EU's Michel: Decision on enlargement reform by EU-Western Balkans summit in May

NEWS 30.11.201917:00
Agencja Gazeta/Slawomir Kaminski/via REUTERS

France is not the only one interested in reform of the European Union's enlargement process, European Council's new President Charles Michel told Polish media, adding that this reform should get more clear by May next year and new EU-Western Balkans summit.

“Do I support French idea on reform of enlargement? That's a lot more than French idea, because I noticed the interest of many states during the summit. I was the one who asked for avoiding the vote, to give us more time to prepare a decision. And in the weeks that follow we will have that strategic discussion. We'll have the Western Balkans summit in May and I hope we'll manage to make the situation clear by then,” Michel was quoted as saying in an interview with ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’ daily.

Michel, who is the former Prime Minister of Belgium, reiterated that the EU knows the stability of the whole Balkans is crucial and is also aware of the influence of other actors in that region.

“But it was not only about whether we're opening accession talks with two countries or not, but about the discussion on the enlargement process reform, for instance through introducing of reversibility of certain steps in the enlargement process, in case of the reform decline,” the daily carried the EU official as saying.

He believes that both the matter of reform and the decision on the start of talks with Albania and North Macedonia will be resolved by the May summit.