MEPs urge the European Council to decide at its meeting on 14-15 December to open accession negotiations with Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova. Provided certain reform steps are taken, they say that accession talks should also be opened with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Georgia should be granted candidate status.
MEPs welcome the new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans and call on EU leaders to also adopt the negotiating framework without delay, once the relevant requirements related to each of the candidate countries are fulfilled in order to start the accession negotiations swiftly.
Clear EU enlargement timetable needed
MEPs welcome the interest and political will from so many countries to join the EU, and acknowledge the serious efforts being made to meet the requirements for membership. They welcome the willingness of the Government of Armenia to come closer to the European Union.
The EU should establish clear deadlines for the candidate countries to conclude EU accession negotiations by the end of this decade, MEPs stress.
There should be no fast-track for membership though, they say. MEPs insist that the Copenhagen criteria must be fulfilled to ensure that candidate and potential c