English
European Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said that it is unacceptable that bilateral disputes be used to block accession talks for EU candidate countries. Kubilius was responding to a question from Macedonian member of Parliament Dragan Kovacki, about the Bulgarian blockade of Macedonia, during the Rose – Roth seminar in Brussels.
Kubelius noted that while he is not directly involved in accession talks now, as member of the European Parliament he prepared an EU enlargement report with Croatian MEP Tonino Picula. Kubelius said that the report envisioned that the EU enlargement is completed bu 2030, which he said is a realistic goal, and that it should be unacceptable for EU member states to try to solve their own problems and historic disputes by blocking candidate countries. “Our proposal was very simple – that these disputes are solved differently, not through blocking the negotiations. Unfortunately, this is the case here, and I would say that it is not fair toward our candidate countries”, Kubelius told Kovacki.
Kovacki warned that there is realistic risk that the delays in EU enlargement are used by third parties to meet their own interests – different from NATO or EU interests. Kovacki added that the recent decision of the European Parliament to strike any mention of the Macedonian national identity or language from the latest progress report “violates the principles of equality and mutual respect and undermines the foundation of cooperation and trust among the allies”.
