have learned from previous enlargement rounds.

Unfortunately freedom of expression and the freedom of media remain a problem in several countries in the region. It must be addressed as a matter of urgency.

For example, we have always been clear with Turkey that freedom of thought, speech and the press are fundamental values in any open and democratic society. They are a necessary condition for EU membership. The same goes for religious freedoms, women's rights, minority rights and trade unions rights.

In the broader strategic context, Turkey plays a key role in regional security e.g. in the Middle East and Southern Caucasus, security of energy supply and the promotion of dialogue between civilisations.

I welcome the normalisation of relations with Armenia which is a historic step and which the EU welcomes as a contribution to stability and peace in the region. Likewise, I welcome the "democratic opening" to resolve the Kurdish question by wide consultation and concrete measures.

We expect Turkey to ensure full, non-discriminatory implementation of the Additional Protocol to the Association Agreement and make progress towards the normalisation of relations with the Republic of Cyprus.

We call on the leaders of the two communities in Cyprus to bring the settlement talks to a successful end as soon as possible and on Turkey to contribute in concrete terms to such a comprehensive settlement of the Cyprus issue.

Mr Chairman, dear colleagues,

Let me conclude by underlining that the enlargement policy remains in the strategic interest of the EU. It projects the EU's influence beyond its current borders and serves as an anchor of stability in difficult times.

Our policy of stabilization – sometime called enlargement too – has had and continues to have major implications for the EU's foreign policy and its global role. Our credibility as a global actor rests in large part on our ability to shape our own immediate neighbourhood.

The EU's transformative power is greatest in our Southern and Eastern neighbourhoods, where our way of life and soft power of attraction provide hope and drive reform. This is where we can really make a difference. Behind the technical na rrative of the progress reports. This is the story they tell.

Therefore Southeast Europe, the Eastern neighbourhood and the Union of the Mediterranean must remain the EU's top priorities as peace in the Middle East, relations with Iran, stability in the Southern Caucasus, security of energy supplies and the fight against terrorism are issues that we cannot solve or deal with alone.

This is the best way we can make a difference for the sake of peace and prosperity, liberty and democracy which are our core values.

This is a tough job, but a very meaningful mis

European EC Rapid Press Release SPEECH/09/473, copyright European Commission.
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