Enlargement Strategy 20072008

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Enlargement Strategy 2007-2008 Building on
the renewed consensus November 2007
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Strategy

• Enlargement - one of the EUs most powerful
  policy tools
• serves EUs strategic interests
• enhancing peace security liberty
• democracy conflict prevention
• has helped increase prosperity and growth
  opportunities
• has helped secure vital transport and energy
  routes

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Strategy

• 50 years EU history
• deepening and widening in parallel
• two processes - not contradictory but
  complementary
• Consequence
• EU is today much safer and more prosperous
• EU is today much stronger and more influential
  (in world economy and politics)

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Strategy

• In the aspirant countries - European perspective
  
• is contributing to stability
• is encouraging important political and economic
  reforms

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Strategy

• Enlargement strategy
• remains based on renewed consensus achieved in
  2006
• continues to support candidate and potential
  candidate countries on their path toward the EU

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Strategy

• European Council December 2006
• renewed consensus on enlargement
• Three principles
• Consolidation of commitments
• Fair and rigorous conditionality
• Better communication with the public
• combined with
• the EUs capacity to integrate new members

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Strategy

• Principle 1 The EU has consolidated its
  enlargement agenda to cover
• the Western Balkans
• Croatia
• the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
• Albania
• Bosnia and Herzegovina
• Montenegro
• Serbia including
• Kosovo (under UN Security Council 1244)
• Turkey

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Strategy

• Principle 1 Consolidation
• The EU
• sticks to its commitments to the candidate and
  potential candidate countries
• is cautious about taking on any new commitments
  at this moment

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Strategy

• Principle 2 Conditionality
• Rigorous and fair conditionality is applied
• Every step forward depends on
• each country's progress in meting the
  necessary conditions at each stage of the
  accession process
• This approach helps
• to consolidate reforms
• to prepare new Member States to fulfill their
  obligations upon accession

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Strategy

• Principle 3 Communication
• cornerstone of EU's enlargement policy
• Important
• to listen to citizens
• to respond to their concerns by providing
  clear, factual information

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Strategy

• Principle 3 Communicating enlargement
• Member states - candidates/potential candidates
• best placed to take the lead
• Commission will continue to play its part
  together with
• European Parliament
• National, regional, local authorities
• Civil society
• other multipliers

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Main Conclusions of the Strategy Paper 2007

• In 2007
• a carefully managed enlargement process
  continued
• Western Balkans
• steady though uneven progress
• the region continues to face major challenges
• Turkey
• accession process on track
• need to revitalize the reforms

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Strategy Document 2007

• Objective
• to create renewed reform momentum in the
  enlargement countries
• building on their credible European perspective
• and on the EUs continued support

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Strategy Document 2007

• Focal areas where reform is needed more urgently
• State-building
• Good governance including judicial and
  administrative reform
• Rule of law and fight against organized crime and
  corruption
• Reconciliation
• Civil society development

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Strategy Document 2007

• Main priorities in the enlargement countries
• Continued reform in Croatia and Turkey, leading
  to progress in the accession negotiations
• Better governance in the former Yugoslav Republic
  of Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro
• State-building in Bosnia and Herzegovina with
  local ownership
• The status of Kosovo and its governance
• Serbias European course
• Enhanced regional cooperation

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Strategy Document 2007

• Regional cooperation - essential element of
• EU's policy towards the Western Balkans
• for political reasons
• (reconciliation, good neighbourly relations,
  cross-border cooperation)
• Local ownership
• South-East Europe Cooperation Process
• Regional Cooperation Council
• for economic reasons (CEFTA, FDI, Energy Treaty,
  transport networks)

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Strategy Document 2007

• The Commission is improving
• the quality of the enlargement process by (1)
• encouraging the countries
• to prioritise and tackle at an early stage
  difficult issues such as
• judicial and administrative reform
• the fight against corruption

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Strategy Document 2007

• The Commission is improving the quality
• of the enlargement process by (2)
• making full use of clearly defined criteria in
  accession negotiations
• for opening and closing negotiating chapters
  (benchmarks)

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Strategy Document 2007

• The Commission is improving the quality
• of the enlargement process by (3)
• bringing more transparency into accession
  negotiations
• preparing impact studies on the effect of a
  candidates accession in specific policy areas

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Next steps

• It is crucial to maintain
• the visibility of the accession prospects
• the credibility of the accession prospects
• support for enlargement in the Member States

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Next steps

• Western Balkans
• Early in 2008, the Commission
• will take stock of developments
• will point the way forward in following the EU's
  agenda for the region
• The Commission will initiate a dialogue on visa
  liberalisation
• Attention will be given to promoting people to
  people contacts

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Next steps

• The Commission's Strategy Document -
• basis for the debate on enlargement
• at the European Council in December 2007
• Timing of next steps along the road to membership
  - in the hands of the candidate and potential
  candidate countries
• Joining the EU is a demanding task, which
  requires concerted efforts over many years from
  the aspirant countries

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