: Opinion: Time for EU enlargement #IndiaNEWS #News By Valon Murtezaj Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has upended the European order as we know it, and that was even before the Nord Stream

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Opinion: Time for EU enlargement #IndiaNEWS #News
By Valon Murtezaj
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has upended the European order as we know it, and that was even before the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline was cut off this week. While the bloc gets down to grappling with the unfolding energy crisis, the question of consolidating its flanks by speeding up the enlargement process has also come back into focus.
Crowded Waiting Room
In a critical meeting on 23-24 June, the European Сouncil granted candidate status to Ukraine and Moldova and recognised the ‘European perspective’ of Georgia – a nod acknowledging the country’s future belonged within the European Union.
Less than a month later, Brussels brought to an end the respectively 8- and 17-year-long waits for Albania and North Macedonia by allowing them into the foray of accession negotiations.
This leaves two groups of countries aspiring to join the union: on the one hand, the six Western Balkan countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia) who began their journey in 2003 at the EU summit held in Thessaloniki, Greece, and now find themselves at different accession stages. On the other, the three countries Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, which submitted applications to join the bloc following Russia’s aggression in Ukraine earlier this year.
Laborious Accession Criteria
Such an unruly patchwork makes clear the need for a quicker and more effective accession process. Indeed, countries currently aspiring to join the bloc must prove they are able to meet the Copenhagen criteria established by the EU Council in 1993 in Denmark’s capital. These include the provision of sound democratic institutions, a respect for the rule of law, human rights, and protection of minorities.
Would-be EU member states must also show they are equipped with a functioning market economy and the institutional and administrative capacity to implement the set of EU legislation and rules imposed on member states, or acquis.
Once these conditions are met, every one of the 27 member states of the European Council must vote the accession of new members, according to a unanimity vote system. So, might the war finally bring the EU round to enlarging, if not reforming its accession criteria?
Scholz’s Diplomatic Blitz
There are signs some want to break the deadlock. Take German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has spent a good part of the summer lobbying for an acceleration of the accession negotiations for the Western Balkans. On 10-11 June he conducted a whistle-stop tour in Kosovo, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria during which he reiterated the region’s strategic importance for Germany and reprimanded Bulgaria for blocking North Macedonia’s access over language and historical disagreements.

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