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Commissioner Kos for more connectivity between EU candidate and member states

by AI | 31.Mar 2025 | Europe in brief AI

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos believes that we need to better communicate the benefits of EU enlargement, and in response to criticism after meeting with Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, she states that she needs to talk to all candidate countries and wants to bring Serbia back on the European path.

European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos. Photo: Bor Slana /STA

Ljubljana – The European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos on Thursday in Ljubljana opined that we need to better communicate the benefits of enlargement, both in candidate countries and EU member states. In a conversation at the EU House, Kos advocated for more connectivity between countries. Regarding the many criticisms and controversies following her recent meeting with the Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, the Commissioner stated that she met with him because she needs to talk to all candidate countries and because she wants to bring Serbia back on the European path.

She also supported the demands that the Serbian protesters are addressing to the authorities, as the EU will make the same reform demands to Serbia before its entry. Regarding the challenges in the Western Balkans, she also highlighted the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the normalization of relations between Belgrade and Pristina. She also announced that Montenegro and Albania could complete negotiations for EU membership by 2026 or 2027.

“For the first time, we are experiencing that the system no longer applies, where candidate countries met the criteria and then joined the EU. Today, we have external forces wanting to prevent certain countries from becoming members, which has not happened with any other enlargement in the past,” she said, among other things.

The European Commissioner for Enlargement, who was on her third visit to Slovenia, attended a two-day Interreg GO! conference in Gorica on Thursday with the Executive Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Raffaele Fitto and the Slovenian Minister for Cohesion and Regional Development Aleksander Jevšek. At Brdo pri Kranju, she met with the interior ministers of the Brdo process countries on Friday, and also visited Prime Minister Robert Golob and Foreign Minister Tanja Fajon. (March 31)