A clear and well defined path to EU membership for Macedonia would have a tension-relieving effect on the Western Balkans as a whole in terms of the integration process, Swedish diplomat said.
Lars Schmit, head of the Enlargement Group at the Swedish Foreign Ministry EU Department, made the remarks Wednesday ahead of EU enlargement debate in the European Parliament. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, is to take part in a debate on EU enlargement.
The basis of the debate is the European Commission’s annual enlargement package, presented earlier in the autumn. It contains a strategy for work to do with EU enlargement and monitoring reports for all countries that are part of the enlargement process.
"In its report, the European Commission recommends that negotiations be opened with FYROM Macedonia. If the Council decides to accept the Commission’s recommendation, this would send a strong signal to the other countries of the Western Balkans that efforts to implement reforms are worth it and pay dividends,” Schmit said.
"The ambition for the Presidency has been for every country to take steps forward in their respective integration processes. I think that we have come a long way, albeit to different extents for the different countries. How far we can go will be decided by the Council in December when it decides how the reform efforts in the countries concerned are to be ‘rewarded’,” Schmit said.
At the beginning of December the Council will adopt conclusions reflecting its view of the Commission’s assessments and recommendations presented in the report. Meanwhile, prime ministers of Macedonia and Greece are expected to meet later this week in a fresh bid to reach a compromise on the name dispute, as Greece made it clear that there cannot be a start of Macedonia's EU entry talks without resolution of the name issue.