Friday

29th Mar 2024

Merkel moots 'privileged partnership' for Balkans

  • Angela Merkel - "the question of full membership should not be the next question at all" (Photo: CDU)

German chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested a "privileged partnership" for the western Balkan states as an option for closer ties with the EU, raising doubts over Berlin's commitment to full membership for the region.

Ms Merkel made her comments at a press conference after meeting Slovenian prime minister Janez Jansa in Berlin on Wednesday (15 March), DTT-NET.COM reports.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Asked whether the western Balkans' "European perspective" could also mean something less than full membership, she said "from my side I would like to say that we should not avoid the term ‘privileged partnership’."

Ms Merkel's statement represents the first public statement by an EU leader of a loose partnership option for the region, an option that so far has only been mooted for states like Turkey and Ukraine.

It also came just days after member states struggled to find common wording for their aims towards the region after a meeting of foreign ministers last week.

In the end, the words "EU membership as ultimate goal" were only included after strong pressure from the Balkan states.

Ms Merkel said "I think the question of full membership should not be the next question at all, it is rather about political stabilisation, for which Europe should feel responsible."

"Political stabilisation can of course never mean 'never full membership', but (...) other steps are more important now," she added.

Wobbly message

But although Ms Merkel did not rule out eventual full membership, her use of the term "privileged partnership" is likely to cause concern in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro and Kosovo.

The term has been frequently used by Ms Merkel and other politicians for Turkey and Ukraine as an alternative to full accession.

For it part, the European Commission is urging member states to stay true to their Balkan commitments. EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn urged member states not to "go wobbly" on the goal of full EU membership for western Balkan states, just as the region enters a difficult period of talks on Kosovo’s future status.

EU leaders promised western Balkan countries that they "will become an integral part of the EU, once they meet the established criteria" at a meeting in Thessaloniki in 2003.

Berlin and Paris: deepening first

However, Germany has now joined France in saying that the union should first sort out its internal institutional problems before expanding further.

Ms Merkel said that "without a constitutional treaty, in which institutional reforms are also anchored, enlargement of the European Union is hardly imaginable."

The remark echoes similar statements from Paris.

Dominique de Villepin, the French prime minister, said in January that "Europe has no vocation to enlarge indefinitely."

"A balance has to be found between widening and deepening and now the priority lies with deepening," the French politician stated.

Ukraine slams grain trade restrictions at EU summit

Restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU could translate into military losses in their bid to stop Russia's war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned EU leaders during their summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Difficult talks ahead on financing new EU defence spending

With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of ending any time soon, EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (21 and 22 March) to discuss how to boost the defence capabilities of Ukraine and of the bloc itself.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us