Can EU revitalize its stalled enlargement processes?

euronews (in English)

Enlargement is often referred to as the EU’s most effective foreign policy, but since its biggest wave of new members joined in 2004, the process has largely stalled.

Transcript

00:00Enlargement is often referred to as the EU's most effective foreign policy, but since its

00:14biggest wave of new members joined in in 2004, the process has largely stopped.

00:20At Davos, I sat down with the Prime Ministers of Croatia and Montenegro, also the Foreign

00:25Minister of Ukraine and the EU's Enlargement Commissioner, to discuss and debate how the

00:32EU can revitalise its enlargement process.

00:36Commissioner, I want to ask you the question first.

00:42Russia's invasion of Ukraine has injected a renewed sense of urgency when it comes to

00:46the EU accession talks, and EU leaders are more frequently meeting with seven countries

00:51that are still waiting at the gate.

00:53Some candidates' accession bids have been stalled for well over a decade, despite the

00:58process and requirements for EU membership remaining the same.

01:03What has changed in the EU that is making accession so difficult as you're starting

01:08to take care of this portfolio now?

01:10After 10 countries joined in 2004, and later Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia, the last in

01:162013, the economic and geopolitics have changed.

01:23And at that time, it was seen that it is getting more important to go inside or to take care

01:31about the deepening of the European Union, in the sense of we'll be able to answer to

01:38those challenges which emerged at that time.

01:41This is one point.

01:42The second point is also the question of the rule of law.

01:46We have some countries inside the European Union who are not following the rule of law,

01:52and with the many member states, we have seen somehow fear that this could harm the European

02:00Union, in the sense of we shouldn't let in no country who is really not 100% prepared

02:07to enter, not only on the economic part.

02:10We have been talking, in my opinion, much too much about the economic part of the enlargement

02:15process, less about the values, and less about the rules of law.

02:20Prime Minister, when Croatia joined the EU in 2013, as the 28th member state, it became

02:27the second nation to do it on its own after Greece, which was 1981.

02:31So that was a very specific case for your country.

02:35And there was this kind of enlargement fatigue, largely a result of a slow integration process

02:40for new members, which meant also there were kind of more demands and requirements of Croatia

02:46when you joined the European Union.

02:48How has this heightened level of scrutiny impacted the country now that you have joined

02:53also the Schengen area and the Eurozone?

02:55Well, Croatia joined, as you rightly put it, on the 1st of July 2013, almost 10 years after

03:01the big enlargement.

03:03What was good for us, we joined when we were prepared.

03:07We, especially in my first government, decided to go into the deeper integration we managed,

03:13which is the Eurozone, the Schengen area, the European Stability Mechanism.

03:17And the benefits are there.

03:19When we started nine years ago, my first government, we were at 62% of the average development

03:25of the European Union.

03:26Now we are at 78%.

03:28By the time we end the third government, we'll be at 82%.

03:30That means that the economic impact and the developmental impact, infrastructure, including

03:36also values, the rule of law and everything that goes with it, were highly appreciated

03:40by the Croatian citizens and the society.

03:44And the country looks very different now, I would say much better.

03:47Somehow Montenegro can be considered as the furthest along in the accession process.

03:53How did you feel this change, as Prime Minister said, you know, when the arms were first opened,

03:59but it's a bit different now for Montenegro, for Ukraine.

04:03But also what areas of progress or closer cooperation with the EU remain?

04:07You've just had the Commissioner visiting Montenegro as well, just a couple of days

04:11ago, right, before we're meeting here at Davos.

04:14First of all, I don't think that EU accession process is actually competition.

04:19You know, like we are all trying to fulfill the basic conditions that EU is requiring

04:25for our own good.

04:27You know, it's not because of the EU that we are doing all of these requirements, it's

04:30for ourselves to develop better, to be better market economies, to have rule of law, to

04:36have more fair society, to have more democratic institutions.

04:40So this is what we are trying to build.

04:42We're trying to build a system.

04:43It's especially difficult if you are a country like Montenegro.

04:47You know, in ex-Yugoslavia, some of you might know that Montenegro was like a smallest republic

04:53and very few, if any, institutions were based out of Podgorica.

04:59Most of them are based out of Belgrade, some of them are based out of Zagreb, a bit maybe

05:04in Ljubljana, but, you know, Podgorica, literally nothing.

05:07So can you imagine 2006, we had to build basically institutions almost from municipal level.

05:14Almost from municipal level.

05:15So this was like a big, big step forward for us in last 18 years.

05:19So we are like, by Montenegrin law, we are adults now.

05:23So we are hoping that we get adult treatment as well.

05:28Ukraine is also on its way to the European Union, and you've heard some of the notions here.

05:35Now, your accession negotiations officially opened on the 25th of June 2024.

