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Uniting Europe: Continue the EU enlargement
19/04/2021 14:38
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While European integration is ongoing, our continent still remains politically divided, with many countries remaining outside of the EU. There hasn’t been an EU enlargement since Croatia joined the Union in 2013, despite the progress made by several candidate and potential candidate countries to meet the membership criteria. This creates a divide between those who can enjoy the freedoms and opportunities the Union provides and those who are dependent on only limited forms of integration. While some countries put great effort into meeting the accession criteria, their EU integration has been arbitrarily blocked by individual member states, often based on narrowly-defined national interests or domestic pressure from nationalistic groups.
The EU must remain an open project, commiting to a continuous enlargement process based on transparent accession criteria, including the respect for the Union’s fundamental values. Following the evaluation of these criteria made by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council should be able to co-decide on the accession of new member states based on qualified majority voting. No single member state should be able to block the accession of a candidate country.
The integration of the Western Balkan countries should be prioritised to ensure peace and stability in the region. Subsequently, other European countries meeting the accession criteria should be invited to join the Union in order to unite the continent.
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Miguel Ángel Aguilar, President, Fundación Carlos de Amberes
Charles Powell, Director, Elcano Royal Institute | @CharlesTPowell
Robert Krmelj, Ambassador of Slovenia to Spain
Maciej Popowski, Acting Director-General at the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations, European Commission
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Juan González-Barba, State Secretary for the European Union, Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, EU and Cooperation of Spain | @JuanGBarba
Gašper Dovžan, State Secretary, Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia
Nikola Dimitrov, Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs of the Republic of North Macedonia | @NDimitrovMK
Jadranka Joksimović, Minister of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia
Megi Fino, Deputy Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs at Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Albania | @MegiFi
Ljubomir Mišurović, State Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro
Moderator: Charles Powell, Director, Elcano Royal Institute | @CharlesTPowell
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Florian Bieber, Coordinator, Balkans in Europe Policy Advisory Group | @fbieber
Ivan Vejvoda, Acting Rector, Institute for Human Sciences | @IVejvoda
Vesko Garcevic, Professor, Boston University; former ambassador of Montenegro to NATO | @VeskoGarcevic
Peter Grk, Secretary General of Bled Strategic Forum
Ruth Ferrero, professor, Universidad Complutense de Madrid | @RFT2
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Die Einwahl ist unter folgendem Link möglich:
Zoom-Meeting beitreten https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89514923715?pwd=V2xQUG5NOVBzeVM1TkdUak80b2Vodz09 ;
Meeting-ID: 895 1492 3715
Kenncode: 517783
Schnelleinwahl mobil +496971049922,,89514923715#,,,,*517783# Deutschland +496950502596,,89514923715#,,,,*517783# Deutschland; Einwahl nach aktuellem Standort: +49 69 7104 9922 Deutschland; +49 695 050 2596 Deutschland; Meeting-ID: 895 1492 3715; Kenncode: 517783; Ortseinwahl suchen: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kceuQ6B1A
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