Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic

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Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the EU Enlargement package adopted by the European Commission on 10 October 2012

 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic welcomes the Communication from the Commission „Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2011-2012“.

In general, the MFA agrees with the conclusions and recommendations of the Strategy and with the assessment of the progress made by the candidate and potential candidate countries. The policy of EU enlargement remains to be a successful, effective and credible tool for attaining peace, security and prosperity in Europe. Achievements of the past period serve as a positive proof of the transformative power of the EU enlargement for the aspirant countries to carry out reforms. Continuous reforms with an emphasis on the rule of law and democratic governance are right way to go in achieving further progress in the EU enlargement. In this context, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic commends the work of the European Commission.      

The MFA is pleased with the results of Croatia in implementing the legislation of the EU. The MFA believes that Croatia will continue to fulfill the commitments undertaken in the Treaty of Accession. The MFA is confident that the ratification process in all EU member states will be succesfully completed so that Croatia may enter the EU on 1 July, 2013.   

The MFA shares the European Commission´s view that Turkey is a key country for the EU. The MFA regrets that no progress has been achieved in the accession negotiations with Turkey. The MFA stresses the importance to implement further the positive agenda in the relations with Turkey.

The MFA is satisfied with the progress made in the accession negotiations with Iceland and hopes for a sustained pace of the accession negotiations in months to come.

We welcome the fact that accession negotiations with Montenegro were launched in June 2012 and that the country is continuing with reform efforts, particularly in the areas pertaining to the rule of law.

We support already the fourth recommendation to lunch accession negotiations with Macedonia and we concur with the Commission’s proposal to deal with the issue of the dispute with Greece over the official name of the Macedonian state during the course of the negotiations.   

The granting of candidate status to Serbia in March 2012 was positive and the MFA hopes that Serbia will intensify reform efforts and will soon make further progress in the normalization of relations with Kosovo so accession negotiations could be launched.

We welcome the progress in fulfilling the political criteria for EU membership that Albania has made in the past year. We are convinced that only an improvement in cooperation between the government and the opposition will enable Albania to quickly obtain candidate status and subsequently to meet the conditions for starting accession negotiations with the EU.

The MFA regrets the lack of progress of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the path to the EU and it hopes that the upcoming period will bring an end to the long-term political crisis which prevents effective functioning of the state institutions as well as the implementation of necessary reforms and fulfillment of the EU integration process conditions.

We welcome the results of the feasibility study confirming that it is possible to conclude a Stabilization and Association Agreement with Kosovo despite diverging positions of individual EU Member States on the country’s independence. Bringing Kosovo into the process of EU integration is important for the stability and prosperity of Kosovo and the whole region.

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