Thewesternbalkans
General conclusions
Following publication of the European Council secretariat, during a two-day summit on 21-22 of March, leaders of the European Union member states have adopted conclusions on Ukraine, security and defence, the Middle East, enlargement, external relations, migration, preparedness and crisis response, agriculture and the European Semester.
They also had a lunch with UN Secretary-General António Guterres to discuss the geopolitical situation and key global challenges. They celebrated the 30th anniversary of the European Economic Area (EEA) agreement with the prime ministers of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, and took stock of preparations for the new strategic agenda.
Enlargement and reforms
Following the EU Council conclusions, recalling the Granada Declaration, EU leaders took stock of preparations for enlargement and internal reforms, recalling that work on both tracks needs to advance in parallel. The leaders will address internal reforms at an upcoming meeting, with the aim of adopting conclusions on a roadmap for future work by summer 2024.
Following the progress made by Bosnia and Herzegovina on its reform path, and building on the recommendation by the Commission, EU leaders gave the green light to open accession negotiations. To this end, they invited the Commission to prepare the negotiating framework. Once Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken all relevant steps set out in the Commission’s recommendation of 12 October 2022, they will invite the Council to adopt it.
The leaders welcomed the progress made by Ukraine and Moldova on their path to EU membership. Further to the submission of the draft negotiating frameworks, the leaders invited the Council to swiftly adopt them and to take work forward without delay.
They also took note of Georgia’s ongoing efforts and encouraged the country to make progress on the outstanding priority reforms.
The EU will continue to provide all relevant support for Moldova to address the challenges stemming from Russia’s war against Ukraine, and to strengthen Moldova’s resilience, security and stability. In this context, EU leaders welcomed member states’ bilateral commitments to support the EU partnership mission in Moldova to enhance the resilience of the security sector. The EU will also continue to support Georgia in strengthening its resilience and addressing the challenges it faces as a consequence of Russia’s undermining of Georgia’s territorial integrity and Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Comments: The meeting of the European Council was full of content and to a very large extent addressed the problems of the European Union itself, including security and defense, external relations, migration, reform for enlargement, preparedness and crisis response, agriculture and the European Semester. Support for Ukraine remains a priority of the European leaders, and this is reflected in detail and unequivocally in the conclusions of the summit. On the other hand, there is an unnatural forcing of the process of negotiations with Ukraine (and Moldova), which at some point after the European elections and the elections in the USA may turn out to be a disappointment for these two countries. The decisions for Bosnia and Herzegovina follow the logic of the entire process of the integration of the Western Balkans into the EU.
