Finnish Foreign Minister: The EU will not turn its back to the Balkans

After the discussion at the EU Council, the Head of the Finnish diplomacy said that the member countries expressed their preliminary views regarding the French enlargement methodology, but the eventual agreement will only be reached after the new EU Commission starts becoming effective, in the next spring.

Finnish minister Tytti Tuppurainen, whose country chairs the European Council of member states, said the French idea had not been considered in detail.

“We had a round table on the state of play, and of course we heard the French proposal… there were countries that welcomed it and there were countries that had concerns,” she told reporters.

She said the future European Commission, which should take power next month, will be asked to draw up proposals to reform the membership application process.

“We didn’t have a vote on the French proposal,” Tuppurainen said. “Today we wanted to send a full commitment to the region and our full commitment to the enlargement policy.”

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