Vucic, Rama Advocate Admission to EU Single Market, Schengen Area Without Right to Veto

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Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama are advocating accelerated integration into the single market and Schengen Area of the candidate countries for European Union membership that meet the criteria for that, instead of full membership in the 27-nation bloc.

In an opinion piece that they co-authored for the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Vucic and Rama said the countries would not have veto rights within the EU, noting that this would alleviate the concerns of those member states that had reservations about further EU enlargement.

"Many Europeans wonder if the EU can still function efficiently with considerably more members. Concerns over decision-making, institutional balance and political cohesion are legitimate. Leaders in Paris, Berlin and elsewhere stress that internal EU reforms may be necessary to ensure that an enlarged EU remains capable of decisive action," Vucic and Rama wrote in the piece published in the Feb. 28 print issue of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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The article reads that the two officials co-penned it because they "recognize that Europe today strives toward two equally legitimate goals -- candidate countries seek a realistic path to full membership, while member states want to preserve the EU's ability to act and its unity."