News

On 10 November, the European Commission adopted its annual ‘Enlargement package’ – a set of documents explaining its policy on EU enlargement. In the set of annual reports, the European Commission has assessed where Turkey and the countries of the Western Balkans – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo – stand in preparing to meet EU membership requirements.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius welcomed the set of documents adopted by the Commission, which takes stock of the progress made by each candidate country and potential candidate, and agreed with the main idea that the EU’s enlargement policy was an investment in peace, security and stability in Europe. To the mutual benefit of the EU and the aspiring member states, the enlargement process has a powerful transformative effect on them. It also encourages the candidate countries for EU accession to undertake reforms.

This year, the annual reports were drawn up based on the new method. The reports focus on the refugee crisis. Core issues of fundamental rights, strengthening democratic institutions, working even more closely with local civil society actors, regional cooperation, as well as economic development and competitiveness remain key priorities.

For more information about the documents, please read here.