All Member States are faced with three great challenges: the challenge of peace, the challenge of freedom and the challenge of prosperity, and it seems clear that they can only be met through the European dimension.
Dear Chair, dear Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen,
It is my great honour to be here with you today. Thank you for giving me the chance to discuss the perspectives of an enlarged Union with you directly.
The quote I just shared with you is more than 40 years old. It has French origins, and it is my Leitmotif as commissioner for enlargement.
Simone Veil said this in 1979 during her first speech as President of the European Parliament.
In that same speech, she described Europe as an “island of freedom surrounded by regimes in which force prevails”.
Certain things do not change.
And she continued: To safeguard Europe, we should stabilise Greece, Spain and Portugal by bringing them into the European Community. Three countries which had just freed themselves from dictatorships.
In the face of Russias aggression in Ukraine, Simone Veils words are emblematic of what the European Union is again about today.
Im stressing this, because today, also in enlargement policy, we are confronted again with the defence of those values of the Enlightenment - against autocratic disruptive forces that want to divide us Europeans.
The question for us Europeans is simple:
Do we want to take control of our own continent and decide on our own future, in a sovereign manner? Do we want to complete the unification of Europe, so we can become independent at last? Or do we continue letting other decide our future?
France has always championed a political vision for Europe. And seldom has the European answer looked so similar.
I see our work with EU candidate countries and our partners in the South Caucasus in the same broader context. We need to push back against forces that aim to destabilize our continent and the EU. We need to clean up our continent of illicit activities, organised crime and illegal migration, and secure stability.
How can we effectively do this if geographic gaps continue to exist on our continent?
Closing these gaps means making Europe stable, more independent, and more secure.
Our enlargement policy is a powerful tool in that fight. It expands the rule of law, democratic institutions, and free media. And it integrates those countries into our single market and brings more energy independence.
Bringing candidate countries into the EUs security framework means shared intelligence, traceability, and coordinated actions, instead of fragmentation. It fills gaps exploited by criminals and it brings more control of migration, corruption, and organised crime.
Yet, despite all this, enlargement is all too often associated with weakening our Union. We need to break this association. We need to be clearer that – if done right - a larger Union makes Europe stronger. There is scope to do that. Two thirds of Europeans tell us they are currently not informed enough.
And we need to address the worries of our citizens. They ask, what does that mean to the model of social protection? How can we ensure the control of our borders? What does it mean for the functioning of our Union? How will it impact agricultural subsidies? And how will it affect our democratic principles and the rule of law?
These issues matter to peoples lives, and we will find fair solutions.
In previous enlargements, we protected farmers with transitional measures, such as the phasing-in of agricultural subsidies in new Member States and safeguard mechanisms for EU producers. Those measures were negotiated and agreed as part of accession treaties.
We can only be successful when we will find solutions again.
I am the last person who wants an enlargement that threatens the integrity of our Union. We need to be inventive and put safeguards in place.
Let us be open to this debate – and not shy away to address the concerns of our citizens across the Union.
The success of Europe will be shaped by how well we can stabilize the rest of our continent in our political and security structures.
And there is good news: this year we have seen significant progress on that path.
Next week we intend to report on the progress we have achieved over the past year. Two countries stand out, with Montenegro and Albania having seen strong progress. We have opened and closed more chapters in one year than in any year the last 15 years.
Those two small countries, Montenegro has 600,000 inhabitants and Albania 2.5 million, are currently the most advanced. Both have set ambitious target dates to close negotiations. This makes the coming year a moment of truth, especially on the fundamental reforms.
Also for Ukraine and Moldova, it was a year of record speed on completing the screening process. We now need a robust yes from the Member States to be able to start the actual negotiations.
With Ukraine, we are for the first time negotiating with a country at war. Ukrainians are doing impressive work, while fighting for their national survival. But we have seen in July in Ukraine how fragile anti-corruption reforms can be. The slower we progress, the higher the risks for fall back.
And in Moldova, it was the credibility of the EU offer that helped fend off Russia. Let us not jeopardise this progress with indecision.
We are working every day to diminish Russias influence and stabilise our neighbourhood. We should not weaken ourselves, put our credibility at risk, and open the backdoor for Moscow and its proxies.
Such backdoors need to be shut in all our candidate countries. We expect future members to behave like reliable geopolitical partners.
Now is a time of strategic choices. We can no longer have candidates hide behind ambiguous positions.
I have communicated that very clearly to Belgrade. The EUs offer will not be matched by any other country. It is in the interest of both Serbia and the EU to bring a democratic Serbia into the EU.
But it is time for Serbia to make its strategic choice clear too. It needs implementing EU reforms Serbias leadership has repeatedly promised to deliver. This is also what Serbian citizens ask loud and clearly.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Let me briefly touch on another region where Europe needs to seize opportunities to increase its freedom to act: the South Caucasus.
The historic agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan has set the region in motion.
For the first time in generations, the prospect of trade routes from Europe to Central Asia via the South Caucasus is becoming realistic. A geopolitical and economic win-win for everyone along the way.
What Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet knew about economic opportunities creating shared interests and a foundation for peace could also become reality in that region.
Our investments in the Black Sea region are creating new opportunities for overland trade. This will help us reduce excessive dependencies on energy or critical raw material shortages. And it will create big opportunities for our companies to build transport, digital and energy infrastructure in the region.
I can assure you of our willingness to work closely with France to seize these opportunities for a more independent Europe.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am a sober optimist. I know the challenges are enormous, but I believe Europe has the political vision to adapt and reform.
Our Union has always been built by those who dared to think beyond the constraints of their time.
Just as in Robert Schumans time, and that of Simone Veil or of François Mitterrand, we need to rise again to the challenge and build a united Europe that has the strength and the will to decide its own destiny.
