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| Oliver Varhelyi |
These reports were announced to be approved and made public in June and were scheduled to be debated in the Council of the European Union in the same month. However, Commissioner Varhelyi said that there were several reasons for the publication of these reports, including the obstacles created by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as the expectation that the economic plan and investments for this region to be attached to this package.
He said that the work during the pandemic made it difficult to anticipate the process of reforms in the region and economic development.
However, Varhelyi said that the Commission wants to have significant progress reports.
The enlargement package, which contains the EU's strategy for this process and individual progress reports for all countries in the Western Balkans region and Turkey, is approved and published once a year.
They assess the achievements in all these countries in terms of approximation of legislation with the EU, progress in certain areas, but also present the shortcomings identified by the European Commission.
Commissioner Varhelyi said that the European Commission's focus remains on drafting negotiating frameworks for launching membership negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia. According to him, these will be done according to the plan, in June.
Progress reports, which are expected to be released in September, depend on whether there is agreement on the EU's multi-year financial framework.
The adoption of this framework is also important for the EU's investment and development plan for the Western Balkans region.
There are EU diplomats who think that the reason for the postponement of progress reports is the difficult political situation in many countries in the region. If these reports were approved now, they would reflect many positive things, and this could be exploited by critics of the EU enlargement process.