Paneuropa Welcomes European Commission’s Enlargement Strategy

Habsburg: Paneuropa Welcomes European Commission’s Enlargement Strategy

Subheading: Strategy Paper Provides Positive Impetus – South-East Europe as a Decisive Region for All of Europe

(Strasbourg/Vienna) The EU Commission’s enlargement strategy presented today in Strasbourg, which envisages a significant acceleration for the admission of the “Western Balkan countries” into the EU by 2025, is regarded by the Paneuropa Movement Austria as an important and positive signal for the further unification process of the European Union.

“Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, and the Republic of Kosovo, in particular, need a perspective now more than ever to be able to participate in the overall European project,” emphasises the President of the Paneuropa Movement Austria, Karl von Habsburg. “To this end, Europe must actively support these countries so that they can also quickly fulfil the necessary conditions for EU accession. Ignoring these countries would be a fatal mistake. The European Commission’s new strategy provides important impetus for this.”

Visa-Free Travel as a Key Point

A key point is the visa liberalisation denied to Kosovo so far – as the only country in the region. This only punishes the citizens for any failures of politics. Turkey has long since granted visa-free travel to the citizens of Kosovo.

Habsburg commented: “Those who fail to support the Balkan countries, in particular, share the blame if these countries seek other partners,” referring to Russian, but also Turkish and Chinese tendencies to increase their political influence in the Balkans.

Accession Perspective is an Effective Incentive

The states of the Western Balkans also expect concrete dates for the start of accession negotiations. “Here, one could draw on experience from the major enlargement round of 2004. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the door was open for the European countries of the former Eastern Bloc; accession negotiations were opened with almost all countries. This spurred the zeal of individual countries to achieve the best possible results in competition.” However, Habsburg also called on the countries concerned to make even greater efforts to meet the EU’s catalogue of requirements accordingly.

In this context, Rainhard Kloucek, Secretary General of the Paneuropa Movement Austria, praised the first steps towards rapprochement regarding the naming dispute between Greece and Macedonia: “These are essential points to finally resolve the dispute and thus create a concrete accession perspective for Macedonia.”