EU foreign ministers on Saturday adopted a joint statement which says that EU membership was the "ultimate goal" for the Western Balkans, a step that Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel has labelled as the true start of talks on the interim phase of the enlargement process.
The statement which the EU foreign ministers adopted after talks with their counterparts from Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia-Montenegro says the 25-member bloc wants to take in Western Balkans states, but warns that "absorption capacity has to be taken into account" before any new members are admitted.
"This is the start of talks on what type of vessel to find for the candidate countries and countries that have started candidacy procedures but are still far from membership. Some think that something between neighbourhood policy and membership should be found, for example a common European economic area," Rupel told the press after the meeting.
According to him, there are still no answers, but the search for them is intensive. He said solutions were sought that would "link these countries to the EU but at the same time not complete the accession procedure...If they conclude negotiations on half of the acquis they could, when they mature, wrap up membership talks and get the status more easily."
Rupel explained that the debate had shown that the positions of member states on the enlargement process differ significantly, ranging from calls to stop the process altogether to those who emphasise enlargement as a factor of stability. Slovenia is part of the latter group. "Enlargement brings stability and balance, and fills the unnatural gap between Slovenia and Greece."
Minister Rupel was not pleased with the "cautiousness" about enlargement, which is also reflected in the statement. But he also underlined the mention of the need for good neighbourly relations and mutual solutions on burning bilateral issues. The statement says that the EU wants "possible problems between neighbouring countries resolved before enlargement can proceed," he stressed.
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