Ljubljana, 29 August 2023 (STA/MIA) - European Council President Charles Michel said Tuesday that having set 2030 as the date by which the EU and the Western Balkans must be ready for enlargement was a realistic but ambitious goal, noting that this was the first time in the European history that a European institutional leader was this clear about the date.

In an interview with the STA news agency, he voiced confidence that there is political will for enlargement in the EU. 

"We need to do a lot on both sides to make sure that by 2030 we will be ready. It doesn't mean that everything would be easy, but it means that if we have the political will, if we want to work together, if we want to be sincere on both sides, it is possible to achieve real results for the people in the region and within the EU," Michel said on the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum.

Michel noted that in terms of the EU enlargement, there is a completely different mindset in the European Council than there was years ago.

"When I became prime minister of Belgium many years ago, a member of the European Council, it was very difficult to imagine that at the level of the European Council, at the level of the leaders, we would have serious discussions on the topics of the enlargement, reforms, disputes and the need for the EU to undergo reform to be prepared for this enlargement process."

At the last European Council meeting in June, all the leaders agreed that this will be discussed at an informal summit in Granada, Spain, in early October, he said, and the European Commission will then present an enlargement report, which will be the basis for debate and decision-making at the regular meeting in Brussels in December. 

Michel said he expects "some fundamental decisions on Ukraine, Moldova and some other countries in the region".

He stressed that the accession process was based on achievements, so there were differences between the different countries in Western Balkans. "I know that there is a certain level of skepticism, a certain level of doubt because in the last 20 years decisions ... were just made too slowly. But I would like to convince my friends in the Western Balkans, not only the elite, not only the leaders, but also the people in the region, that there is more and more the conviction on the EU side that the future of the EU will be safer if we are able to ensure that Western Balkan countries are fully part of the EU and fully members of the EU," said Michel. 

Photo: EPA