L'UE può rivitalizzare i suoi processi di ampliamento in stallo?

euronews (in Italiano)

9 mesi fa

L'ampliamento è spesso indicato come la politica estera più efficace dell'UE, ma da quando la più grande ondata di nuovi membri ha aderito nel 2004, il processo si è in gran parte arenato.

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00:00Enlargement is often referred to as the EU's most effective foreign policy.

00:14But since its biggest 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,

00:24also the Foreign Minister of Ukraine and the EU's Enlargement Commissioner

00:29to discuss and debate how the EU can revitalise its enlargement process.

00:59What has changed in the EU that is making accession so difficult as you are starting to take care of this portfolio now?

01:29What has changed in the EU that is making accession so difficult as you are starting to take care of this portfolio now?

01:59What has changed in the EU that is making accession so difficult as you are starting to take care of this portfolio now?

02:05What has changed in the EU that is making accession so difficult as you are starting to take care of this portfolio now?

02:11What has changed in the EU that is making accession so difficult as you are starting to take care of this portfolio now?

02:17What has changed in the EU that is making accession so difficult as you are starting to take care of this portfolio now?

02:23In 2013, as the 28th Member State, it became the second nation to do it on its own after Greece, which was 1981.

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

02:34And there was this kind of enlargement fatigue, largely a result of a slow integration process for new members,

02:41which meant also there were kind of more demands and requirements of Croatia when you joined the European Union.

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

03:27Now we are at 78%. By the time we end the third government, we'll be at 82%.

03:31That means that the economic impact and the developmental impact, the infrastructure, including also values,

03:37the rule of law and everything that goes with it, were highly appreciated by the Croatian citizens and the society.

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

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

03:52How did you feel this change, as Prime Minister said, 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 ago, right, before we're meeting here at Davos.

04:13First of all, I don't think that EU accession process is actually competition.

04:18We are all trying to fulfill the basic conditions that EU is requiring for our own good.

04:26It's not because of the EU that we are doing all of these requirements.

04:30It's for ourselves, to develop better, to have better market economies, to have rule of law,

04:35to have more fair society, to have more democratic institutions.

04:40So this is what we are trying to build. We are 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 the smallest republic.

04:54And 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 in Ljubljana.

05:05You know, Podgorica is literally nothing.

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

05:13Almost 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.

05:27Minister, Ukraine is also on its way to the European Union.

05:32And you've heard some of the notions here.

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

05:40Considering 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 the 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 EU 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 like to remind that EU, when it was founded after the war,

07:04it was not only about trade, it was also about to defeat war, to defeat thinking of war,

07:13of this war politics, to defeat the Putins of that time, to defeat fascism and 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, just comprehensive peace

07:36because security of Europe and security of Ukraine is indivisible.

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

07:50because we will contribute in the strength of EU,

07:53we will contribute in the competitive advantages of EU,

07:57with our, for example, defense industries, with our technologies, with our security experience.

08:05And probably it will be the best investment for EU.

08:09If we are speaking about cost, we have such evaluations,

08:13the cost will be approximately 0.17 of the EU GDP,

08:22if we are speaking about the enlargement of nine countries.

08:26Right.

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

08:30regarding how they have to overcome the obstacles within the EU of some of the member states

08:35who are less willing on continuing the enlargement.

08:39But do these existing countries then share the same values

08:43that are actually demanded of the candidates?

08:47First of all, we have to bear in mind that every enlargement process is a politically driven process.

08:54But what I would like to know, that everybody is realistic,

08:57because sense of realism is the most important notion in the process of enlargement,

09:02is that the forgotten Copenhagen, the fourth Copenhagen criteria of 1993,

09:09which is so-called the absorption capacity of the European Union, has come back.

09:15In the absorption capacity, translated into a common language,

09:18means what is the budgetary cost of enlargement,

09:23what will be the effect of new members on the play of contributor countries and beneficiary countries,

09:31what will be the impact on the policies, cohesion, agriculture, any policy that you can imagine.

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

09:44when it comes to Ukraine compared to some of the other countries

09:47that have been waiting for longer and then applying longer and so on.

09:52What's your take on that?

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

09:56We love it.

09:57We want to be even faster.

09:59We don't mind at all.

10:00For us, it's totally okay.

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

10:04In the meantime, the progression of Ukraine is extremely welcome,

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

10:15and we feel we have common destiny, 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, as in meritocratic approach.

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

10:34So our plan is extremely ambitious.

10:36We want in two years, i.e. by end of 2026, to fully close all the chapters, to be fully ready for EU.

10:44So we are hoping that EU can see that, can recognize the efforts, can recognize the spirit that we are projecting,

10:52and that they will accept us, and that by end of 2026 we close all the chapters,

11:00and in 2028 we become 28th member state.

11:04The race is the race.

11:06I think this is healthy, because it is based on the merit-based principle,

11:12meaning, you know, it's not about timing.

11:14You know, sometimes I hear, but you know, the Western Balkan states, they wait for so long.

11:18It is not about how long they are waiting, it is how much they are able to deliver,

11:23and about their political will, and this has changed.

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

11:31mainly it is take it or leave it, sorry that I say it so bluntly.

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

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