EU to discuss enlargement, but not French proposal Tuesday

Tytti Tuppurainen, Finnish Minister for European Affairs, said the French proposal for reforms in the enlargement process will not be discussed at today’s meeting of the General Affairs Council.

“It is quite far reaching and today at General Affairs Council we will not discuss the French initiative. We will come back to the enlargement policy and we will express our firm commitment to the enlargement policy. We wish to send a strong message to the Western Balkan countries that EU will deliver and the leaders will come back to the issue next spring,” said MinisterTuppurainen, who will chair the GAC meeting.

Ministers will discuss enlargement in light of France’s decision to block the start of accession talks with North Macedonia in October. Proposals, however, can’t be made until the new European Commission starts its term.

“It is good that member states have their own proposals, it keeps the process ongoing, but nevertheless we all have to wait for the new Commission to start its mandate, so that we can finally reach a unanimous agreement on enlargement. But, it’s very important that today we will send the message to Western Balkan countries that Europe will not turn its back,” said the Finnish Minister.