Granada, 6 October 2023 (MIA) – Enlargement means that the candidate countries have reforms to implement, while the EU needs to get prepared. This is the first time for many years that you have such a high-level debate on such a fundamental topic, European Council President Charles Michel said in his doorstep statement ahead of the informal EUCO in Granada on Friday. 

“This will be an important European Council meeting, because it’s the starting point of the debate on the Strategic Agenda. And we understand that it is important for us to clarify a few points. First, what do we want together in the future? What are our priorities? What are our common policies in the future?” Michel added.  

According to him, point two is the issue of how to decide together within the EU, and point three is how to pay for the priorities and common initiatives in the future.  

In response to a reporter’s question on the EU’s readiness for Enlargement, Michel pointed out that the Union is opening the debate on the issue, adding that democratic debate is legitimate and the leaders of the 27 countries have started a discussion and now they need to make decisions to make progress.  

The European Council President noted that this was the starting point, and the goal is to get some guidance for the Belgian EU Presidency next year. 

As regards Azerbaijan-Armenia relations, he said he had invited the leaders of the two countries for a meeting in Brussels at the end of October and they have accepted the invitation, noting that it will be very difficult to achieve progress in the normalization of relations between the two countries, but the EU will use all tools at hand to achieve that goal. 

                                                                                                                                                Photo: Screenshot