Brussels - Serbia will be granted EU candidate status if it improves its relations with Kosovo. Montenegro can launch EU talks but will have to start with the most difficult chapters. And the remaining Balkan countries and Turkey have limited progress to report, the European Commission said Wednesday (12 October) in its latest enlargement reports.
Mitrovica bridge: northern Kosovo is key to Serbia's EU aspirations (Photo: jonworth-eu)
Apart from Croatia, which finalised EU membership talks in June and is expected to join the bloc in 2013, there is little good news to report from the western Balkans: violence in northern Kosovo has flared up during the summer and brought talks between Pristina and Belgrade to a standstill while Bosnia, Albania and Macedonia are not moving forward with their applications.
Only Montenegro "has worked hard last year," EU enlargement commissioner Stefan Fuele said during a press conference, and will therefore be given the green light to start membership talks.
But Montenegro will be the first country having to start negotiations with the toughest "chapters" - justice and home affairs. This novel negotiating move comes after the experience of Romania and Bulgaria who joined in 2007 and are still being monitored by the European Commission regarding their fight against corruption and organised crime. Croatia's progress in this area will also be checked until the last EU country ratifies the accession treaty.
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