Security threats to EU from Russia and China have proved a gamechanger for enlargement policy.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing interference from China show the EU needs to expand in the coming five years, governments from within and outside the bloc have said.
Jakov Milatović, President of Montenegro, and Karoline Edtstadler, Austria’s Europe minister, spoke to Euronews on the fringes of Forum Alpbach, the annual policy congress in the Tyrol.
Milatović said 2028 remained a clear, ambitious but realistic goal for his country’s entry to the EU.
He said he was very optimistic about closing further chapters — the detailed policy conditions needed to secure entry into the bloc — before the end of this year, and that “we can deliver on what is needed [to fulfil entry conditions fully] by 2028”.
But he’s also hopeful “because of the whole momentum that now exists in Brussels following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, where Brussels finally understood as well as many European capitals that enlargement is about the security of the European continent,” he said.
The security advantages of enlarging the EU are also cited by existing members.
“Since the Russian war of aggression started in Ukraine, we also have external pressure on our internal security — this factor has been a real push forward for the accession process,” Edtstadler said.
“It led to a complete change of mindset in member states located further away from the Western Balkans, but who saw immediately this region’s impact and importance for security throughout Europe,” she added.
In Serbia and other Western Balkan countries, “we have seen the growing influence of China and Russia”, Edtstadler said.
“They are working together with these countries on infrastructure projects and we, as the European Union, do not want this development to intensify – so we need to show the Western Balkans our commitment to the accession process.”
Montenegrin EU accession is a story “bigger than Monetenegro”, Milatović said, saying there was a need to show candidates waiting further back in the queue that “accession is possible and alive, so a successful story is important”, he said.
“When someone asks me why I’m doing this job, the answer is to bring Montenegro into the EU as soon as possible,” Milatović added.