05:41Considering that the process is generally considered to be slow and meticulous,

05:46what can we realistically expect in terms of some sort of accelerated Ukrainian candidacy?

05:52Why I say that is not about fast-tracking it one-way street.

05:56It's about Ukraine trying to, every time to produce, to get their progress quicker and quicker.

06:02Thanks a lot for your question.

06:05In Ukraine, more than 90% of our people support Ukrainian EU membership.

06:11By the way, that's another part of Russian brutal aggression.

06:16Before the full-scale aggression, a little bit more than 50% of our population supported

06:24EU accession.

06:26On the fourth day of this brutal aggression, we applied to EU to become a member of EU.

06:34In a half a year, we got the status of candidate.

06:40It means that we need such a speed now because of geopolitical reality.

06:46And it was also our response to this brutality, to these Russian atrocities, to protect our values.

06:53It was our strategic choice.

06:56And I would also, I would like to remind that EU, when it was founded after the war,

07:04it was not only about trade.

07:06It was also about to defeat war, to defeat thinking of war, of this war politics,

07:15to defeat the Putins of that time, to defeat fascism, Nazism.

07:22And regretfully, these diseases returned back to Europe.

07:26And now we need to defeat this Russian aggression.

07:29We must achieve long-lasting, long-lasting, just comprehensive peace because security

07:38of Europe and security of Ukraine is indivisible.

07:42And it is not a favor for us on our way to become a EU member because we will contribute

07:52in the strength of EU.

07:53We will contribute in the competitive advantages of EU with our, for example, defense industries,

08:00with our technologies, with our security experience.

08:06And probably it will be the best investment for EU.

08:09If we are speaking about cost, we have such an evaluation, the cost will be approximately

08:170.17 of the EU GDP if we are speaking about the enlargement of nine countries.

08:26Right.

08:27These points that we've just heard from the two candidate countries regarding how they

08:31have to overcome the obstacles within the EU of some of the member states who are less

08:36willing on continuing the enlargement, but do they, do these existing countries then

08:42share the same values that are actually demanded of the candidates?

08:48First of all, we have to bear in mind that every enlargement process is a politically

08:53driven process.

08:54But what I would like to note that everybody is realistic because sense of realism is the

08:58most important notion in the process of enlargement is that the forgotten Copenhagen, the fourth

09:06Copenhagen criteria of 1993, which is so-called the absorption capacity of the European Union,

09:13has come back.

09:15In the absorption capacity translated into a common language means what is the budgetary

09:21cost of enlargement, what will be the effect of new members on the play of contributor

09:29countries and beneficiary countries, what will be the impact on the policies, cohesion,

09:35culture, any policy that you can imagine?

09:38I'm sure that you've heard some, lots of criticism regarding whether things are being fast-tracked

09:44when it comes to Ukraine compared to some of the other countries that have been waiting

09:48for longer and then applying longer and so on.

09:52What's your take on that?

09:53Because this is an important issue to address.

09:55We love it.

09:56You know, we want to be even faster.

09:59We don't mind at all.

10:00Like for us, it's totally okay.

10:02It's just, obviously, don't forget us as well.

10:04I mean, in the meantime, but, you know, progression of Ukraine is extremely welcome and we, as

10:11I already said, we feel Ukraine is part of the wider region and we feel we have common

10:17destiny and we want to see Ukraine progress as fast as possible.

10:20But I would say that we should still keep some level of meritocracy and as in like meritocratic

10:29approach.

10:30So I think Montenegro has done a lot and we will do even more.

10:35So our plan is extremely ambitious.

10:36We want in two years, i.e. by end of 26, to fully close all the chapters, to be fully

10:42ready for EU.

10:43So we're hoping that EU can see that, can recognize the efforts, can recognize the spirit

10:50that we are projecting and that they will accept us and they will, you know, like that

10:58by end of 26, we close all the chapters, but in 28, we become 28th member state.

11:04The race is the race.

11:05I think this is healthy, you know, because it is based on the merit-based principle,

11:11meaning, you know, it's not about timing, you know, sometimes I hear, but, you know,

11:15the Western Balkan states, they wait for so long.

11:18It is not about how long they are waiting.

11:20It is how much they are able to deliver and about their political will.

11:25And this has changed.

11:27So if they do what they have to do, you know, we say negotiations, mainly it is take it

11:32or leave it.

11:33Sorry that I say it so bluntly.

11:35So you have no possibility to now negotiate on some important basic value in the EU.

11:45Well, that's all we have time for.

11:47Unfortunately, thank you so much.

11:48There is a lot of food for thought, lots of work for everybody, for the Commissioner,

11:51for the member states, for the candidates.

11:53Thank you very much and thank you for watching.

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