“Balkan countries deserve a perspective for Eu accession”, declared Jean Claude Juncker in an interview for Deutsche Welle. However, he made it clear that new accession will not take place during his term as President of the European Commission.
The high-level official declared that Western Balkan countries need to carry out the necessary reforms the soonest possible.
Juncker’s term expires in October 2019. Signals coming from Brussels through significant personalities of the block show that there is wide support for accelerating the accession pace, but at the same time, they insist on the reforms.
Sweden and Finland say that Balkan countries should be helped with their path towards the EU, but they insist that the conditions should be followed with great rigour.
Juncker sees as positive the fact that Sophia has turned Western Balkan into one of their important points.
Bulgaria, according to him, is very suitable for building bridges with Western Balkan because it has a better understanding of the region, of its culture and language, and because as a country they have had a successful accession process.
Juncker declared that Bulgaria has taken important steps in this direction, and the summit of Western Balkan countries in Sophia, on May 17th, will be one of the biggest developments.
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