Michel: “We must be ready to enlarge by 2030”
Speaking at the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said the EU and the aspirant states “must be ready to enlarge by 2030.” He stressed the need to set a clear, if ambitious, timeline in order “to stay credible.”
President Michel highlighted that the “window of opportunity is open; we need to act upon it” and that the European leaders will discuss enlargement and “will take a stand on the opening of the negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova” during the next EU Council meetings, adding “and I expect, also Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia to be back on the table.”
EUCO President said that all states granted the EU membership perspective – of which Georgia is one – should be referred to as “future member states.”
He added, “The membership is and will remain a merit-based process” and stressed the centrality of the rule of law in advancing the future members faster alongside their paths because being an EU member brings “both responsibilities and benefits,” and taking the first and utilizing the second, means being ready. He stressed – speaking of the Western Balkans – “there is no room in the EU for the past conflicts” and, in particular, warned about the attempts at blocking the future members by the newly acceded states.
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