The European Union must prepare for enlargement, and the candidate countries must meet the criteria, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said in Granada on Friday, ahead of an informal EU summit, where the discussion on the new European strategy will be opened.

Michel said that the European Union summit in Granada was very important because it would open a discussion on the strategic agenda of the European Union, its priorities and common policies, decision-making, and how to pay for common policies and initiatives in the future.

Montenegro and Serbia have been conducting negotiations for years, North Macedonia and Albania officially opened them only last year. Bosnia and Herzegovina received candidate status in December last year, half a year after Ukraine and Moldova, and these decisions were expedited by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Kosovo and Georgia have the status of a potential candidate. Turkey’s negotiations with the Union have been blocked since 2018 and there are no signs that they could be revived.

Enlargement means that the candidate countries have to implement reforms, they know what they have to do. And the European Union must prepare, Michel said.

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Friday that the declaration from the summit in Granada will contain “a positive and open language about the EU enlargement process.”

“Given that Croatia was the last to join the European Union, and has been there for 10 years, we are helping Southeast Europe with our knowledge, as well as Ukraine and Moldova,” Plenkovic said.

Both sides have to do their homework, said Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.

If the countries meet the criteria, it would be wrong to tell them that we are not ready, said Kallas.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who often clashes with Brussels, accused EU leaders of being selfish in relation to Georgia. When Ukraine and Moldova were granted candidate status, Georgia was told that it had prospects but was not yet ready to become a candidate country, he said.

That is unfair to you. And we need you, Orban said in a message to Georgia.

Regarding Ukraine’s membership in the EU, Orban pointed out that there are many outstanding issues and doubts, one of which is the war in that country.

If we want to seriously discuss Ukraine’s membership, we need a strategic document. (…) We need to know why it is good to integrate Ukraine into the European Union and what the consequences are for agriculture, security, the cohesion fund, said Orban.